Rebekah Robbins found inspiration Tuesday night.
Robbins, a math instructor at the Gainesville Job Corps Center, visited the Headquarters Library for Alachua County to hear author William Kamkwamba’s story.
Kamkwamba, 28, spoke to about 60 attendees and recounted his early years as an engineer and dreamer in the village of Wimbe, Malawi, Africa.
Robbins listened to the story of how Kamkwamba used scraps to build a windmill at the age of 14, creating electricity in the village and earning him an invitation to the TEDGlobal Conference.
He wrote about the project in his book, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”
He told attendees the conference helped him later obtain materials to build solar-powered water tanks, which came to use in the drought-stricken area.
“Growing up, I was very curious of how different things work,” he said.
Robbins, who excitedly approached Kamkwamba after the speech, said she will take the experience back to her students at the job corps.
“I think we all have that brilliance,” she said. “That brilliance just needs to be nurtured.”
Kamkwamba said most people in his community farmed, and his parents could not afford to send him to school.
“I didn’t want to become a farmer, not because I hate farming, but because that is not the only thing I can do,” he said.
In 2014, he graduated from Dartmouth College after braving both his studies and the weather in Hanover, New Hampshire.
“I like the snow, but not the cold that comes with it,” he said.
Now, Kamkwamba travels to his village and implements more environmental and communal projects about once a year.
“All the people that are successful today have faced some challenges, but they didn’t allow those challenges to stop them,” he said.
Twenty-nine-year-old author William Kamkwamba speaks at the Headquarters Library on Tuesday about his life in Malawi, Africa. At 14 years old, Kamkwamba built a windmill from scraps, providing electricity for his village.
