Happy Birthday to a Boy Who May Harness the Wind Someday

Dear Sammy,

The Boy who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer is the story of a boy who lives on a farm that, because of drought, doesn't grow enough food to feed his family, let alone earn the money to keep him to school. William describes the sadness of the difficult times, but he doesn't linger on them. Instead, he ignores his hunger, and goes to the library when his friends are in school to read science books. He has trouble reading English, but the librarian translates for him and he uses the books' illustrations to figure out how to make a windmill for his backyard. At first it generates just enough electricity to power a car light bulb in his bedroom so he can read at night, but he dreams of one powerful enough to pump water so his mother would not have to walk for fresh water for cooking and powerful enough to irrigate his family's farm so they would never again go hunger. Through cycles of harvest and famine, William's family never has the eighty dollars he needs to return to school, so when he's not helping his Dad in the fields he's searching through a junkyard, studying in the library, and developing the windmill's power. (Soon his whole house is lit, but only after he creates a circuit breaker so it won't burn down.)

His two best friends, Geoffrey and Gilbert help him – with money when they have it, with their hands when they can, but mostly with their encouraging words. The librarian helps with her words too, and when the people who gave the small town the library learn about William's windmill he becomes famous.

William Kamkwamba lives in Malawi. His story is true. When he was fourteen, he built a windmill. Now he is twenty-three and studying in the African Leadership Academy, a high school for future leaders of Africa. The library was funded by the Malawi Teacher Training Activity (a private US agency) and William's education is being funded by entrepreneurs from all over the world who see in him their younger selves – men and women with imagination and perseverance.

Why am I telling you about this boy when you've just celebrated your first birthday, Sammy? Because I see in you the same curiosity and stick-to-it-ive-ness in you that William shows. When you imitated Aunt Nancy's nods and Pops hands as we talked at dinner, it was as if they were illustrations showing you how to have a conversation. When you stacked your toys, you said "Gee" and "Ga" to yourself, enunciating each step of a plan that appeared to be very clear to you. And how did you know that the noise to make while you pushed your first car around the kitchen was "Va-room"?

I thought of your great-grandfather Earls (aka Grampy) while I was reading William's story because he saw pinwheels (toys that capture the wind) as signs of God's gracious power. He also believed God speaks through children. Watching you play, and reading about William, I believe Grampy was right on both accounts.

Love,

Marmee