My two-word opinion on “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope” by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer?

READ IT.

This is a very readable book about a boy (now young man), growing up in drought- and famine-stricken Malawi.  William Kamkwamba manages to overcome starvation and being forced to drop out of school because his family no longer can afford it.  He  figures out how to build a windmill to power his home.  This drew much attention, and made news in parts of the world; not just locally.  As a result, Bryan Mealer, author of a previous book about war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“All Things Must Fight to Live”),  heard about  William and his windmill.   To write this book, the two of them would meet together — William would tell stories through an interpreter to Mr. Mealer.

 This book is so much more than how William came to build his windmill.  William shares with us the local beliefs, customs, village and farming life; along with the hardships his family, the villagers and he has had to endure.

I was fascinated as soon as I started reading this book, when William shares with us stories about his countrypeople’s beliefs in magic, and the powers of the local witch doctors.  William relates an incident that happened when he was about 6 years old — he was given some stolen bubble gum — and he fears that the witch doctor will come and get him.  He says:

“But then, as if a dark cloud had passed over the sun, I felt the great eye of the wizard watching me through the trees.  I’d eaten his juju and now his darkness owned me.  that night, the witches would come for me in my bed.  They’d take me aboard their planes and force me to fight, leaving me for dead along the magic battlefields.  And as my soul drifted alone and forsaken above the clouds, my body would be cold by morning.  A fear of death swept over me like a fever”.

William also adds what his father thinks of magic: 

“In a land of poor farmers, there were too many troubles for God and man alone.  To compensate for this imbalance, he said, magic existed as a third and powerful force”.

By the time William is a teenager, he loves to tinker with things; taking apart radios just to try to figure out how they work.  He gets good enough that he repairs radios for people in his village and the surrounding villages.   The famine hit Malawi when William became a teenager.    His family struggled financially as a result.  William tells us how he kept sneaking into school even when his dad didn’t have the fees, but eventually he was caught and told not to come back again until the family could pay.  As he says:

“…Instead of going home to ask my father for the money, for the next two weeks I tried to go to school for free.

I had to calculate my movements carefully…..” 

We take for granted education here in the United States, don’t we?  There are so many children, not just William, who want an education but can’t get it.  However, William’s thirst for learning does not end when his school career does.  When he is not helping his family out, he goes to the library and reads as much as he can.  This is when William realizes he can build his own windmill and creatively uses various items, such as an old bicycle, a tractor fan, and random metal pieces.

I was constantly impressed at how resourceful William was and is.  Due to the publicity from his windmill, he is currently attending African Leadership Academy, a high school in Johannesburg, South Africa.  He hopes that more Africans can be educated, because he feels education is key to self-empowerment and the key to Africa ever reaching success.

He says:

“I hope this story finds its way to our brothers and sisters out there who are trying to elevate themselves and their communities, but who may feel discouraged by their poor situation.  I want them to know they’re not alone.  By working together, we can help remove this burden of bad luck from their backs, just as I did, and use it to build a better future”.

After reading “The Fate of Africa” by Martin Meredith (thoughts here), I had felt very discouraged by the continent’s future.  Now that I’ve read “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”,  I feel even more convinced that Africa’s future depends not on politicians, but rather, the citizens themselves.  Citizens like William Kamkwamba.

Again, I strongly recommend reading this book.  Yes, it is always inspiring to read about someone “beating the odds” —  but this also is a very readable account on the state of one African country, which in turn gives the reader a good idea of the issues facing Africa overall.  

I think my only complaint is that it isn’t clear when and how Bryan Mealer comes into this book, and how William is the co-author.  My questions were answered when I looked at the following websites related to this book.   The websites are worth looking at.   If you are actually still undecided on whether you want to read this book, I think you will be convinced after looking at least one of these websites.

websites:

www.theboywhoharnessedthewind.net

www.movingwindmills.org

www.williamkamkwamba.typepad.com

www.bryanmealer.com

Disclosure:  this book was sent to me by Harper Collins Publishers, for reading and reviewing.  Thank you!    I’d like to emphasize that I would still feel the same way about this book even if I had purchased it myself.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 8:31 PM and is filed under authors, book review, books, history, multicultural, science, websites to check out. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.