
The Doers Club - bootload
http://changeobserver.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=10707
======
bootload
_"... In 2002, I built my first of several windmills to provide my family with
electricity and irrigation. This was in Malawi, where a terrible drought and
famine had destroyed our maize crops and killed thousands of people. The
famine also forced me to drop out of secondary school because my father could
no longer afford my fees. Determined to continue my education, I began
visiting a local library, funded by the Americans, where I quickly fell in
love with science. As the hunger clawed its way across our country, the
library was where I escaped and became lost in discussions of
electromagnetism, simple motors and electricity — my favorite topic ..."_

William has a blog here ~
<http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/> & twit account ~
<http://twitter.com/wkamkwamba> and a couple of Ted talks here ~
[http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/moving_wi...](http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/moving_windmills_and_paying_it_forward)

------
thangalin
I donated $250 US through PayPal.

Donations Coordinator Contact Information Moving Windmills Project, inc.
mmarkiewicz@cbizmahoneycohen.com 2127905914

<http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/>

Edit: I encourage you to do the same.

~~~
mahmud
These are the people OLPC was supposed to empower. The man has his own
electric source, I wanna get him a laptop full of ebooks.

~~~
tomjen2
I concur, but it isn't going to do much good if he doesn't read English.

~~~
mahmud
I very much doubt that he is _unable_ to learn to read English :-)

------
mahmud
William said he couldn't speak English. If anybody is interested in teaching
others like him English while learning their language and culture, drop by one
of the many language-exchange websites. Here is one for Malawi:

[http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Search.asp?selX3=95&se...](http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Search.asp?selX3=95&selX6=1&selCountry=134)

------
joechung
William's talk at TED -
[http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_t...](http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind.html)

------
kiba
This guy put me to shame.

I got an Arduino Duemilanove, the internet as my library, and lot of
electronics to scavenge. I only produced something as insignificant as a
working CD-ROM motor and some LEDs light.

He produced a windmill power generator!

~~~
mkn
It's not often I get to say something positive, so I'm jumping on the chance
here. I'm going to guess that you live in a first-world nation where plentiful
electricity is an afterthought. A working CD-ROM motor is awesome! I presume
that this is a brushless design? And the feeling of control you get from
lighting those LEDs is awesome, too!

William Kamkwambe did not put you to shame. With any luck, he will have
inspired you! You and I live in an environment saturated with information and
technology. Maybe you'll be inspired to accept a slightly less extravagant
lifestyle in exchange for some charitable donations? Maybe you'll be inspired
to use your skills to do some work overseas where it could alleviate real
suffering?

The beauty of this story is that it makes both the plight of many people and
the prospect of manifold solutions seem more real. What you do or do not do
with William's contribution will be your source of pride or shame.

------
cesare
This guy is a true hacker.

~~~
caffeine
He is, you're right. And I'm sure that it's individuals making incremental
improvements in life quality that moves a place forward. But ... (and I'm
trying to say this right) ... some part of me feels really depressed that a
Malawi kid building a scrapyard generator is hailed as being so inspirational.

Is our view of Africa _so_ pessimistic, then, _so_ jaded, that what appears to
be routine on Scrapheap Challenge is an inspirational act, just because it
happened in Africa? Does it mean we normally operate on the underlying
assumption that it is _preposterous_ for the average African kid to work to
improve his life, but perfectly normal for a kid in Texas or Utrecht to do so?

Does it mean we view the normal functioning of the good human spirit, of
generosity and inventiveness, as somehow nonexistent in typical African
children and therefore worthy of immense celebration in this one child? Do
these views permeate our governments? Do we send aid not as the favor a good-
natured neighbor would perform in times of duress, but rather as we might
offer a beer to a man we have beggared, knowing his condition to be permanent
but wishing nonetheless to lend him a moment's joy in a world of suffering?

Maybe our celebration of this kid (and it's true, what he did is awesome and
helps his village and family out tremendously) is just about being genuinely
warmed by the overcoming of a supremely difficult environment. Or maybe
celebrating a minor victory assuages our guilt, pervasive hopelessness, and
ultimate indifference regarding Africa.

I'm honestly not certain - but every time I see one of these stories, this
same feeling of uneasiness comes up, and I'm not sure which way is the truth.
Probably, like everything in the world, it's some of each.

~~~
mahmud
_Does it mean we normally operate on the underlying assumption that it is
preposterous for the average African kid to work to improve his life, but
perfectly normal for a kid in Texas or Utrecht to do so?_

Don't over think it.

American culture is littered with celebrations of child academic/scientific
achievements; spelling bees, science competitions, mathematics Olympiads,
appearances in late-night shows, "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader", etc.
Science and Mathematics magazines are full of the achievements of the youth,
and the greatest of them all, SAT scores and college-admission epeens!
Graduate students of every field live under the shadow of some little
cockblock child prodigy or another; how many times have you been told "Gauss
did this when he was 9", etc.

Every once in a while, we're allowed to have one such story .. from Africa.
Fair enough?

------
maxklein
How much easier it would have been if there were a book with step-by-step
instructions. How many more people would have been able to create something
like that.

If you really want to help, how about taking some useful knowledge that you
have, make a step-by-step instruction on how to achieve that, and publish this
somewhere? This is more useful than donating $250 to some black hole.

~~~
Luc
And if you really _really_ want to help, you can catch the next plane with
some supplies, and if you really _really really_ want to help you can move
there for a few years and work for free - but meanwhile I think a $250
donation is not to be sniffed at!

------
camccann
Impressive.

The world needs more people like this guy.

------
peregrine
Sometimes I feel like living in a modern society that we have little need to
"hack" solutions cause its far cheaper to buy a current solution. And
regardless it appears that all low hanging fruit are taken and it appears that
it takes more climbing to reach even a little achievement.

I love what he is doing, regardless.

------
known
Seriously, some body should nominate him to Nobel Prize
<http://nobelprize.org/contact/faq/index.html#nominate>

------
seiji
At first glance I was expecting an article about
<http://www.kpcb.com/team/doerr>

