William Kamkwamba Helps African Poverty With A Homemade Windmill (VIDEO)

William Kamkwamba, a Malawian high school student and inventor, talks to Jon Stewart about how he built a windmill by looking at pictures in a book.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Comments

[condor101]

Amazing story and an incredible young man.
I want to meet him in person and shake his hand.

I'm getting this book ASAP and I'm building my windmill from the scrap yard.

[Tracy J Champion]

I had this put this on my TO READ list but after I saw this interview I decided to read it next. Absolutely inspiring. I love when he searched for "windmill", found millions of results, and asked "where has Google been all this time!?"

[brettrobbins]

Nice job, Stewart. Consummate professional.

[ForVivi]

Several years ago I was introduced to the writings of Rudolph Steiner and the Wladorf schools which are based on his philosophy. The curriculum teaches children to think and use their creativity. Children are presented with experiments and they must figure out the science behind the phenomena. Also they write and illustrate their own books.

This is an oversimplified description of the school, but their focus on head, hearts and hands result in smart, compassionate and practical individuals.

In 2001, 16 Waldorf schools in 14 countries were members of the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education

[ForVivi]

"The meek shall inherit the Earth".

[lemekid]

Still the truth no doubt.

[Januarycarol]

Where's that Genius Award Giver when we need one?

[timewaster2dcore]

This goes to show you that all human races and creeds can be creative if they have the chance. If African people have access to all the resources in the developed world, they would be unstoppable. Some of the poverty in Africa today primarily stemmed from white man's invasion of the continent. African people love strangers and that's what did them in. They were expressing 'love' to the race of people who wanted to exploit and cheat them. What naivete? Europeans brought their religion (Xtianity) as a tool to deceive these people and 'control' their communication and culture. As a result, all the natural riches of Africa were stolen and diverted to Europe.

America also became a rich country on the back of African slavery and many things were invented by slaves, but since they belonged to their owners, the owner claimed the invention.

I applaud Jon Stewart for letting Americans, especially white Americans, them realize that human beings are the same thing--in terms of creativity and all.

[SteveEbenedicT]

It's always about the white man this the white man that. Hey before all you punks learned about horrible white men from the previous generation of punks did it ever occur to a single one of you empty headed fools that when one civilization conquers another the conquered eat it. It's just that white men in this country for the most part rejected racial superiority. Oh yeah, this has been going on ever since somebody wanted what somebody else had. White man's invasion? Genghis Khan, Hutus/Tutsis, MaoTseTung. Taking shots at all things "white man" is just the new racism. What race invented Google, the Internet. Truth a little hard to swallow?

[aznurse]

timewaster
we have found the exception

[NikkiNY12]

Awesome! So getting that book...the discovery of google is classic!!!!

[MarieNat]

I loved that too!

[unch]

please do more such authentic positive stories, otherwise it would be too depressing to go on...

[Knowitall]

I'm with the people here who're saying that people in developing countries need more than our old clothes and bags of rice, they need resources for education and development. Seeds not bags of beans, school buildings, not discarded out of date books. My church has a sister church in a developing country to which we've given among other things a generator, a water purification system, and helped build a new school. We've been very pleased with their progress. The hope is to be able to move on to another village when the current one becomes more self sufficient.

They can do this. We can help.

[Aneesia]

I saw an example above on the small farmer.
Come to Kentucky to see the small farmer. They are independent and thriving. That's what happens if you don't have a Corporate mentality.

[erinker]

Loved this interview and loved this young man! I am buying the book this weekend!

I can assure you that I am a college-educated American and I could not have built that windmill, even being able to read the book! What an impressive example of the human spirit and mind!

[Nyah Molineaux]

People may look down on Africa, but Africans are one of the smartest peoples on the planet. In fact in America, Nigerians are among the top groups receiving doctorate groups. Good for him and I am glad Jon Stewart is highlighting this young gentleman.

[DannyGee]

you're not helping the "don't stereotype" message by attempting to stereotype yourself.

[Infostream]

This gives me hope for the human race, a little hope. But then the other night on Leno I saw a Harvard English Lit grad who never heard of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, so...

[SamShah33]

Tom Sawyer.....Windmill for poverty stricken community...

Windmill for poverty stricken community.­.......Tom Sawyer....

Uhmm, No Comparison.

[aznurse]

you don't get it.

[plaidsportcoat]

Homeschool your kids, they get the creativity bored out of them at regular schools.
And get rid of TV.
Real thinking is not modeled at most US schools i've studied.

[sasidechick]

yea. that's the answer. fill them full of "the earth is flat" and creationism.

[SamShah33]

Well thats the "creativity that gets bored out of them from school" part.

lol

[mafina]

Wrong, my son entered aviation school at 15, graduated at 19 and is a commercial pilot instructor, now looking to go to med school.

[erinker]

To be fair, not everyone that homeschools does so because they are right-wing religious nuts. Some do it because they are genuinely unhappy with the state of public education, and they have a point in a lot of cases. I have known some home-schooled kids that go into adulthood poorly educated, and ill prepared for the pressures of surviving socially in the adult world. I have also known some home schooled kids that have gone into the adult world with a fantastic education and social skills well beyond their age. It isn't a good idea to paint with such a broad stroke on this topic.

[DannyGee]

you don't have a clue what you are talking about. You think that asian boy who wins the spelling bee at 13 is a christian fundamentalist? Grow up.

[Knowitall]

Not very practical. Most kids cannot be homeschooled for all kinds of different reasons. Working parents, the need to make a living, lack of teaching knowledge or skills, etc. etc. etc. There's also no proof that students can't get quality educations in regular schools, in fact, there's something to be said for what children learn from each other in a classroom setting.

There's beeb some "real thinking" going on in American schools somewhere, at sometime. Our ingenuity has sparked innovation throughout our history. I will agree that we've been relying too much on "imported" innovation in the past 40 or 50 years and something needs to be done to spark our students again. But I don't think homeschooling is the answer. Not by a long shot.