Top American colleges are giving grants to African students that have helped in Africa, including a Malawian who as a teen constructed a windmill from neighborhood trash.
William Kamkwamba was unable to afford to continue his education, but continued to visit a local library where he taught himself at the age of 14 how to construct a windmill to generate electricity and pump water. After his memoir and international best seller, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” Kamkwamba attended Johannesburg’s African Leadership Academy (ALA). The school is hoping to build on the excellence of students like Kamkwamba, aiming to create 6,000 leaders over the next 50 years. ALA’s graduates go on to school in Europe and North America, but the institution’s main goal is to provide the necessary learning tools so the students will come back to help build Africa.
The Malawian teen now in his 20s is attending Dartmouth University, and is only one example of what’s sure to be many that hope to build Africa up after years of being left in the dark.
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