If this book doesn't inspire us ...then possibly nothing else could :)
Breakfast ...lunch ..or Dinner ??? Which would u choose if u could only afford ONE meal per day !
Born in the year 1988...in a magical land which was still trapped in a world that was ruled by ghosts of trees such as the Gule Wamkulu ,
"the spirits of their dead ancestors, resurrected from the afterworld and sent to roam the earth. No longer human, they shared the skin of animals, and their faces resembled the beast of hell - twisted devil birds and demons howling in fright.."
A boy named William Kamkwamba was not even afraid of the cobras or lions when walking through the forest ...but his greatest fear was the Gule Wamkulu !
Here...we are not talking about 1000 years ...but simply as near as 20 years ago ( just take a moment to imagine how your world was at that time ....anything close ??!!i guess not ) While the rest of the world was speeding through science and technology ...Gule Wamkulu ruled the life of a boy in a village called Masitala in Dowa , a small town perched high in the hills of MALAWI. A country which was then under the control of Hastings Kamuzu Banda a powerful dictator who ruled for more than THIRTY years ! He was the first leader of the country after British rule and stayed on in power like forever... !
Williams family was all dependant on his fathers farm, growing Maize ( White corn ) and William was 9 years old when he was being bullied and humiliated in school everyday...while we would have come home crying to our parents or just try complaining to the teachers...William day dreamed of possessing superpowers... imagining himself a Goliath on the football pitch , with legs like rocket launchers. So he decides to accept "Mangolomera" a form of magic that delivered superhuman strength believed to be a kind of vaccine against weakness ! Gets a friend to do the rituals which involves cutting his knuckles with a razor ! he waits 3 days for the magic to work ...then tries fighting with one of those bullies but ended up with sore eyes...! the magic didn't work !! and he was utterly disappointed of course...little did he know that he had a genius within him waiting to be unleashed...who was capable of bringing light and life to his entire village...little did he know he will be recognized by Desmond Tutu or Al Gore ....he had not even seen an electrical switch board then ! Only luxury in the village was a battery powered radio...and people of the village goes to bed by 7pm...simply because darkness falls ...with no tv...no lights....no fans...you might as well sleep !
Now i am sure you have a rough idea of how life must have been for this 9 years old.....all magical, mystical....and super natural... and extremely humble....but then that was not even the problem....because at least they were not starving then....Williams father earned enough to feed his family and to send William to school too....but then it didn't last....
Farmers over there were all dependant on rain...if the rain fails to provide the needs of the crops in time then you are in trouble....especially when the corrupted government isn't able to come to the rescue...
in the year 2000...while the rest of the world hyped about welcoming the new millennium...organized parties and countdowns to new years...and worried about the computers systems crashing ! Malawi was simply longing for the rain in December which finally came ....but a little too much that it ended up washing away homes and livestock along with the seedlings that had just begun to grow. By then the country had a new President who vowed to assist every farmer with "starter packs" that contained 2 kilos of maize seed and 5 kilos of fertiliser but not surprisingly failed to deliver it to the farmers due to corruption in the system.
" what will happen to us next year papa" asked William to his father
"I don't know. But at least we are not alone. Its happening to everyone" said his father.
And soon it led to this.....Williams father calls for a family meeting... sitting at their humble hut....his father says....we have to go down to ONE meal per day from tomorrow...and we have to decide on which one to take.... One says...breakfast...one says lunch....but finally the father decides.....
" NO It will be supper....so that no one has to sleep with an empty stomach...and when we wake up in the morning we have a motivation to go on...knowing we have food for supper "
Now...have we made such decisions in our lives...? And let me say that even that one meal they decided on is not sufficient to have as individual servings...they have to put it in ONE big bowl and make sure each child and parent scoop the right amount so everyone gets equal share...and as always the parents prefers to take the smallest scoops...letting the children have a little more...and the youngest one doesn't understand the situation and usually takes a bigger scoop....and you don't have the heart to stop her....but you are also hungry for more....knowing the next meal would not come in 24 hours....and eating pumpkin leaves was luxury !! and to make things worst ...they had a dog to feed...and while the dog is watching ..hungry...and growing weak...day after day ,William has to be strong enough to be able to eat his share...letting his lovable dog starve right before his eyes....but...how could you cry for a dog...when the entire village is starving to death....and you are growing thinner and weaker yourself day by day? Friends, relatives , neighbours and children...dying one by one.... yes ...officially a country in FAMINE....
" The starving people didn't say much. It was as if they were already dead, yet still looking to fill their stomachs."
By now he was not going to school because the father couldn't afford to pay the school fee...and William was still hungry for education...so he walks to the village library to read himself so that he is not left out when and if at all he is able to go to school again....he mostly reads Physics...learns about electric..batteries....wires...connections....windmills...generators and so on....all by himself and he gets very interested in this field.
Okay....this was LIFE for William...when a simple bicycle DYNAMO caught his attention...!!He was curious as to why the lights of the bicycle stays on when the wheels are moving and stops when wheels stops....how does the dynamo work ?? If a dynamo and wheel could bring light...why cant i use the same to bring light to my home....? or to listen to radio...? These were the questions that eventually led him to build a windmill and bringing light to his home ! And bare in mind that...he used the weirdest of things which he collected ONE at a time from the scrapyard....motors of tractors ...tins...planks....bicycle wheels....chains...nuts and bolts...he spend so much time at the scrapyard...that people of the village started calling him a madman...collecting garbage ...he was laughed at...humiliated....and his parents were disappointed at his behaviour.....but his father decides to give him a chance partly coz he also felt guilty he wasn't able to send him to school....
And eventually....the boy succeeded..! the entire village watched him while he demonstrated how his windmill worked....and when the lights came ....the village was stunned as well as puzzled as they had no idea how it even worked !!
Yes i thought this was the MOST inspiring story i have known simply because when human beings are denied of the VERY basic needs like FOOD..most of us would just be crushed both physically , mentally and spiritually....but this amazing boy had not only IGNORED the hunger and pain but simply directed his attention to something he LOVED doing...his dream to build the windmill was his food !! He desire to prove himself was his energy...his determination and confidence was his shield against the humiliations and then ....of course he MADE it !
When i was done reading this book i could only tell myself this ....WE HAVE NO EXCUSE to stop chasing our dreams...so just get up and go ...the world will bring all you need to get there...no matter how ! :)
check out these links for more about this amazing boy !
