By George Crumley
“William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of luxuries that only two percent of Malawians could enjoy: electricity and running water. His neighbors called him “misala”—crazy—but William refused to let go of his dreams.
With a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks, some scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves, and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to forge an unlikely contraption and small miracle that would change the lives around him.”
So reads the summary on the back of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
William was pulled out of school when his family could no longer pay for his education. He could have made excuses to stay home and relax or let feelings of frustration cause him to become despondent and bitter. Instead, he determined to make the best out of a bad situation, and placed himself where hope had a chance to ignite. After all, the truth was that though he could not go to school, he could still learn at the small library that was nearby.
As he perused the library’s collection of books, he spotted a picture of a windmill on the cover of an old, used eighth-grade science book. Curious, he opened the book to see what this tall standing tower was. After asking many questions of the librarian, he began to comprehend what the picture was and to understand what a windmill could do.
Excitement welled up as he thought of all the possibilities. As his understanding increased, so did his confidence that he was on to something important. He became determined to fan this spark of hope into a flame that would spread to make life better for himself and his whole village.
Nothing seemed able to cloud his determination. Even the ravages of poverty and hunger were quieted as he directed his thoughts away from his feelings and discomforts and toward his hopes. The project wasn’t a burden, and obstacles were not dead ends but merely detours on the road to success.
William was a good steward of his time and thoughts, which opened the door for accomplishments that would only have been smoldering embers if he had consulted his feelings and paid attention to what seemed like impossible odds.
As we near the return of our Lord and Savior, and the famine of life closes in, we too can choose to be good stewards of our thoughts and resources, determining to make the world a better place for others.
We can place ourselves where a picture of God leads us to search through His library of answers, and hope will ignite as we begin to understand all that He can do for our village. With a conviction that we are onto something important, our focus will cause obstacles to be small in light of what is to be gained by pressing on toward our hope in Jesus.
–George Crumley is RMC vice president for finance.