Because there are not a lot of stories about African ingenuity, and yet there is this striking sense that African problems will need African ingenuity, I wanted to pass on this clip from the Daily Show about William Kamkwamba, who built a windmill out of scrap materials in his village in Malawi, at the age of 14, using a picture he got in a library book.
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NPR has been putting a lot of air time behind this story. It is pretty amazing. One moment in the story that was pretty amazing was when he is trying to "drill" holes into the plastic pieces for the shaft/turbine fins using a nail heated in a fire.
The second catch in my breath was the issues he faced from other people in the area when a drought came about. He was accused of witchcraft and there was significant tension that came about.
Definitely worth listening to/watching. Perseverence and sheer brilliance in a way that is hard to imagine.
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