The boy who harnessed the wind

This fantastic true story of boy’s dream to improve the standard of living in his village in Malawi is both inspiring and full of good economic examples (and therefore a winning combination!). William Kamkwamba’s family had to pull him out of school in Malawi as they could no longer afford the £50 annual fee; however, he continued to use his local library to study science and set out on a project to use items of junk and waste to build a windmill in order to bring electricity and running water to his village. There are some lovely examples here relating to development in terms of grassroots approaches, some of the problems faced by those living in developing countries, the positive externalities associated with education, alternative measures to tackling climate change as well as an inspirational entrepreneurial story. I for one will be buying the book telling the story of this young man’s vision.