« Winning the oil endgame: Amory Lovins | Main | "Mathemagics": Arthur Benjamin on TED.com »
12 December 2007
William Kamkwamba in the Wall Street Journal
William Kamkwamba, a young Malawi man who designed and built a windmill for his family when he was 14 -- and who spoke so memorably at TEDGlobal Africa this June -- is profiled on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal in a story headined "A Young Tinkerer Builds a Windmill, Electrifying a Nation." Writer Sarah Childress adds detail to the story that Kamkwamba told onstage in Tanzania:
Mr. Kamkwamba's wind obsession started six years ago. He wasn't going to school anymore because his family couldn't afford the $80-a-year tuition.
When he wasn't helping his family farm groundnuts and soybeans, he was reading. He stumbled onto a photograph of a windmill in a text donated to the local library and started to build one himself.
There's also a great 2-minute video that shows the updates Kamkwamba has made to his family's home power system, and talks about what's next for him:
Video: Writer Sarah Childress from the Wall Street Journal talks to William Kamkwamba, a 20-year-old Malawian who built a windmill to power his family's home. Image courtesy Wall Street Journal
Discuss this Blog Post
Loading Comments... 
Become a Fan of TED
on Facebook
Follow TED on Twitter:
@TEDNews | @TEDTalks
Subscribe to TED RSS feeds:
TED Blog | More RSS Options
Recent Comments
BrokenPen on You asked Seth Godin absolutely anything -- and he answered
swaroopch on The Buzz: Shukla Bose inspires with her story of education
joa1 on How to feed the whole world (the case for white bread): Louise Fresco on TED.com
Christmas on Ze Frank: "Santa ain't fat"
areks on The Buzz: Sunitha Krishnan on the human face of human trafficking
nivashkumar on The Buzz: Pranav Mistry awakens the Sixth Sense
krishnamurthir on The Buzz: Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev meditates on majestic chaos
krishnamurthir on The Buzz: Pranav Mistry awakens the Sixth Sense
nivashkumar on The Buzz: Sunitha Krishnan on the human face of human trafficking
twentytwo on Rebuilding broken states: Ashraf Ghani on TED.com
News from TED
Learn about TEDIndia conference >>
Find all our posts about TEDGlobal 2009 >>
Follow the TED Fellows blog >>
Throw your own TED-style event with TEDx >>
TED takeaway
TED ringtones:
TEDTalks Classic tune in [mp3] [m4r]
TEDTalks Phase II tune in [mp3] [m4r]
Subscribe to TED's weekly newsletter
Get the latest news on the TED Prize on TEDPrize.org >>
Archives
TED Bloggers
Chris Anderson | Curator
June Cohen | Director of TED Media
Amy Novogratz | TED Prize Director
Tom Rielly | Community
Bruno Giussani | TED European Director
Jason Wishnow | Director, Film + Video
Emily McManus | Editor, TED.com
Matthew Trost | Assistant Editor, TED.com
Shanna Carpenter | Writer and Community Organizer, TED.com
Diego Rodriguez | Guestblogger
Jane Wulf | TED Scribe
Blogs we watch
+ TEDPrize.org
+ TED Fellows blog
+ Thomas Dolby | TED Musical Director, blogging at ThomasDolby.com
+ Emeka Okafor | TEDAfrica Director, blogging at Timbuktu Chronicles and Africa Unchained
+ The indispensable Global Voices
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Powered by Movable Type
