Global Ecovillage Network/Solution Library/Harvesting the wind with scrap metal

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A young man from Malawi defies drought and starvation by building a windmill to pump up water from scrap metal with a handful of books he can only barely read.

• Drought, hunger, lack of resources.

William Kamkwamba was a son of poor farmers in Malawi. During the severe drought of 2001, the whole country was starving while the soil lay bare. Kamkwamba refused to accept the horrible fate that was upon him and his family. By studying the images in a handful of English books on natural science, he learned to build a windmill from scrap metal and was thus able to pump up water for crowing crops.

I tried and I made it. Never give up.

• Renewable Energy & Transport.
• Seeds, Food & Soil.

• http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind#t-309871