
Self-taught William Kamkwamba has received praise from business leaders and climate change activists all around the world, including Al Gore.
Given that he was forced to leave school at age 14 because his family could no longer afford the $80-a-year (£50) tuition, his incredible achievements are all the more impressive.
His prospects appeared limited when he returned to his parents’ modest acreage in the Masitala community in rural Malawi.
However, this was not another story of how poverty has hampered the promise of Africa.
Defense against hunger

The village in which the kid lived has never had running water or electricity.
And he wasn’t going to wait for officials or humanitarian organizations to act on his behalf.
After one of Malawi’s worst droughts, which resulted in thousands of deaths and put his family in danger of starving in 2002, there was an even greater need for action.
Because he was unable to go to school, he continued his studies by accessing a nearby library.
His life was forever altered when, as a science enthusiast, he picked up a worn-out textbook and discovered a drawing of a windmill.
“I was quite excited when I discovered the windmill could create energy and pump water,” Mr. Kamkwamba told the BBC News website.
I reasoned, “That might be a defense against hunger. Perhaps I might construct one for myself.”
He labored on his prototype while working with a paraffin lamp in the nights when he wasn’t helping his family grow maize.
But his clever proposal was met with blank stares in his 200-person community.
He says that “many, including my mother, feared I was going mad.” They had never before seen a windmill.
The shock

The fact that the boy spent so much time exploring trash dumps further confused the neighbors.
People mistook me for a pot smoker, he claimed. I explained to them that I was merely creating something for juju (magic), and they said, “Ah, I understand.”
Mr. Kamkwamba, who is now 22 years old, made the blades for the turbine out of plastic tubing that had been flattened by being held over a fire, together with a tractor fan blade and an old shock absorber.
In a regretful recollection of his months of laborious labour, Mr. Kamkwamba recounts, “I got a couple electric shocks climbing the [windmill].”
The completed design, a 5-m (16-ft) tall blue-gum tree wood tower that was swaying over Masitala, appeared to be little more than a vain tinkerer’s blunder.
However, when Mr. Kamkwamba climbed the windmill and attached a vehicle light bulb to the turbine, his neighbors’ amusement quickly turned to surprise.
A gathering of amazed witnesses went wild when the light sparked to life and the blades started to spin in the breeze.
The genius child’s 12-watt marvel soon began supplying power to his family’s mud-brick home.
Electric wind

The paraffin lanterns were replaced with light bulbs, a circuit breaker fashioned from the magnets and nails from an old stereo speaker, and a light switch constructed from bicycle spokes and flip-flop rubber.
Soon, locals began standing in line to charge their phones.
When a writer from the Daily Times newspaper in Blantyre produced an article about Mr. Kamkwamba in November 2006, the story was propelled around the blogosphere.
While doing this, he added water storage tanks, constructed a mechanical pump powered by solar energy above a borehole, and provided the area around his town with its first source of potable water.
Having had the wooden base of his initial windmill eaten away by termites, he upgraded it to 48 volts and anchored it in concrete.
Then he constructed a second windmill, which he called the “Green Machine,” to drive a water pump that irrigated his family’s field.
Soon, people from all over the place came to watch at the boy prodigy’s magetsi an mphepo, or “electric wind.”
He received an invitation to the famous Technology Entertainment Design conference in Arusha, Tanzania, in the middle of 2007 as word of his renewable energy projects spread.
Cheetah generation
He remembers how thrilled he was to use a computer for the first time at the occasion.
He remarks, “I had never seen the internet, it was incredible. “I Googled windmills and discovered a lot of information.”
Standing ovations followed the native Chichewa speaker’s hesitant onstage retelling of his tale as he moved the jaded venture capitalists.
He was then featured on the Wall Street Journal’s main page in a glistening photograph.
He is currently enrolled on scholarship at Johannesburg, South Africa’s prestigious African Leadership Academy.
The world is at Mr. Kamkwamba’s feet, but he is determined to go home after his studies. He has been flown to conferences all over the world to share his life story.
With only 2% of Malawians having access to electricity, the local hero wants to finish providing power to the entire country.
I want to use everything I’ve learnt to benefit my country, he declares. I believe there is a great deal of work to be done.
Bryan Mealer, a former reporter for the Associated Press news agency, had been covering conflict in Africa for five years when he learned Mr. Kamkwamba’s tale.
The amazing event was the kind of inspiring tale that New Yorker Mealer had long wished to write about.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which has just been released in the US, was written by the author for a year with Mr. Kamkwamba.
Mealer claims that Mr. Kamkwamba is a representative of Africa’s new “cheetah generation,” a group of youthful, tech-hungry individuals who are taking charge of their own fate.
The 34-year-old Mr. Mealer says, “Spending a year with William writing this book reminded me why I fell in love with Africa in the first place.
It’s the kind of story that reminds us of our own potential and connects with every person.
How long until the film rights to the inspirational tale of overcoming adversity are bought up and William Kamkwamba, the young man who dared to dream, appears on the big screen?

A man joins a search operation without realizing he is the missing person
Beyhan Mutlu, a Turkish national, was reported missing by local media and unintentionally joined search teams looking for himself in a forest. He was drunk and lost in the woods when he ended up in a group with others looking for himself.

Why Is the N Lowercase in 7-Eleven?
7-ELEVEN is thought to have a lowercase "n" in its logo because the company president's wife believed that a logo with all caps would seem harsh, while a lowercase "n" would make it more graceful.

Lafayette pizza delivery driver who saved 5 from burning house
Nicholas Bostic a 25-year-old pizza delivery man from Lafayette, Indiana, ran into a burning house to rescue four children, who told him there is one more inside. He ran back inside, he found the six-year-old girl, jumped out of a window, carried her to a cop who captured the moment on his bodycam.

A flight attendant uses a secret note to save a teen girl from sex trafficking
The flight attendant Shelia Fredrick. She spotted a distressed girl with an older man. She left a note in the restroom on which the victim wrote that she needed some help. The girl was rescued from a human trafficker after the authorities were informed.

This whale tail sculpture saved a train that went off the rails
A train in the Netherlands failed to stop in time and broke through the emergency barrier. It's being held up by the statue of a whale's tail.

Frank Lentini, The Three-Legged Sideshow Performer
Francesco Lentini was a man with three legs, four feet, sixteen toes, and two sets of functional male genitals. He worked for the circus and lived to be 78 years old.

Man Trapped in the Sahara Desert Constructs a Bike From His Broken-Down Car to Save His Life
A man who became lost in the desert disassembled his broken-down car and turned it into a functional motorcycle, which he used to escape.

Inspiring story of Emma Schols who Saved Her Six Kids From A Burning House
Emma Schols, a Swedish mother, saved all six of her children from a devastating house fire in 2019, running from room to room through flames while bleeding and losing skin. Against all odds, she survived with severe burns covering 90% of her body.

'Super obedient' lookout parrot trained by Brazilian drug dealers is seized by police
In 2019, police in Brazil seized a 'super obedient' lookout parrot trained by drug dealers. According to reports, the bird had been taught to alert criminals to police operations by shouting: "Mum, the police!" As soon as the police got close, he started shouting.

Smart girl saves her family more than 100 people in 2004 tsunami
In 2004, a 10-year-old girl saved her family and 100 other tourists from the Asian tsunami because she had learned about the giant waves in a geography lesson, it has emerged.

The Man Who Kept a “Gold” Rock for Years—Only to Discover It Was a 4.6-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Worth a Fortune
A man cherished a heavy 17-kilogram rock for years, believing it to be solid gold. The surprising twist? Experts later revealed it was a rare, 4.6-billion-year-old iron meteorite—an ancient cosmic relic worth far more than gold. Dive into the fascinating story of this celestial treasure and what makes it so valuable.

A Pilot Survived 20 Minutes Outside A Flying Jet
In 1990, the captain of flight 5390 Timothy Lancaster got sucked out of his own plane when the window of the plane fell off. The crew held the captain’s leg for 30 minutes while the plane performed emergency landing. Everyone survived.

Toddler Calls 911 Accidentally and Saves Dad's Life
A father from Florida collapsed on the floor during a medical episode. Fortunately, his toddler son dialed 911 by accident and saved his life. An officer from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office arrived quickly and administered first aid before transporting him to a nearby hospital.

The incredible story of a plane that lost its roof in mid-flight and the light signal that saved 94 lives.
On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines flight 243 was on the way to Honolulu from Hilo when a huge portion of the upper part of the fuselage blew off the airplane.

New York installs first offshore wind turbine to power 70,000 homes
New York State has achieved a historic milestone in its clean energy transition by installing the first wind turbine at its first offshore wind farm, South Fork Win.

The accidentally discovery of Riace bronzes
Stefano Mariottini was snorkeling off the coast of Monasterace near Riace in 1972 when he noticed a human hand sticking out of the sand and called the police, thinking it was a corpse. It was actually two statues of "Warriors from Riace" - 5th century BC Greek bronze statues.

Photos: This man sold everything 45 years ago to buy a bike and travel 6,000 miles from India to Sweden to see his love.
An Indian man traveled from India to Sweden on a bicycle to meet his Swedish wife in 1978. The journey took him 4 months and through eight countries.

Tourist in China left hanging from 330-ft-high glass bridge as wind blows away its panels
The popular tourist attraction glass-bottomed bridge was shattered after a strong wind blew away its panels. A Chinese tourist was left stranded in strong winds 330 feet up on a glass-bottomed bridge.

Australian man dies, comes back to life, and wins the lottery twice
Bill Morgan, an Australian, is a man who has beat the odds. He escaped death by surviving a horrific automobile accident and heart attack before collapsing into a coma and going on to win the lotto twice. He went from losing virtually everything to winning far more than he could have imagined.

How hero parrot saved little girl who was choking on her breakfast
In 2008 Quaker parrot Willie alerted his owner Megan Howard when the little girl she was babysitting began to choke. Howard was in the bathroom when the parrot repeatedly yelled "Mama! Baby!" flapping his wings. Megan rushed and performed the Heimlich maneuver, saving her life. Willie received the Red Cross Animal Lifesaver Award.

Abraham Crijnssen – The Ship That Disguised Itself As An Island
During World War II a Dutch minesweeper evaded the Japanese for eight days disguised as an island. The crew covered the decks in cut trees and painted exposed surfaces to look like rocks. They moved only at night and anchored closed to shore by day, eventually escaping to Australia.

Before "The Rock," There Was "Rocky Maivia"
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first WWF persona was Rocky Maivia, a face (good guy). The audience rejected him due to his cheesy character, with chants of “Die, Rocky, die!”. After this, he became a heel (villain), referring to himself in the third person as “The Rock” and insulting the audience.

The Inspiring Journey of Francis Tsai, Marvel Comics artist diagnosed with ALS
Francis Tsai, an American illustrator and conceptual artist who worked for Marvel Comics, was diagnosed with ALS in 2010. After he lost the ability to move his hands and arms, he started painting digitally on his cellphone with his right big toe. After he could not move his feet anymore, he began using eye-gaze technology to keep drawing.

How 'Brad's Drink' Became Pepsi-Cola
Pepsi was first introduced as “Brad’s Drink” in New Bern, North Carolina, United States, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, who made it at his drugstore where the drink was sold. It was renamed Pepsi Cola in 1898, named after the digestive enzyme pepsin and kola nuts used in the recipe.

Story of Forrest Fenn and who he hid a bronze chest treasure full of gold and other jewels
Forrest Fenn, an art dealer, hid a bronze chest full of gold and other jewels somewhere in the Rocky Mountains ten years ago. In a poem, he hinted at its location. Thousands of people tried and failed to find the treasure, which is said to be worth over a million dollars, and at least four people died in the process. In June 2020, the Fenn treasure was discovered.