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Summary. Analysis. The windmill only works when the wind is blowing, so William begins searching for a battery to save up power. Meanwhile, he puts the windmill to new uses by helping his cousin Ruth charge her cell phone. Ruth is from the larger town of Mzuzu and always bothers William to take her phone to the trading center to charge while ...
- Chapter 2
Trywell was a large man, and liked to fight while he was out...
- Symbols
The Windmill. Built exclusively from recycled materials,...
- Themes
This principle of rebirth and recycling is most visible in...
- Epilogue
In June 2008, William travels to Cape Town, South Africa and...
- Plot Summary
William becomes a fellow at TEDGlobal 2007, and goes to...
- Chapter 11
Analysis. William starts to put his windmill together,...
- Chapter 9
Summary. Analysis. During the famine, most students stopped...
- Chapter 2
Analysis. William starts to put his windmill together, arranging everything on the ground outside his kitchen where there is both shade and a good steady breeze. He uses his maize-cob drill to bore holes in the tractor fan and attach his plastic blades using beer bottle caps for washers and bamboo sticks for reinforcement.
Summary: Chapter Eleven. William assembles the moving parts of the windmill and places it on top of a pole to test it. The span of the blades is nearly eight feet. When attached to William’s father’s radio, the windmill produces so much current that black smoke comes out of the radio. William researches transformers and dissipation in ...
Summary. Analysis. During the famine, most students stopped going to school, but the arrival of dowe and pumpkins means that the village has enough energy to resume classes. Sadly, William still cannot afford the school fees and spends his days playing games in the trading center instead of in class. Missing the mental stimulation, William ...
With a functioning windmill, his family could also have a water pump to irrigate the crops, allowing for two harvests a year. He states, “With a windmill, we’d finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger.” William builds a small windmill out of plastic, wood, and the motor from a cassette player.
Analysis. As William looks to improve his initial windmill design, the explanatory quality to his language increases. At this point, the book becomes an explanation of William's thorough understanding of electricity and how he managed to pull off such a feat of innovation. For example, in the first few paragraphs, he describes a "step-up ...
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Overview. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope is the 2009 autobiography of William Kamkwamba written with Bryan Mealer. For William, growing up in Malawi posed unique challenges but also fueled his innovative spirit to create a windmill to bring electricity to his village. William’s functioning windmill ...
