The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind Summary

In The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, William Kamkwamba explains how he created electricity for those who have never imagined the power of it. Since science was not well taught, William and most Malawians believed in Magic from a young age. When William was a teenager, he started to wonder how things worked and was frustrated because nobody had answers. This sparked an interest in electronics, and he began fixing radios. When fixing radios, they needed a form of power. The problem was that electricity was provided by a turbine from the Shire River, which was South of William’s village. The river would often get flooded with soil and garbage, requiring costly maintenance. Maintenance meant power cuts and a raise for the price of electricity. This

caused most people, including William’s family, to be too poor to afford it. Therefore, William had to rely on used batteries from waste bins.

He then started to explore on his own how generators worked and how this could be used to operate a radio. He read about how the wind could be used to power a wind turbine, and decided to make one. In 2000, there was so much rain that it flooded, sweeping away the seeds. This disaster diminished yield, which meant less money and lack of food for people. This eventually became a famine. To make things worse, William didn’t have enough money to pay fees to go to school, which meant he had to drop out. However, he continued his education by going the library, where he learned about generators, wind turbines, and electricity. He said that he knew that “if windmills existed on the cover of that book, it meant another person had built them.” He was confident he could build one. When he was seen, people mocked him and called him a “madman with his garbage,” or “just a lazy boy who plays with toys.” Despite the insults, William eventually finished his wind turbine. When he finished the wind turbine, William made it light up a light bulb, and eventually his entire house. William reflects on his experience that “If you want to make it, all you have to do is

try.”
In The Boy who Harnessed The Wind, there were many examples of the five themes of geography. Location was very prominent. For example, the location of Malawi influenced that fact that floods and droughts occur. This caused seeds and fertilizer to be washed away, reducing yield. This was the cause of the famine, resulting in many diseases and starvation.
Human-environment played a major role in William’s life.

When there was rain, it caused trash and soil to break generators from a nearby river. This then caused electricity costs to spike and causes electricity to be sporadic. This made it very difficult for anyone to get reliable power, reducing productivity, as nightfall meant sleeping. Also, the location of William’s village meant that it was harder for Malawian government officials to ship fertilizer to farmers far away from the big cities. This results in less yield for farmers. In the book, this created a famine, which killed many and caused starvation.
Lastly, region was very important. Since bigger cities received more attention than smaller villages, William’s village didn’t get enough assistance toward electricity or food. This caused a lack of productivity at night and lots of malnutrition throughout his village.
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind was an overall very inspirational novel. William explains how he managed to get through so many hardships and still created something that other people would take for granted. He talked about surviving a famine, a time in which many people had died or contracted severe diseases. However, William had a dream of becoming different from his father and aspired to be a scientist. He succeeded and became a TED speaker. I feel that my greatest takeaway is that no matter what troubles you face, you can always overcome them and

succeed.
At a young age, I had a teacher who told me the quote “Life isn’t fair, learn it now.” When he said this, he wanted to explain that many Americans take too many things for granted. For example, some people complain that food doesn't taste good, when many people like William had no food to eat at one time. Another example would be people complaining that they want more electronics. In this story, William explained that if they had electricity, they were considered very lucky. With this story, I understand what it means to be grateful.