Life Adventures » William Kamkwamba http://tomandjoy.trlong.com "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." ~Rachel Carlson Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:43:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Windmill Prodigy http://tomandjoy.trlong.com/2009/10/windmill-prodigy/ http://tomandjoy.trlong.com/2009/10/windmill-prodigy/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:53:10 +0000 Tom http://tomandjoy.trlong.com/?p=992 Thanks to Wired Science, I learned of a 14 year old boy in a remote African village who should be an inspiration for all of us. William Kamkwamba noted the wind in Malawi and thought he could rig something up to power a light to read by. This boy, who had been forced to drop out of school for lack of the $80 tuition, went to the public library and checked out some books on windmills. What happened after that will surely give everyone a lift. Watch this video and share it. What a great young man.

This story has ties into so many of my values: overcoming adversity, ingenuity, generosity, bootstrap economics, and, of course, environmentalism. (Not to mention my love of the public library system.) Go William!

You can buy his book from Amazon, which also posts some related videos.

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