ABOUT THE SPEAKER
William Kamkwamba - Inventor
To power his family's home, young William Kamkwamba built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap -- starting him on a journey detailed in the book and film "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind."

Why you should listen

William Kamkwamba, from Malawi, is a born inventor. When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called Using Energy and modifying them to fit his needs. The windmill he built powers four lights and two radios in his family home.

After reading about Kamkwamba on Mike McKay's blog Hactivate (which picked up the story from a local Malawi newspaper), TEDGlobal Conference Director Emeka Okafor spent several weeks tracking him down at his home in Masitala Village, Wimbe, and invited him to attend TEDGlobal on a fellowship. Onstage, Kamkwamba talked about his invention and shared his dreams: to build a larger windmill to help with irrigation for his entire village, and to go back to school.

Following Kamkwamba's moving talk, there was an outpouring of support for him and his promising work. Members of the TED community got together to help him improve his power system (by incorporating solar energy), and further his education through school and mentorships. Subsequent projects have included clean water, malaria prevention, solar power and lighting for the six homes in his family compound; a deep-water well with a solar-powered pump for clean water; and a drip irrigation system. Kamkwamba himself returned to school, and is now attending the African Leadership Academy, a new pan-African prep school outside Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kamkwamba's story is documented in his autobiography, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope. A  documentary about Kamkwamba, called William and the Windmill, won the Documentary Feature Grand Jury award at SXSW in 2013 (watch a trailer ). You can support his work and other young inventors at MovingWindmills.org.


More profile about the speaker
William Kamkwamba | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2009

William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

William Kamkwamba: Como eu dominei o vento

Filmed:
2,717,871 views

Aos 14 anos, em meio à pobreza e fome, um garoto de Malawi construiu um moinho para gerar eletricidade para a casa de sua família. Hoje, aos 22, William Kamkwamba, palestrante aqui no TED, pela segunda vez, conta com suas próprias palavras a emocionante história da invenção que transformou sua vida.
- Inventor
To power his family's home, young William Kamkwamba built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap -- starting him on a journey detailed in the book and film "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind." Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
Thank you.
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Obrigado.
00:15
Two years ago, I stood on the TED stage in Arusha, Tanzania.
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Há dois anos, eu apareci no palco do TED em Arusha, Tanzania.
00:19
I spoke very briefly about one of my proudest creations.
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Eu falei rapidamente sobre uma das minhas criações que mais tenho orgulho.
00:24
It was a simple machine that changed my life.
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Era uma máquina simples que mudou minha vida.
00:28
Before that time,
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Antes daquela época
00:30
I had never been away from my home
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eu nunca tinha ido para longe da minha casa
00:33
in Malawi.
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no Malawi.
00:36
I had never used a computer.
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Eu nunca tinha usado um computador.
00:38
I had never seen an Internet.
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Eu nunca tinha visto a Internet.
00:42
On the stage that day, I was so nervous.
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Aquele dia, no palco, eu estava muito nervoso.
00:47
My English lost,
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Meu inglês sumiu,
00:51
I wanted to vomit.
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eu tive vontade de vomitar.
00:53
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
00:57
I had never been surrounded by so many azungu,
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Eu nunca tinha sido rodeado por tantos "azungu",
01:01
white people.
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brancos.
01:03
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
01:06
There was a story I wouldn't tell you then.
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Havia uma história que eu não contei para vocês na ocasião.
01:09
But well, I'm feeling good right now.
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Mas bem, eu estou me sentindo melhor agora.
01:12
I would like to share that story today.
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Eu gostaria de compartilhar tal história hoje.
01:15
We have seven children in my family.
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Nós somos em sete crianças na minha família.
01:17
All sisters, excepting me.
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Todas meninas, fora eu.
01:21
This is me with my dad when I was a little boy.
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Esse sou eu com meu pai quando eu era um garotinho.
01:26
Before I discovered the wonders of science,
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Antes de eu descobrir as maravilhas da ciência,
01:29
I was just a simple farmer
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eu era um simples camponês
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in a country of poor farmers.
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em um país de camponeses pobres.
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Like everyone else, we grew maize.
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Assim como todo mundo, nós cultivávamos milho.
01:38
One year our fortune turned very bad.
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Um ano, nós tivemos muito azar.
01:43
In 2001 we experienced an awful famine.
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Em 2001, nós passamos por uma fome terrível.
01:48
Within five months all Malawians began to starve to death.
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Em cinco meses, todo mundo em Malawi começou a morrer de fome.
01:55
My family ate one meal per day, at night.
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Minha família fazia uma refeição por dia, à noite.
01:59
Only three swallows of nsima for each one of us.
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Somente três bocados de "nsima" para cada um de nós.
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The food passes through our bodies.
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Mal se sente a comida passando pelo corpo.
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We drop down to nothing.
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Nós desmaiávamos por nada.
02:09
In Malawi, the secondary school,
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No Malawi, no segundo dia de aulas,
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you have to pay school fees.
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você tem que pagar matrícula.
02:14
Because of the hunger, I was forced to drop out of school.
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Por causa da fome, fui obrigado a sair da escola.
02:20
I looked at my father
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Eu olhei para o meu pai,
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and looked at those dry fields.
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e olhei para aqueles campos secos.
02:24
It was the future I couldn't accept.
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Era um futuro que eu não podia aceitar.
02:28
I felt very happy to be at the secondary school,
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Eu estava muito feliz por estar no segundo dia de aulas.
02:32
so I was determined to do anything possible
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Então eu estava determinado a fazer qualquer coisa
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to receive education.
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para poder aprender.
02:39
So I went to a library.
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Então eu fui para a biblioteca.
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I read books, science books, especially physics.
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Eu li livros, livros de ciências, em particular de física.
02:45
I couldn't read English that well.
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Eu não sabia ler em inglês muito bem.
02:47
I used diagrams and pictures
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Eu usava os diagramas e figuras
02:50
to learn the words around them.
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para aprender as palavras ao redor.
02:55
Another book put that knowledge in my hands.
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Outro livro colocou aquele conhecimento nas minhas mãos.
02:59
It said a windmill could pump water and generate electricity.
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Ele dizia que um moinho poderia bombear água e gerar eletricidade.
03:05
Pump water meant irrigation,
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Bombear água significava irrigação.
03:08
a defense against hunger,
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Uma defesa contra a fome,
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which we were experiencing by that time.
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pela qual nós estávamos passando naquela época.
03:14
So I decided I would build one windmill for myself.
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Então eu decidi construir um moinho sozinho.
03:18
But I didn't have materials to use,
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Mas eu não tinha os materiais para usar.
03:21
so I went to a scrap yard
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Então eu fui num ferro-velho
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where I found my materials.
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onde eu encontrei os materiais de que precisava.
03:26
Many people, including my mother,
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Muitas pessoas, incluindo minha mãe,
03:30
said I was crazy.
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disseram que eu era maluco.
03:32
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:34
I found a tractor fan,
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Eu achei um ventilador de trator,
03:36
shock absorber, PVC pipes.
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um amortecedor, tubos de PVC.
03:38
Using a bicycle frame
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Usando um quadro de bicicleta
03:41
and an old bicycle dynamo,
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e um velho dínamo de bicicleta,
03:45
I built my machine.
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eu construi minha máquina.
03:47
It was one light at first.
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Primeiro foi uma lâmpada.
03:50
And then four lights,
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Depois, quatro lâmpadas,
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with switches, and even a circuit breaker,
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com interruptores e até mesmo um disjuntor,
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modeled after an electric bell.
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feito a partir de um modelo em uma conta de luz.
04:02
Another machine pumps water
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Outra máquina bombeia água
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for irrigation.
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para irrigação.
04:09
Queues of people start lining up at my house
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Pessoas formaram filas na minha casa
04:12
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
04:14
to charge their mobile phone.
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para carregar seus telefones celulares.
04:16
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
04:20
I could not get rid of them.
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Eu não conseguia me livrar deles.
04:22
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
04:24
And the reporters came too,
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E os repórteres vieram também,
04:27
which lead to bloggers
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que levaram aos blogueiros
04:29
and which lead to a call from something called TED.
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e levaram a um telefonema de uma coisa chamada TED.
04:34
I had never seen an airplane before.
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Eu nunca tinha visto um avião antes.
04:36
I had never slept in a hotel.
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Eu nunca tinha dormido em um hotel.
04:39
So, on stage that day in Arusha,
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Então, no palco naquele dia em Arusha,
04:43
my English lost,
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meu inglês sumiu,
04:46
I said something like,
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e eu disse alguma coisa como,
04:49
"I tried. And I made it."
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"Eu tentei. E eu consegui."
04:53
So I would like to say something
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Então eu gostaria de dizer algo
04:55
to all the people out there like me
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para todas as pessoas por aí afora, como eu,
04:58
to the Africans, and the poor
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para os africanos e para os pobres
05:01
who are struggling with your dreams.
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que estão lutando por seus sonhos,
05:05
God bless.
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Deus os abençoe.
05:07
Maybe one day you will watch this on the Internet.
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Talvez um dia vocês vejam isso na Internet.
05:11
I say to you, trust yourself and believe.
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Eu lhes digo: confie em você e acredite.
05:16
Whatever happens, don't give up.
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Não importa o que acontecer, não desista.
05:18
Thank you.
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Obrigado.
05:20
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Giuliano Giordano
Reviewed by Erika Rodrigues

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
William Kamkwamba - Inventor
To power his family's home, young William Kamkwamba built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap -- starting him on a journey detailed in the book and film "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind."

Why you should listen

William Kamkwamba, from Malawi, is a born inventor. When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called Using Energy and modifying them to fit his needs. The windmill he built powers four lights and two radios in his family home.

After reading about Kamkwamba on Mike McKay's blog Hactivate (which picked up the story from a local Malawi newspaper), TEDGlobal Conference Director Emeka Okafor spent several weeks tracking him down at his home in Masitala Village, Wimbe, and invited him to attend TEDGlobal on a fellowship. Onstage, Kamkwamba talked about his invention and shared his dreams: to build a larger windmill to help with irrigation for his entire village, and to go back to school.

Following Kamkwamba's moving talk, there was an outpouring of support for him and his promising work. Members of the TED community got together to help him improve his power system (by incorporating solar energy), and further his education through school and mentorships. Subsequent projects have included clean water, malaria prevention, solar power and lighting for the six homes in his family compound; a deep-water well with a solar-powered pump for clean water; and a drip irrigation system. Kamkwamba himself returned to school, and is now attending the African Leadership Academy, a new pan-African prep school outside Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kamkwamba's story is documented in his autobiography, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope. A  documentary about Kamkwamba, called William and the Windmill, won the Documentary Feature Grand Jury award at SXSW in 2013 (watch a trailer ). You can support his work and other young inventors at MovingWindmills.org.


More profile about the speaker
William Kamkwamba | Speaker | TED.com