The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind



Pic courtesy flipkart

THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND
Creating currents of electricity and hope
Written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Cover illustration by Mary Schuck
Published by HarperCollins
Ages: YA / 15+

William Kamkwamba was a regular boy growing up in Kasungu, Malawi, Africa. His father was a farmer living off the land, a hardworking, honest man, who nevertheless found it difficult to feed his family of a wife, six girls, and a boy, with his yearly crop of maize and tobacco. The tobacco would be sold to pay for the children's education, and the maize would feed them...until the middle of the year. Then there would be the struggle to make it last till the next harvest. It was a dreary, difficult life, with not much hope for any better future. Added to that were ignorance, an overall poor state of education, rampant health problems like AIDS, superstitions that were crippling in their belief in magic-- not science, lack of basic amenities like drinking water and electricity. There was also the frequent failure of the rains, leading to a failure of crops, compounded by a tyrannical and indifferent government. All problems that are usually associated with the third world countries.

There was one such famine in 2002 when William was 13, leading to widespread malnutrition and deaths. William's family managed to scrape through it, all of them working odd jobs for a bit of food. There was of course, no money for school fees, and he and his sisters all had to drop out. The following year, there were better rains, and food was manageable, but school fees still were a problem.

William, though, had a keen mind and a thirst for knowledge. While many of his peers loafed around, he would go to the local library, and try to read, (there was a local library with books donated by charities) even though his English was not very good. He chanced upon two books, Explaining Physics and Integrated Science, which lucidly explained the science behind common objects with line diagrams. Using the concepts there, he tried creating electricity with the help of a bicycle dynamo to power a radio. Soon he found another book, Using Energy, which fascinated him with the pictures of windmills on the cover. This gave him his 'eureka moment.' He decided to build his own windmill.

"No more kerosene lamps that burned our eyes and sent us gasping for breath...I could stay awake at night reading instead of going to bed at seven with the rest of Malawi. But most important, a windmill could also rotate a pump for water and irrigation...No more skipping breakfast, no more dropping out of school. With a windmill, we'd finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger. In Malawi, the wind was one of the consistent things...A windmill meant more than just electricity, it was freedom."

In the rest of this amazing and un-put-downable book, William recounts his struggle to find material for his windmill in the junk heaps around the village, the hounding by the villagers who considered him crazy, the painstaking putting together of the parts, the support by his family and close friends who helped out at crucial points, the setbacks, and finally, the sweet taste of success.

William's first windmill next to his house.
Pic courtesy Tom Reilly

Soon word spread to neighbouring villages and towns, and people would come in hordes to see this 'electric wind' (as he called it in his local language, Chichewa), and it caught the attention of the media and academics. It was remarkable that a school dropout with not much formal education had achieved what many who are priviledged cannot- found a way out of the darkness harnessing a natural resource- with just a few basic science books at his disposal.

He was invited to be a TED Fellow, and this platform brought his acievement to the notice of the world, along with the spreading word on the blogosphere. It was at the TED conference that he met Tom Reilly, the TED Fellows Director, who would help to launch the Moving Windmills Project  for self-sustainable economic development in Malawi. Since then, William's village has seen unprecedented development, with wind power and solar power at the forefront. William is also all set to complete his education, with dreams of a brighter future for his country.

It is an inspiring story- one that should be widely read. The first few chapters give a stark picture of the poverty and deprivation which make William Kamkwamba's enterprise all the more spectacular.

This is a book for older readers-- 15years +, so I told A the story as I read through it, reading bits aloud to her. There is a Young Readers Edition due to be out in January 2012 that I'll be looking out for.

There is also this video that tells William's truly inspiring story in his own words. After watching this, A is keen to get her hands on the book.



Crossposted at Saffrontree.

Will be entering this review for the 2011 Global Reading Challenge under Africa, and for the Reading the World Challenge 2011 at Papertigers for myself.

Wrapping up the Flashback Re-reading Challenge- ANIMALS OF FARTHING WOOD

flashback challenge

Remember the book re-reading challenge I had participated in? Although the challenge began in January 2010, I joined in quite late, in August, as I discovered it then, and couldn't pass it up. I had posted quite an optimistic list of books to re-read, but have finally settled on doing the bookworm challenge-as I had said I might end up doing. The bookworm challenge required me to re-read at least one book from each of these categories-

1. Re-read a favorite book from your childhood
2. Re-read a book read in high school : Read and reviewed "A FLIGHT OF PIGEONS" by Ruskin bond here.
3. Re-read a book you loved as an adult : Read and reviewed "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD" by Harper Lee here.

Here is the third book to be read and reviewed for this challenge.

Pic courtesy flipkart 

THE ANIMALS OF FARTHING WOOD
Written by Colin Dann
Illustrated by Jaqueline Tettmar
Published by Egmont books UK
Ages: 9+

Farthing Wood is home to a menagerie of animals for a long time now, and they have been here for generations. Now, however, their home is being endangered by encroachments by humans. The whole heath is being dug up to build new buildings, the pond in filled up to reclaim the land, and it is no longer safe. At the end of their tether, they decide to move to White Deer Park, a nature reserve found by Toad quite unexpectedly. He had been taken away by some human children out on a nature expedition,  but had escaped and returned by the homing instinct.

The motley group, led by Fox and Badger, and including Toad ( he alone knows the way), Mole (who has to depend upon the faster animals to carry him), Hare and his mate, Pheasant, rabbits, voles, mice, hedgehogs, Adder ( who, along with Weasel, is looked upon by suspicion by the herbivores), Weasel, and Tawny Owl and Kestrel, who lead from the air, scouting out the territory ahead in case of a doubt as to safety.

The group takes an Oath of Mutual Protection, wherein all stronger animals are to protect the weaker ones, with some leading and some bringing up the rear, so that no animal is left behing or attacked by any outsiders. Adder and Weasel are most likely to break this Oath, or so it is supposed, so everyone is a bit more vigilant about their presence. But even they rise to the occasion when required.

It is a quest, an adventure, with obtacles like marshy land, a wildfire (triggered by the cigarette stub of a human being), a farmer out to vindicate the animal who has been stealing his chickens for many weeks now (obviously not our gang!), a river in torrential flow, babies being born to the mice and voles enroute, so that they have to leave the party, only to be butchered by a 'Butcher bird' (a Red-backed Shrike, a migratory visitor to Britain, considered extinct there since 1970, but found again on Dartmoor in 2010), a fox hunt, a pesticide laced field, a busy six-lane motorway and a town, before they can reach their destination. As is expected, there are a few deaths along the way, with the leaders doing their best to protect the rest.

At one point, while saving the rabbits while crossing the river, Fox is carried away, and, after a long hunt for him, considered dead. Leaderless for the while, the animals rally around Badger and Tawny Owl, in an uneasy joint leadership, and continue on their way. Joyfully, they are joined by Fox after many days, with an addition to their group, a Vixen who has helped him and accepted to be his mate.

One fine day, they finally reach the haven they are looking out for, and settle very well into White Deer Park, slowly dispersing and assimilating into the life there. But the travails they have been through together bonds them, and there are sequels that I would love to get my hands on.

I had read this book both in an abridged version as a very small child, and in the original when older. I had loved the sense of adventure it held for me then, and was a gripping, totally un-put-downable read. I was a bit aware of the message regarding conservation then, but not unduly troubled by it. I was a city born-and-bred creature, and not very much in tune with animal habitats and such. All that was just something we learnt about at school, and the seriousness of it was not really realised then.

I read it now as a part of the re-reading challenge, and it proved to be e very bit as enthralling as it did then. I was, however, better educated in the POVof the animals, and it made so much more sense to me. It made equal sense to my animal-loving daughter, whom I read the whole book aloud to. A has encountered a lot of environment consciousness and conservation at the wonderful school that she goes to, soon to move to a location out of town, in the midst of nature. Hopefully it is being built with minimal damage to the surrounding ecosystem!

I am also more aware of the dangers to wildlife due to roads etc. going through their habitat. When in the US and UK, we have often come across dead rabbits and such daring to cross these roads. Once we almost ran over one, and I can still remember the shriek of tyres with which we stopped just short of the animal streaking across.

There are so many stories in the newspapers too- of snakes, monkeys, etc. being found in homes, leopards found in housing complexes adjoining National Parks,  elephants on the rampage in villages, etc. The recent death of seven elephants by a speeding train  is a case in point proving that human beings have not yet realised their responsibility towards animals, who should be protected if humans MUST go through their territory.

A wonderful read. Colin Dann has created a work of art with wonderful characterisation, an adventure, a wonderful example of what can be achieved as a team, with a realisation that often a team is only as storng as its weakest link. With a message of conservation.