68 pages • 2 hours read
William KamkwambaThe Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter 11 - 13 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
William enlists Geoffrey and Gilbert to help him, and the three of them build the windmill. Gilbert continues to financially support the project when necessary, buying items like wire and nails. Other supplies come from the scrap heap and William’s own home, particularly the kitchen. The first piece to be assembled is the part that will take the wind energy and convert it into electricity. When he tests it using his father’s radio, there is too much power and it blows out the radio, so William makes the necessary adjustments.
Once the machine is built, their work isn’t finished. They need to craft a frame, or tower, for it to sit on. They search for and cut down trees to get the lumber they need. While they’re building the tower, a crowd assembles around them. They tease the three boys while they work. Finally, the tower and the windmill are ready. William releases the windmill’s break and the blades begin to spin. He’s holding a light bulb, which starts to glow once the current flows through the mechanism.
The community congratulates William and his family, but William’s plans to produce electricity using the windmill are not complete. He wants to test his machine by powering his bedroom. With Gilbert’s and Charity’s generosity, William is able to light his room—and soon his family wants electricity throughout the house. He promises to make it happen, and further promises that once he finds a battery that can store the generated electricity, not only will they enjoy electric light, but they’ll save money on kerosene costs and be able to pump water from the well.
Chapter 12 Summary
William’s windmill opens up the possibility of yet another side business—charging people to use the electricity the windmill generates to charge their mobile phones. The idea comes to him after a relative asks if she can do just that. William knows the windmill is producing too much energy to charge a phone, but goes back to his books to learn how to adjust it so that the phone can be charged without destroying it. Once he opens the door for people to charge their phones, more and more of them pay him for the electricity the windmill creates.
In addition to managing this new business, William continues to work on the windmill itself. He repairs it when it breaks, and adjusts it as necessary. The wires that feed electricity into his room and the cogs, belts, and chains that move the mechanisms inside the windmill all require constant tinkering to get them just right. He even makes a braking system for the windmill’s blades, as well as switches and a circuit board.
One night, William’s father tells him how proud he is that he’s created this windmill. William appreciates the praise because the windmill demands so much of his time; he’s constantly climbing the tower.
Chapter 13 Summary
William continues his experiments with the windmill and other scientific projects. One such experiment involves attempting to create gasoline from animal feces. The only big problem with this experiment is that he uses his mother’s best cooking pot, which makes her cross with him.
His mother’s unhappiness with his choice of lab equipment isn’t the only problem in the Kamkwamba house and the community beyond. Despite charging people to charge their phones, William still doesn’t have enough money to go back to school. He keeps studying at the library to counteract this lack of education. Then, William’s mother nearly dies from malaria. It is only her family’s need of her that pulls her back from the brink of demise. Chief Wimbe dies, casting the village, and his son Gilbert, into grief.
Drought returns and people begin to worry about the possibility of another famine—and magic. Some people even start to think that William’s windmill is a product of dark magic, and that it’s blowing all the clouds—and their rain—away, though William and Gilbert manage to convince them that’s not true. HIV/AIDS spreads through the village, which also renews superstition. People think magic both causes the disease, and that magic can cure it.
William manages to figure out how to transmit radio waves instead of just receiving them. The government starts to support farmers, which is more than it did when Muluzi denied the existence of the previous famine. William gets involved in the community, first with a local group to spread awareness about AIDS, and then with a science club for the primary school.
Chapter 11 - 13 Analysis
This section starts off with William’s great success in building a working windmill. It takes time and a lot of effort, but with the help of his friends, William is able, not only to support his own hope that this project will become successful, but also to inspire hope in his family and in the greater community for the same. William’s initial tests with the windmill result in too much power, but because of his studies at the library, he’s able to adjust the technology and get the right amount of power from the machine.
Despite the fact that William is unable to stay in school, he doesn’t give up on learning. He takes his education into his own hands, and enjoys the fruits of his labors when his windmill works to power a lightbulb. The changes and improvements he continues to make allow his windmill to benefit more and more people. William exhibits entrepreneurship when he starts his second small business—letting people charge their mobile phones from his windmill.
His father’s pride in his actions validates them for William, despite the fact that he has been unable to remain in school. The side business of phone charging gives him hope because it might allow him to catch up on his school fees and return to formal education.
William’s successful science experiments help him to remain hopeful in the face of another possible famine, illness at home and in the community, the death of the Chief, and suspicion about his windmill. By the end of this section, he is inspired by teaching in the science club and hopes that his inventions can both help people and inspire them to explore the sciences as well.
By the end of this section, William has grown from serving himself—like he did with Charity and the food at the clubhouse—to wanting to serve the community through the AIDS awareness group and the science club.
