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Cover Story

Grades 4-6

The Power of Hope

Brenda Iasevoli

After a deadly drought struck his country, William Kamkwamba decided to do something. He built a windmill. It generates electricity and pumps water to the fields of his village.

The people of a small village in the African country of Malawi thought William Kamkwamba had gone mad. Day after day, the 14-year-old boy tinkered with tractor parts, car batteries and bicycle wheels that he found in a junkyard. He built a 16-foot tower outside his family's house with wood from nearby trees.

"Everyone laughed when I told them I was building a windmill," Kamkwamba, now 22, told TFK. The laughter turned to cheers when Kamkwamba climbed the tower. He hooked a lightbulb to the turbine. The blades spun and the bulb flickered to life.

Now the windmill generates electricity to power four lightbulbs. Few Malawians have electricity. Kamkwamba's neighbors line up to charge cell phones and other electrical appliances.

A Problem Solved

Kamkwamba built the windmill after a drought killed thousands in Malawi. That year, instead of 20 bags of corn, his father grew only three bags' worth. The family ate a single meal of nsima (see-mah)oa corn-flour pancake each day.

Because his family could no longer afford the $80 tuition, Kamkwamba dropped out of school. But he visited his school's library often. He found a science book containing pictures of windmills that could pump water. This was the solution his village needed.

Today, Kamkwamba runs three windmills. One of them irrigates crops. And he is back in school. "I want to use my knowledge to help my country," he says. He hopes to become a teacher so he can help bring electricity to all Malawians.

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