Lessons of windmills, perseverance and hope
I don't crash the man cave that often. But after losing our brother-in-law to cancer the day after Thanksgiving I found myself wanting to hang out with my husband. His sister was no longer able to do that with her guy — which made us both very sad.
We searched for a movie on Netflix that would lift our spirits. Decided to try one from a couple years ago that we hadn't seen — “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” — based on the true story of William Kamkwamba. I later listened to a TED talk he gave and learned even more.
William was fourteen, working his family's maize farm, in the Southeastern African country of Malawi 20 years ago. Between inflation and severe drought his parents had not been able to pay the $80 fee to keep him in secondary school. The famine got so bad they ate only one meal in the evening — each being allowed three swallows of nsima, a thick starchy porridge.
William had a hunger not born of famine — but desire to learn. Though school wasn't an option, his interest in science drew him to the rural village library where he found a junior high textbook from the U.S. titled, “Using Energy.” He discovered a windmill could pump water and generate electricity. He thought if there was water for the crops it would be a “defense against hunger.”
With no instructions William figured out from a single picture how to build a windmill. He scavenged a scrap yard for materials — eventually locating a tractor fan, shock absorber, bicycle frame, PVC pipe, an old bicycle dynamo, and a car battery. He assembled pieces with his version of a screwdriver — a heated nail attached to a corncob. He collected wood from blue-gum trees for the tower.
William was like Noah building the ark. Everyone gathered around him mocking. No one, including his mother, thought he could do it. But he did. His village now has irrigation water pumped from a well. William became something of a sensation in his country. Not only did he eventually finish high school, he was able to attend Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, graduating with a degree in environmental studies.
Today he's involved in multiple projects around the world — and has installed solar technology in his village to give clean water. In his TED talk he had this to say, “I tried. And I made it.” He continued with a message “for all the people out there like me — to the Africans and the poor — who are struggling with your dreams. God bless. Trust yourself and believe. Whatever happens, don't give up.”
The movie about William Kamkwamba and his success amid setbacks of hunger and poverty did just what Terry and I hoped. It encouraged our own life. We could see this teenager reaching outward from his own troubles to make life better and more fulfilling for others.
Not a bad antidote for “windmills” that need to get pumping again.