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 2007

William Kamkwamba: How I built a windmill

William Kamkwamba împărtășește experiența construirii unei mori de vânt

Filmed:
2,952,899 views

La vârsta de 14 ani, inventatorul de origine din Malawi, William Kamkwamba a construit pentru familia sa o moară de vânt generatoare de curent electric din piese de schimb, având drept suport schițe pe care le-a găsit într-o bibliotecă.
- 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.

00:29
ChrisChris AndersonAnderson: WilliamWilliam, hiBună. Good to see you.
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Salut, William. Îmi pare bine să te întâlnesc.
00:31
WilliamWilliam KamkwambaKamkwamba: Thanksmulţumesc.
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Mulțumesc.
00:32
CACA: So, we'vene-am got a pictureimagine, I think? Where is this?
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Așadar...avem o imagine, nu-i așa? Unde se află acest loc?
00:37
WKWK: This is my home. This is where I livetrăi.
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Aceasta este casa mea. Aici locuiesc.
00:41
CACA: Where? What countryțară?
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Unde? În ce țară?
00:43
WKWK: In MalawiMalawi, KasunguKasungu. In KasunguKasungu. Yeah, MalaMala.
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În Malawi, Kasungu.
00:46
CACA: OK. Now, you're 19 now?
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Bine. Și acum ai 19 ani?
00:49
WKWK: Yeah. I'm 19 yearsani now.
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Da, am 19 ani acum.
00:51
CACA: FiveCinci yearsani agoîn urmă you had an ideaidee. What was that?
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Acum 5 ani ai avut o idee. Care anume?
00:54
WKWK: I wanted to make a windmillmoară de vânt.
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Să construiesc o moară de vânt.
00:56
CACA: A windmillmoară de vânt?
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O moară de vânt?
00:57
WKWK: Yeah.
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Da.
00:58
CACA: What, to powerputere -- for lightingiluminat and stuffchestie?
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Pentru a avea curent electric...pentru a avea lumina etc?
01:02
WKWK: Yeah.
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Da.
01:04
CACA: So what did you do? How did you realizerealiza that?
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Și ce ai făcut? Cum ai reușit?
01:07
WKWK: After I droppedscăzut out of schoolşcoală, I wenta mers to librarybibliotecă,
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După ce am renunțat la școală, am fost la bibliotecă.
01:11
and I readcitit a bookcarte that would -- "UsingFolosind EnergyEnergie,"
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și am citit o carte..."Despre folosirea energiei"
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and I get informationinformație about doing the millmoară.
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și am găsit informații despre construirea unei mori de vânt.
01:18
And I triedîncercat, and I madefăcut it.
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Am încercat și am reușit.
01:20
(ApplauseAplauze)
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(Aplauze)
01:30
CACA: So you copiedcopiat -- you exactlyexact copiedcopiat the designproiecta in the bookcarte.
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Și ai copiat...ai imitat exact schița din carte.
01:34
WKWK: AhAh, no. I just --
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Aaa, nu. Am făcut doar...
01:36
CACA: What happeneds-a întâmplat?
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Ce s-a întâmplat?
01:38
WKWK: In factfapt, a designproiecta of the windmillmoară de vânt that was in the bookcarte,
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De fapt, schița morii de vânt reprezentată în carte
01:42
it has got fourpatru -- ahAh -- threeTrei bladeslame,
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avea trei...nu, patru palete,
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and mineA mea has got fourpatru bladeslame.
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iar a mea are patru.
01:49
CACA: The bookcarte had threeTrei, yoursa ta had fourpatru.
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În carte erau trei palete, iar moara ta de vânt are patru.
01:51
WKWK: Yeah.
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Exact.
01:52
CACA: And you madefăcut it out of what?
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Și din ce ai construit-o?
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WKWK: I madefăcut fourpatru bladeslame, just because I want to increasecrește powerputere.
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Am facut-o cu patru palete deoarece vroiam să măresc puterea.
01:59
CACA: OK.
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Ok.
02:00
WKWK: Yeah.
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Da.
02:01
CACA: You testedtestat threeTrei, and foundgăsite that fourpatru workeda lucrat better?
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Ai făcut testul cu trei palete și ți-ai dat seama că merge mai bine cu patru?
02:03
WKWK: Yeah. I testTest.
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Da. Am făcut un test.
02:05
CACA: And what did you make the windmillmoară de vânt out of?
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Și din ce ai construit moara de vânt?
02:08
What materialsmateriale did you use?
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Ce materiale ai folosit?
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WKWK: I use a bicyclebicicletă framecadru, and a pulleyscripete, and plasticplastic pipețeavă, what then pullstrage --
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Am folosit cadrul unei biciclete, un scripete și un tub din plastic care trage...
02:16
CACA: Do we have a pictureimagine of that? Can we have the nextUrmător → slidealuneca?
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Avem o imagine? Putem vedea următorul diapozitiv?
02:19
WKWK: Yeah. The windmillmoară de vânt.
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Da. Moara de vânt.
02:21
CACA: And so, and that windmillmoară de vânt, what -- it workeda lucrat?
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Așadar...această moară...funcționa?
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WKWK: When the windvânt blowslovituri, it rotatesse rotește and generatesgenerează.
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Atunci când suflă vântul, se învârte și generează electricitate.
02:30
CACA: How much electricityelectricitate?
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Ce cantitate?
02:31
WKWK: 12 wattswați.
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12 watt.
02:33
CACA: And so, that litluminat a lightușoară for the housecasă? How manymulți lightslumini?
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Așadar...era suficient pentru un bec? Câte becuri?
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WKWK: FourPatru bulbsBecuri and two radiosposturi radio.
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Patru becuri și 2 aparate radio.
02:40
CACA: WowWow.
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Oau!!
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WKWK: Yeah.
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Da.
02:42
(ApplauseAplauze) CACA: NextUrmătoarea slidealuneca --
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Deci...(aplauze)...următorul diapozitiv...
02:52
so who'scine that?
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Cine sunt aceste persoane?
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WKWK: This is my parentspărinţi, holdingdeținere the radioradio.
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Sunt parinții mei...cumpărau un aparat de radio.
02:57
CACA: So what did they make of -- that you were 14, 15 at the time --
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Și ce cred despre - pe atunci aveai 14,15 ani -
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what did they make of this? They were impressedimpresionat?
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ce cred despre asta? Au fost impresionați?
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WKWK: Yeah.
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Da.
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CACA: And so what's your -- what are you going to do with this?
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Și acum...ce vei face cu...?
03:07
WKWK: UmUm --
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Mmm...
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CACA: What do you -- I mean -- do you want to buildconstrui anothero alta one?
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Vreau să spun...vrei să construiești Înca una?
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WKWK: Yeah, I want to buildconstrui anothero alta one --
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Da, vreau să construiesc încă una...
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to pumppompa waterapă and irrigationirigare for cropsculturi.
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care să pompeze apă și să facă irigații...pentru recolte.
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CACA: So this one would have to be biggermai mare?
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Iar aceasta va trebui să fie mai mare?
03:23
WKWK: Yeah.
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Da.
03:24
CACA: How bigmare?
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Cât de mare?
03:25
WKWK: I think it will producelegume şi fructe more than 20 the wattswați.
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Cred că va produce mai mult de 20 de watt.
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CACA: So that would producelegume şi fructe irrigationirigare for the entireîntreg villagesat?
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Și întreg satul va putea avea irigații?
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WKWK: Yeah.
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Da.
03:37
CACA: WowWow. And so you're talkingvorbind to people here at TEDTED
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Oau. Și le vorbești celor de la TED
03:40
to get people who mightar putea be ablecapabil to help in some way
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pentru a apela la persoane care te-ar putea ajuta cumva
03:44
to realizerealiza this dreamvis?
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să realizezi acest vis?
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WKWK: Yeah, if they can help me with materialsmateriale, yeah.
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Da, dacă mă pot ajuta... cu materiale...
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CACA: And as you think of your life going forwardredirecţiona,
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Și când te gandești la viitorul tău,
03:53
you're 19 now,
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acum ai 19 ai, crezi...
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do you pictureimagine continuingcontinuarea with this dreamvis of workinglucru in energyenergie?
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te vezi continuând acest vis, lucrând în domeniul energiei?
04:00
WKWK: Yeah. I'm still thinkinggândire to work on energyenergie.
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Da, mă gândesc să continui să lucrez în acest domeniu.
04:05
CACA: WowWow. WilliamWilliam, it's a realreal honoronora to have you at the TEDTED conferenceconferinţă.
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Oau. William, este o adevarată onoare să te avem printre noi la conferințele Ted.
04:09
Thank you so much for comingvenire.
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Iți mulțumesc pentru prezență.
04:11
WKWK: Thank you.
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Mulțumesc.
04:13
(ApplauseAplauze)
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Aplauze.
Translated by DIANA ALEXANDRU
Reviewed by Diana Hasegan

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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