William Kamkwamba: The Boy Who Harnessed the Hearts of the World

When I began reading Chapter 1 of “Mistaking Africa,” it reminded me of our first class meeting. Professor Crowley asked us to do the same exercise Curtis Keim talks about in the text. Professor Crowley asked us what comes to mind when we think about Africa. It is a great exercise and allow us to express our perceptions of Africa. Even in class, it took me time to think about what comes to mind when I hear the word Africa, because I have not really heard much about it besides the common misconceptions: “Africa is a primitive place, full of trouble and wild animals, and in need of our help” (5). I frequently see the UNICEF commercial with Alyssa Milano, who asks her viewers how it would feel to be able to save a child’s life for fifty cents a day. The commercial precedes to play really depressing music and shows a slideshow of undernourished children, who fend for themselves in

In The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the major symbol found in the book is William’s windmill. This symbolizes hope for a better life for his family. “You have a child who can perform wonders. You’ll never complain about kerosene” (205). This quote proves he helped his family in many ways. A better life where they could have electricity and lights. The windmill represents the ambition and determination William has to build the windmill when everyone doubts and makes fun of him. This symbol is talked about all throughout the book, as it is the reason the book was

There are many misconceptions that have been universally accepted mentioned in Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, many of which are based on biased and incorrect accounts and are extremely offensive. Three important myths are that Africa is a land of cannibals, it is backward and very uncivilized, and that it is one country where everyone and the climate are the same all over. These will be explained, refuted, and the detriment to the people of Africa will be discussed.

William Kamkwamba (the author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind) is a young African boy who took on the challenge and created a working windmill in a harsh environment, and little to no resources. Despite the hunger and poverty he took to the challenge and made his town enthusiastic to have new opportunities and goals due to their new achievement. This non-fiction survival story gives people a new perspective towards third world countries. William was a very independent thinker. He did something nobody else wanted to do, and for that, he gave the town a steady flow of electricity.

William kamkwamba had a very well set mind and very set ego and he would never give up on his windmill for his windmill he analyzed it and he monitored the aerodynamics of the windmill. William kamkwamba had to dig through hundreds of scraps and

In William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealers’ book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind the boy who harnessed the wind deals with teenager William Kamkwamba building a windmill in his backyard to produce light for his family’s home and to prevent future famines from ruining their crop. The famines in the book were a huge part of the book and a main drive for Kamkwamba while building the windmill. He described the horrors of famine on page 135 of his book using literary merit to explain how desperate the people most affected by the famine where and how that changed them. This page explained how the economy of Malawi was caving in on itself while the people of Malawi started changing. Thanks to the new change in power that had once helped farmers harvest

If Africans and members of the African diaspora learn that the history of Africa is not just of despair and poverty, but of wealth, they will be uplifted and manumitted(liberated). This is true for all scenarios. Knowledge is power and the more you know the more powerful you are. That’s why slaves weren’t taught to write and that’s why authoritarian regimes keep their people ignorant. Our history is proud and extremely vital not only to us but world history. It destroys the morale of people looking for who they are when they’re completely left out of world history entirely. So, all you know is you were once under colonial rule or a slave and don’t realize how much of an impact you’ve had on world history. While it may seem

He checked out books on physics, energy, and integrated science. He did this so he could learn how to produce energy and store it. He built a windmill from an old bicycle frame and some PVC pipes. Once he did this he was able to produce energy he learned about when reading his books. At first he was only able to put one

Since 1991, the southern half of Somalia, a poverty stricken African nation, has seen various tribal militias battle for dominance and power over individual regions of the country. Violence has plagued Mogadishu, the capital, since warlords ousted the former president. Mere months after the collapse of the government, men, women and children in torn clothes ran helplessly towards packages dropped from military planes towards the hot sand of their tiny village. This action was one of many attempts to help underdeveloped nations receive food by the United Nations' World Food Programme. Within his article titled "Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor", Garret Hardin, a well-known philosopher of ecology, analyzes the difficulty

At this Snowball sprang to his feet, and shouting down the sheep, who had begun bleating again, broke into a passionate appeal in favor of the windmill … Electricity, he said, could operate threshing machines, plows, harrows, rollers, and reapers and binders, besides supplying every stall with its own electric light, hot and cold water, and an electric heater. By the time he had finished speaking, there was no doubt as to which way the vote would go (Orwell 5).

William Kamkwamba shares his story of growing up in poverty and his fight against it during the TEDGlobal Talk in 2009. As a Malawian, a nation-wide famine in 2001 forced him to drop out of school. Determined to get an education, he began going to a library to learn from books. There, he finds the idea of building a windmill to pump water and generate electricity - a way of lifting his family out of poverty. Using scrap parts, he begins building his machine and attracts the attention of everyone around him, including reporters. As an engineer now, Kamkwamba wants to inspire other Africans to believe in themselves and follow their

Success can come in different aspects. These goals, most of them time, are self-centered, but there are always those exceptions. In Malawi, Africa, according to CNN, there was a massive drought which lasted for about “seven years” killing, and affecting thousands of people. A 14 year old by the name of William Kamkwamba, noticed that his village was being affected by such. Taking into consideration that there was a shortage on many resources, William realized that there was still something abundant out there, wind. William stated, ‘"I wanted to do something to help and change things," he said. "Then I said to myself, 'If they can make electricity out of wind, I can try, too.'" (CNN, Faith Camiri). He spent most of his days in the library and

A vicious cycle, if one were to describe poverty in Malawi, it would be just that. Malawi is a country in Africa full of vibrant culture and equally wholehearted people. Though the lack of education, environmental knowledge, and negligent politics have left Malawi’s citizens in the dirt poor and at times fighting for their lives. These elements are shown through the (growing?) eyes of a boy named William, the protagonist of the biography “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”. Though most Malawians mean well, they have yet to notice how destructive their actions can be.

The fading of the idealist mirage of 'civilizing work' in Africa has to be one of the central

Nyerere once told the international community that hunger in Africa is a relevant problem. The unfavorable relationships between the rich and poor countries increase the African helplessness. They instead overlook Africans and disqualify them from the globe dialogues (Nyerere 1985). Unfair trade and disqualification of Africa, including Tanzania led to what (Lofchie, 2014) claimed to be failed economic policies in the country. Although Nyerere’s policies, discounted to failure by some, according to (Wabike, 2015) yet, his government intended: