African Boy creates electricity by using junk to make windmills.

[BVF]

I got this from another board.

Originally Posted by Ming Fei Hong

William Kamkwamba: The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind



Malawi windmill boy with big fans



By Jude Sheerin
BBC News

The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.

Self-taught William Kamkwamba has been feted by climate change campaigners like Al Gore and business leaders the world over.

His against-all-odds achievements are all the more remarkable considering he was forced to quit school aged 14 because his family could no longer afford the $80-a-year (£50) fees.

When he returned to his parents' small plot of farmland in the central Malawian village of Masitala, his future seemed limited.

But this was not another tale of African potential thwarted by poverty.

Defence against hunger

The teenager had a dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village.


? Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy - people thought I was smoking marijuana ? William Kamkwamba

And he was not prepared to wait for politicians or aid groups to do it for him.

The need for action was even greater in 2002 following one of Malawi's worst droughts, which killed thousands of people and left his family on the brink of starvation.

Unable to attend school, he kept up his education by using a local library.

Fascinated by science, his life changed one day when he picked up a tattered textbook and saw a picture of a windmill.

Mr Kamkwamba told the BBC News website: "I was very interested when I saw the windmill could make electricity and pump water.

"I thought: 'That could be a defence against hunger. Maybe I should build one for myself'."

When not helping his family farm maize, he plugged away at his prototype, working by the light of a paraffin lamp in the evenings.

But his ingenious project met blank looks in his community of about 200 people.

"Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy," he recalls. "They had never seen a windmill before."

Shocks

Neighbours were further perplexed at the youngster spending so much time scouring rubbish tips.


? William Kamkwamba's achievements with wind energy show what one person, with an inspired idea, can do to tackle the crisis we face ? Al Gore

"People thought I was smoking marijuana," he said. "So I told them I was only making something for juju [magic].' Then they said: 'Ah, I see.'"

Mr Kamkwamba, who is now 22 years old, knocked together a turbine from spare bicycle parts, a tractor fan blade and an old shock absorber, and fashioned blades from plastic pipes, flattened by being held over a fire.

"I got a few electric shocks climbing that [windmill]," says Mr Kamkwamba, ruefully recalling his months of painstaking work.

The finished product - a 5-m (16-ft) tall blue-gum-tree wood tower, swaying in the breeze over Masitala - seemed little more than a quixotic tinkerer's folly.

But his neighbours' mirth turned to amazement when Mr Kamkwamba scrambled up the windmill and hooked a car light bulb to the turbine.

As the blades began to spin in the breeze, the bulb flickered to life and a crowd of astonished onlookers went wild.

Soon the whiz kid's 12-watt wonder was pumping power into his family's mud brick compound.

'Electric wind'

Out went the paraffin lanterns and in came light bulbs and a circuit breaker, made from nails and magnets off an old stereo speaker, and a light switch cobbled together from bicycle spokes and flip-flop rubber.

Before long, locals were queuing up to charge their mobile phones.

WINDS OF CHANGE
# 2002: Drought strikes; he leaves school; builds 5m windmill
# 2006: Daily Times writes article on him; he builds a 12m windmill
# 2007: Brings solar power to his village and installs solar pump
# Mid-2008: Builds Green Machine windmill, pumping well water
# Sep 2008: Attends inaugural African Leadership Academy class
# Mid-2009: Builds replica of original 5m windmill

Mr Kamkwamba's story was sent hurtling through the blogosphere when a reporter from the Daily Times newspaper in Blantyre wrote an article about him in November 2006.

Meanwhile, he installed a solar-powered mechanical pump, donated by well-wishers, above a borehole, adding water storage tanks and bringing the first potable water source to the entire region around his village.

He upgraded his original windmill to 48-volts and anchored it in concrete after its wooden base was chewed away by termites.

Then he built a new windmill, dubbed the Green Machine, which turned a water pump to irrigate his family's field.

Before long, visitors were traipsing from miles around to gawp at the boy prodigy's magetsi a mphepo - "electric wind".

As the fame of his renewable energy projects grew, he was invited in mid-2007 to the prestigious Technology Entertainment Design conference in Arusha, Tanzania.

Cheetah generation


William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer (left) spent a year writing the book

He recalls his excitement using a computer for the first time at the event.

"I had never seen the internet, it was amazing," he says. "I Googled about windmills and found so much information."

Onstage, the native Chichewa speaker recounted his story in halting English, moving hard-bitten venture capitalists and receiving a standing ovation.

A glowing front-page portrait of him followed in the Wall Street Journal.

He is now on a scholarship at the elite African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mr Kamkwamba - who has been flown to conferences around the globe to recount his life-story - has the world at his feet, but is determined to return home after his studies.

The home-grown hero aims to finish bringing power, not just to the rest of his village, but to all Malawians, only 2% of whom have electricity.

"I want to help my country and apply the knowledge I've learned," he says. "I feel there's lots of work to be done."

Former Associated Press news agency reporter Bryan Mealer had been reporting on conflict across Africa for five years when he heard Mr Kamkwamba's story.

The incredible tale was the kind of positive story Mealer, from New York, had long hoped to cover.

The author spent a year with Mr Kamkwamba writing The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which has just been published in the US.

Mealer says Mr Kamkwamba represents Africa's new "cheetah generation", young people, energetic and technology-hungry, who are taking control of their own destiny.

"Spending a year with William writing this book reminded me why I fell in love with Africa in the first place," says Mr Mealer, 34.

"It's the kind of tale that resonates with every human being and reminds us of our own potential."

Can it be long before the film rights to the triumph-over-adversity story are snapped up, and William Kamkwamba, the boy who dared to dream, finds himself on the big screen?

[MaDalton]

i wonder what place Africa would be if it wasn't ruled by corrupt, rotten criminals - supported with money from China or the western world

[minddust]

This is brillant!

[Fletch XXX]

very cool!

turbines are HUGE!



much bigger than they look in pics

[BlackCrayon]

pretty interesting though i couldn't help but notice that while these people have no power or running water, they have mobile phones..?

[Phoenix]

wow good for him...he is going places for sure...i hope he doesnt leave his people behind though

[Davy]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

i wonder what place Africa would be if it wasn't ruled by corrupt, rotten criminals - supported with money from China or the western world

The US so need to deploy some troops into Somalia to fix the piracy problem.
But of course they don't do it. Nothing there but sand.

[Tube Ace]

I love stories like this. Thanks for posting.

[BlackCrayon]

Originally Posted by Fletch XXX

very cool!

turbines are HUGE!



much bigger than they look in pics

those are babies. Check these puppies out.

A truly amazing story, saw this a few days ago. - J

[Fletch XXX]

yeah they are much bigger than expected when you get close to them, not sure how high the ones in California are but they are big, those ones you posted look even bigger!

[pornguy]

Yeah I read about that kid not long ago. Good for him. To bad some AssHat that runs the area will come along and destroy it and then kill him.

[bronco67]

he was on the Daily Show last night. It should repeat sometime today or this evening on Comedy Central...or Hulu.

[The Duck]

Everything was okay until I saw that picture of Al Gore.

[Jman]

Originally Posted by Davy

The US so need to deploy some troops into Somalia to fix the piracy problem.
But of course they don't do it. Nothing there but sand.

Yup, won't happen.... there's no OIL

[marketsmart]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

i wonder what place Africa would be if it wasn't ruled by corrupt, rotten criminals - supported with money from China or the western world

isnt it interesting that the US decides that africa doesnt need to be liberated, but iraq did..

i also laugh every time i hear someone criticize iran for denying the holocaust when the whole world turned its back and pretended and still pretends that genocide doesnt exist in several regions in africa...

[pinkbits]

Makes me feel bad all we do is push porn!

[Pleasurepays]

FUCKING MADONNA!!!! I knew it. she didn't just adopt... she went there to steal talent.

[Scott McD]

Originally Posted by BlackCrayon

pretty interesting though i couldn't help but notice that while these people have no power or running water, they have mobile phones..?

They get free texts...

[RenegadeCash Mark]

What a great story!

[Agent 488]

guess the race.

[Chosen]

Amazing story

[brassmonkey]

thats one black negro. Maybe al gore will pay for his education

[Tom_PM]

Thats pretty cool and inventive. A lot of places could use that kind of spirit. Instead, they burn down forests just to collect... charcoal! The primary fuel supply! Thats hard to imagine.. burning down the planet so that dinner can be cooked.

Lets hope more people see piles of junk with the same inventive spirit.

[Lace]

Neat story and great to see someone making something out of themselves!

[uno]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

thats one black negro. Maybe al gore will pay for his education

I'm pretty sure Jon Stewart said they gave him a scholarship.

[alias]

What a resourceful guy.

[seeandsee]

new tesla what else