William Kamkwamba
William Kamkwamba
William Kamkwambais a Malawian innovator, engineer and author. He gained fame in his country when, in 2002, he built a windmill to power a few electrical appliances in his family's house in Wimbeusing blue gum trees, bicycle parts, and materials collected in a local scrapyard. Since then, he has built a solar-powered water pump that supplies the first drinking water in his village and two other windmillsand is planning two more, including one in Lilongwe, the political capital of Malawi...
NationalityMalawian
ProfessionInventor
Date of Birth5 August 1987
CountryMalawi
I looked at my father and looked at those dry fields [in Malawi]. It was the future I couldn't accept.
My voice sounded like one of the guinea fowl that screeched in our trees as it pooped, but I never let that stop me.
Don't insult me today just because I'm poor, you don't know what my future holds!
BEFORE I DISCOVERED THE miracles of science, magic ruled the world.
Sometimes you can fail in an experiment. But if you fail, you still don't stop observing that thing, looking for a better way.
Climate change is important to Malawi, but many people see alternative energy more as a means to skip the government and get electricity and power. Deforestation is a huge problem in Malawi, which only adds to the problem. People cut down trees because they have no power to run electric stoves, etc. So they use firewood.
I will always be looking back at the things I've gone through, thinking of the struggling people I've seen.
I want to bring clean water to people who do not have it. What I'm trying to do now is think of ways to build a well-drilling machine that is low-cost so people in rural areas can afford it. People in rural places could use the water for irrigation or for drinking.