Inspiring Story
I came across an article today in WorldChanging.com about a boy from Malawi whose ingenuity and resourcefulness made a big impact on his family's life and is now inspiring many people from around the world.
His name is William Kamkwamba, a 19-year-old who has had to drop out of school in 2002 because his family couldn't afford to pay the school fees. Despite this, however, he was still determined to educate himself as much as possible, reading books at a nearby public school library on his own. Here, he came across two books which caught his interest -- one talked about the principles of energy, and in the other was a how-to on building a simple windmill.
Living in a home with no electrical supply, he decided to experiment and tried out building a windmill of his own. Scrounging around for materials he could use in his village, and buying the other parts from money he was able to scrape together, he was able to build a windmill which, now, is able to supply the basic electrical supply needs of his home. They can now use light bulbs instead of relying on candles, and his family can now listen to the radio... and he can even charge the mobile phones of some of his neighbors!
Wow. Considering that he's a dropout from school, attaining only the equivalent of a primary school education, this is quite a remarkable accomplishment. He only had his intelligence, his ingenuity, his determination. And he was able to make a difference.
His accomplishments caught the attention of many people, including the organizers of TED Global Conference, who invited him for a short interview on-stage at the conference in Tanzania. Here, he had his first encounter with the Internet, and was immediately amazed at the wealth of information that it could offer.
Now, William is a regular blogger, telling readers about the further developments he's making in his windmill project. You can read and find out more about him at his blog, williamkamkwamba(at)typepad(dot)com.
This story is really a wow story for me. William set out to do something with the simplest of motivations -- to get electricity for his home. But in the process he has managed to do something great.
His name is William Kamkwamba, a 19-year-old who has had to drop out of school in 2002 because his family couldn't afford to pay the school fees. Despite this, however, he was still determined to educate himself as much as possible, reading books at a nearby public school library on his own. Here, he came across two books which caught his interest -- one talked about the principles of energy, and in the other was a how-to on building a simple windmill.
Living in a home with no electrical supply, he decided to experiment and tried out building a windmill of his own. Scrounging around for materials he could use in his village, and buying the other parts from money he was able to scrape together, he was able to build a windmill which, now, is able to supply the basic electrical supply needs of his home. They can now use light bulbs instead of relying on candles, and his family can now listen to the radio... and he can even charge the mobile phones of some of his neighbors!
Wow. Considering that he's a dropout from school, attaining only the equivalent of a primary school education, this is quite a remarkable accomplishment. He only had his intelligence, his ingenuity, his determination. And he was able to make a difference.
His accomplishments caught the attention of many people, including the organizers of TED Global Conference, who invited him for a short interview on-stage at the conference in Tanzania. Here, he had his first encounter with the Internet, and was immediately amazed at the wealth of information that it could offer.
Now, William is a regular blogger, telling readers about the further developments he's making in his windmill project. You can read and find out more about him at his blog, williamkamkwamba(at)typepad(dot)com.
This story is really a wow story for me. William set out to do something with the simplest of motivations -- to get electricity for his home. But in the process he has managed to do something great.
Labels: cool
posted by dexterslab @ 1:05 PM
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