Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Malawi, a small, impoverished African country, constrains its people to a life of farming and lack of science. William Kamkwamba recollects on the adversity that he faced growing up in this community in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, in which he, like others, suffers from a lack of education, money, and food. However, William is able to find opportunities to improve the situations that he is forced to deal with. Unable to afford schooling, he studies in the library instead. He uses what he learns to take what most would consider junk, a create a windmill. Also, throughout this time, the famine forces him to look in unlikely places to find food sources. Similar to him, the teachers in his community endure a lack of supplies and continue to

educate children. Despite hardships, William and those around him manage to find opportunities to improve their situations.
Despite living in a community plagued by poverty, William Kamkwamba finds the opportunity to continue his studies and change his fate in the library. Much like the rest of his country, William’s family is struck by famine and left without money to pay for school fees. Incapable of keeping his mind stimulated, he begins going to the library regularly. Although he cannot receive proper lessons from a teacher, he “check[s] out the same Malawian textbooks [his] friends [are] studying at school” (139). A boy whose family’s financial situation once destined him to farming, now discovers a place that gives him the opportunity to further his education. Every day, William returns to the library “just to continue learning and stay inspired” (227). The textbooks on electricity and energy give him new ideas to improve his community, one of which becomes the windmill, the invention that brings him out of poverty. What once seemed like a hopeless situation becomes William’s passageway to a new future. Despite the discouragement from his lack of schooling and wealth, he finds the opportunity to change his state of education and aspiration through the resources in the library.
William, being one of the many common people that operates a farm as their main source of income, suffers from poverty but refuses to allow it to control his life.

Along with bettering himself using the library, he utilizes his creativity to make his own toys from objects that others consider junk. “Since we had no money for a real ball, we made our own using plastic shopping bags[...]we [built our trucks] from Shake Shake cartons and pieces of wire. To us, they were just as beautiful [as the expensive toys]” (24). He seizes the opportunity enjoy his childhood using free materials, one that many others would not. To gather the components for his windmill, William “[spends] the next three weeks sifting through the grass [of the junkyard] like a bomb-sniffing dog, turning over every piece of metal in hopes of uncovering a generator [he] may have missed” (183). Despite his inability to purchase expensive, pre-made parts, he is able to create his own by searching through the junkyard. This perseverance leads to his success in not only having a windmill as a power source, but also as a booster for his education later on in his life. William has trouble accessing the proper tools to build his windmill as well, but instead of admitting defeat, he made his own when he went “into the kitchen and stuck the cob-handled nail into the fire, and once it glowed hot, [he] bored a square pattern [into the blades]” (188). His determination and ability to use materials that others considered

worthless enabled him to revolutionize the energy system of Malawi and become a Dartmouth scholar. He saw a learning opportunity in making his own windmill that was just as valuable as a secondary school education. William seizes the opportunities to turn worn out materials into valuable tools for his toys and inventions, an important skill that allowed him to find success in life.
As starvation sweeps across the country, William and his family struggle to find a sufficient meal. He has to rely on the hope that the drought will end and the corn will soon grow. “During these hard times, everyone learned the rules of supply and demand” (82). William takes all of the opportunities to get food or anything that will give him energy to keep him going. On Christmas Day, William resorts to the skin of an animal for a meal. He asks his friend in disgust, “Can you eat that?’ […] It's all meat, right?” Even though this meal is unappetizing and is the last thing he would think to eat, he takes this as an opportunity to finally fill his stomach. The rest of the world and even other people in his village would throw away the skin and see it as garbage. William, however, sees the opportunity to feed himself, and turns it into a valued meal. Earlier that day, “around noon, my mother did manage to serve us a holiday lunch, but it was just the usual blob of nsima. She'd probably worked very hard to save enough flour for that extra meal, but it was impossible to eat with a happy heart”(93). On Christmas, William expects chicken, rice, bread, and tea. During the famine, however, that is not the case. William’s mother tries to give her family a meal, even if it was only nsima. During times of starvation, William took any chance he received to eat something that would satisfy his hunger. Growing up in these hard, deadly times teaches William that he has to take every opportunity he can get. As William grows up, he does this repetitively; with his education, his inventions, and even his meals.
William’s journey is aided not only by his own ability to seize hidden opportunities, but also the ability of those around him.

As a young boy, William went to school at Wimbe Primary. There was no money available for books, “The teachers always ran out of chalk, and most students never owned a pencil” (58). However, the teachers, working with the limited materials, were still able to teach sufficiently. Students, though lacking materials like books and pencils, would still, “scribble the answer in the dirt with their finger” when asked to do math or spell their names (59). The students and teachers were able to find opportunity to teach where many wouldn't. As William continues through his schooling experience, he encounters other teachers who are able to seize teaching opportunities despite working in poverty. At Kachokolo Secondary, the conditions are just as poor as in Wimbe. On the first day of school here, William has to sit on the floor. “‘The government sent no money for desks and chairs… or anything else, for that matter’” (108). Lacking many materials considered necessary in first world countries, however, did not prevent the teacher from successfully teaching. “Despite the poor conditions, Mister Tembo wasted no time starting our lessons. Right away we began studying history” (109). Even with having to use subpar materials, Mister Tembo is able to find a way to teach even in the poverty he is forced to work with. He turns trash into treasure by allowing kids to

learn even in the horrible conditions present, which in turn aids William and the situation that he’s been dealt.
William’s journey through life in Africa is aided by the ability of him and those around him to find opportunities in hardship. As William finds opportunity first in learning outside of the schools that failed him and then in materials many would deem as useless, he is turning trashy scenarios into treasure. Furthermore, the ability of him and those around him to find opportunity in hardships leads to his survival in a dreadful famine, and his ability to learn even in impoverished schools. The willingness of those living in poverty to seize opportunities is an incredible display of human nature outside of the comforts of a first world country.