Winds of Change

Malawi is a land-locked country in the south eastern part of the African continent. Its friendly people have earned it the nickname - “the warm heart of Africa”.

William Kamkwamba is a native twenty-four year old Malawian inventor who is putting his ingenuity to good use in addressing some of the practical problems that plague his country.  Kamkwamba was forced to discontinue his education due to his family’s inability to pay his tution fees. Undeterred, he took to visiting his village library in an effort to continue his studies in the only way available to him.

            One of the books that caught his attention was called, Using Energy. It had pictures of windmills, and described their function. This inspired the resourceful young man to construct his first windmill for his family’s use. The unassuming contraption, put together from Blue Gum trees, bicycle parts, and recycled material from the local scrapyard, successfully powered his some of his family’s electrical appliances.

            Encouraged, Kamkwamba went on to build two other windmills in his village, and a solar-powered water pump, no small blessing for a nation which is ranked among the world’s ten poorest, where 90% of Malawians live in rural areas.

Build a better mouse-trap, and the world will beat a pathway to your doorstep. Kamkwamba received the 2010 GO Ingenuity Award. With the grant from this award, Kamkwamba plans to hold workshops, to pass on his skills to other Malawian youth, that they too may play a role in transforming the lives of their community.