Home > Work > The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
21 " It was common for my father to sit my sisters down and tell them things like, "I saw a girl working in the bank in town, and she was a girl just like you." My parents had never completed primary school. They couldn't speak English or even read that well. My parents only knew the language of numbers, buying and selling, but they wanted more for their kids. That's why my father had scraped the money together and kept Annie in school, despite the famine and other troubles. "
― William Kamkwamba , The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
22 " Inside the maize mill, the owners no longer had any use for a broom. The hungry people kept the floors cleaner than a wet mop. At the beginning of the month, the mill was packed full of those waiting for fallen scraps. The crowd would part long enough to allow women to pass with their pails of grain. As the machine rumbled and spit a white cloud of flour into the pails, the multitude of old people, women, and children watched intently with eyes dancing like butterflies. Once the pail was pulled away, they themselves on hands and knees and scooped the floor clean. Afterward, old women would rattle their walking sticks up inside the grinder as if ringing a bell, collecting the loose flour that drifted to the floor. "
23 " Sensing my delight at seeing his laptop, Tom asked me, "William, have you ever seen the Internet?""No."In a quiet conference room, Tom sat me down at his computer and explained the track pad, how the motion of my fingers guided the arrow on the screen."This is Google," he said. "You can find answers to anything. What do you want to search for?""Windmill."In one second, he'd pulled up five million page results-pictures and models of windmills I'd never even imagined. "
24 " I try, and I made it! "
25 " I went to sleep dreaming of Malawi, and all the things made possible when your dreams are powered by your heart. "
26 " If you want to make it, all you have to do is try. "
27 " BEFORE I DISCOVERED THE miracles of science, magic ruled the world. "
28 " Whatever you want to do, if you do it with all your heart, it will happen. "
29 " Few people realize this, but cutting down the trees is one of the things that keeps us Malawians poor. "
30 " Cool! Where did you get such an idea?” “The library. "
31 " Everyone has the same hunger, son. We must learn to forgive "
32 " No matter how foreign and lonely the world outside, the books always reminded me of home. "
33 " If it weren’t for the great Scottish missionary David Livingstone, the Yao and Chewa might still be at odds today. Livingstone helped end slavery, opened Malawi to trade, and built good schools and missions. Young men became educated and earned money, and once these economic opportunities were available to all, our two tribes had little reason to fight. Today we consider the Yao our brothers and sisters. My "
34 " Grandpa says that once a lion gets a taste for human blood, it won’t stop until it’s eaten an entire village. "
35 " Twenty days,” I said, looking at my father. “I’d say you’re right.” We smiled and stroked the leaves like swaddled babes, enjoying the soft music they created together in the breeze. "
36 " When planning misfortune for your friends, " he said, "be careful because it will come back to haunt you. You must always wish others well. "
37 " The Arabs from Zanzibar convinced them to become Muslim, then recruited them to capture our Chewa people and put us into bondage. They raided our villages, killed our men, then sent our women and children across the lake in boats. Once there, the slaves were shackled by the neck and made to march across Tanzania. This took three months. Once they reached the ocean, most of them were dead. Later on, the Yao captured and traded us to the Portuguese in exchange for guns, gold, and salt. "
38 " The pictures in the library book had provided the idea, hunger and darkness had given me the inspiration, and I'd set out myself on this long, amazing journey. "
39 " Even though we lived in a small village in Africa, we did many of the same things kids do all over the world; we just used different materials. After talking with friends I met in America, I know this is true. Children everywhere have similar ways of playing with one another. And if you look at it this way, the world isn’t such a big place. "
40 " My first and only experience with magic left me with sore hands, a throbbing eye, and a healthy dose of skepticism. Gradually, the witches and wizards didn’t seem as frightening or powerful, and I began to look at the world in a different way. I saw it as one explained by fact and reason, rather than mystery and hocus-pocus. "
