Processing generators from bike frames

The 19-year-old William Kamkwamba farmer from Malawi surprised the scientists and designers at the TED Global High Tech Conference in Oxford (England) . At the age of 14, he made his own wind power generator.

' Before I discovered the wonders of science, I was just an ordinary farmer ' - he honestly told me. After the failed crop in 2001, his family did not have money for their children to go to school. He had to go to the library and read books in his spare time. There is a book that teaches him that windmills can be used to produce electricity and pump water. He wanted to install one but no equipment.

Kamkwamba and wind power generator model from home (Photo: BBC)

Undeterred, he went to the local landfill and found some necessary parts: tractor propellers, shock absorbers, plastic water pipes and bicycle frames. His first model helped light up a light bulb. The next model illuminates four bulbs. Neighbors started coming to his house to charge the phone from that device.

Before coming to speak at the TED Global Conference in Arusha, Tanzania in 2007, he never left his hometown and never knew the Internet. He only had one message to everyone: ' Believe in yourself. Never give up . ' The boy who harnessed the wind is the story of Kamkwamba's effort.

William Kamkwamba speaking at the 2009 TED Global Conference in Oxford (Photo: TED / Duncan Davidson)