My son, Tyler, and his wife gave me a book for my birthday. For me, books are the best ever gift. Wanna get on my good side? Give me a good book. Not those Harlequin romance type of books — blech! Something well-written, a good quality book. This gift was one definitely a high quality book! It was The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Meale (non-fiction). Come to find out, this book made Amazon’s Top 10 Best Books of the Year. I’m not surprised.
Because of a severe famine in 2001-2002, William’s family was unable to pay for his schooling during his freshman year in high school. Rather than languishing around doing nothing of consequence, William borrowed a book from a teeny, tiny library. Now this book wasn’t a novel or some light fluff reading. It was an American textbook titled Using Energy. (Would I have read a book like this when I was a freshman? Not hardly!) The picture of a wind turbine on the cover inspired William to build a windmill to provide power to his family’s home. After scrounging in a junkyard for materials like a broken bicycle, old PVC pipes, and tractor fan blades, William built his first windmill. A bit later, he built a taller one so that it would be above the trees to catch more wind.
People flocked to see his windmill. A man blogged about it. It came to the attention of the program director for TEDGlobal (a conference for great thinkers and innovators). William was invited to speak about his windmill. Because of that, people donated money to help fund his education. And changed his life forever.
I was deeply humbled by this book. William had one dingy white shirt and one pair of pants to wear to school. I have a closet full of clothes and drawers stuffed so tight they barely close. He only had flip flops for footwear. I have casual shoes, tennis shoes, dress shoes, shoes to wear to work, winter boots, several pairs of sandals, and even water shoes.
His family barely survived a famine. Having enough food to eat is still a huge concern for them. I have a walk-in pantry, a second pantry, a fridge, and a freezer full of food. I can buy things at a grocery store anytime I want.
His home had a thatched roof and no electricity. I have a nice comfortable home with a very sturdy roof and a dependable source of electricity. (And I won’t even go into all of the technology that swarms inside my house!)
His family didn’t have enough money to pay for his schooling. While my family wasn’t rich by any means, I was able to finish high school, get a bachelor’s degree, and a master’s degree without any undue financial hardship.
Here in America, my husband and I are just middle-class folks. Yet compared to William, I feel that we are outrageously wealthy.
I have heard about the three phases of life: learn, earn, return. I am in the third phase which means I ought to be ‘giving back’ to my community and to the world at large to help others along their path of life. Instead of focusing inward (on me, me, me and my family), I need to extend my efforts to improving society and the life of others. Somehow, maybe I could touch the lives of others who are in circumstances similar to William’s.
Thank you so much, Tyler and Lisa, for such a great birthday present!
Our book club read this and what caught me was Thegreat decriptions of how to construct it! I can’t believe I paid attention to it. I was in admiration of a young man that had such an opportunity to see how the rest of the world lived and he did not seem to covet it. he went back home and made the village a better place. I ached at the inhumanity of the government and was in awe that the people could survive through the famine on nothing to nourish them. I (obviously)can’t stand missing a meal!