

The 14 year old boy from Malawi who taught himself to build windmills - milkshakes
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/movingwindmills/moving-windmills-documentary-film

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milkshakes
_..using blue gum trees, bicycle parts, and materials collected in a local
scrapyard_ [1]

 _my problem was that i didn't have much money to buy parts to construct the
windmill. over time, i found materials that had been discarded by other
farmers or by the nearby tobacco plantations. and i bought a few parts with
money i scraped together_ [2]

he's also invented a solar-powered water pump, written a book, spoken at TED,
been featured in a museum exhibit, and matriculated to Dartmouth.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kamkwamba> [2]
<http://movingwindmills.org/img/Diagram_storypage1.jpg>

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TomAnthony
_The extra $60K will help us edit to our rough cut over 75% faster and better
as we'll be able to afford more editing resources._

So their goal was $40k, but for an additional $60k they'll do the editing in a
little over half the time? I have to agree with the other commenters - the
$40k so the documentary can get out there and raise awareness is great.

However, the $60k additional just to speed it up seems like it could be spend
better elsewhere (on the boy and his projects, or another documentary or on a
similar cause).

Fantastic story of the young man though, and if people were happy to
contribute for the documentary, then that is brilliant. Raising awareness of
these stories is an ongoing battle.

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jamiemill
That $100k would go a lot further in the boy's hands than the filmmakers'. Do
the backers realise which they are donating to?

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heydenberk
Sort of bummed that this is a $100k+ collection for a feel-good (albeit well-
intentioned) documentary, instead of for that guy and/or people like him

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nir
Most of these projects, from a small documentary to multi-billion dollar aid
projects, _are_ feel-good projects. The impact on the ground is often
doubtful, sometimes downright negative. They don't scale, because you don't
build a scalable economy by handouts and cheerleading.

Ask Africans who work with these organizations what they think. Read Bill
Easterly. See here:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_mwenda_takes_a_new_look_at_a...](http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_mwenda_takes_a_new_look_at_africa.html)

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zyad
$100k for what ? They said they are finished with principal photography...
More editing? It's really a shame

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drstrangevibes
100k raised for a film to raise awareness of his project, how much has been
raised for the project exactly

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zotz
Send William a few bucks if so moved:

<http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com>

