The Netflix movie The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, based on the memoir of William Kamkwamba, is an inspiring story about a young boy’s ingenuity and determination to overcome adversity.
William Kamkwamba was born in 1987 into a Christian family in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was a mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. Enchanted by the workings of electricity as a boy, William had a goal to study science in Malawi’s top boarding schools. However, in 2002, his country was stricken with a famine that left his family’s farm devastated and his parents destitute. Unable to pay the $80-per-year tuition for his education, William was forced to drop out and help his family forage for food as thousands across the country starved and died.
To continue to engage his curiosity and determination, William frequented the village library. Here he read about windmills in a book called Using Energy. With nothing more than a fistful of cornmeal in his stomach, a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks, the local junk yard and an armory of curiosity and determination, William embarked on a daring plan to bring electricity and water to his village.
Using scrap metal, tractor parts and bicycle halves, William forged a crude yet operable windmill generator, an unlikely contraption and small miracle that eventually powered small lights at his home and charged a neighbor’s cell phone. A second machine powered a water pump that could battle the drought and famine which loomed with every season.
Soon, news of William’s “electric wind” spread beyond the borders of his home, and he became the local hero who harnessed the wind. In 2007, venture capitalists heard his story at a conference in Tanzania and pledged to finance his secondary education. In 2014, William received a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental studies from Dartmouth College where he was elected to the Sphinx Senior Honor Society.
The saga of how William’s ingenuity, resourcefulness and fortitude came to meet the challenges of poverty and famine through sustainable resources and renewable energy has inspired many. Not only can a bright and young mind feed and empower his family, but also he can find a way to do so with respect for God’s creation.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind creates an allegory for the renewed strength we receive from the Holy Spirit which again and again greets us like a refreshing breeze, filling the sails that move us and cleansing the air that we breathe. God’s presence and love can be a powerful resource and advocate when they are transformed in creative and constructive ways within the faith community.
This Sunday, Christians around the world will celebrate Pentecost and remember the extraordinary experience of those who gathered in Jerusalem for a Jewish festival, 50 days following Easter morning and 10 days after Christ’s departure and ascension. We celebrate how God’s loving spirit lived and moved among them in a new way, like a mighty wind empowering those who gathered with spoken words that were not their own and an understanding that transcended language and culture. The creative and constructive spirit spoke of unity and inclusivity among God’s children in a new way. The Pentecost Spirit brings a sustainable resource empowering people of faith amid the unpredictable and unfair famine and floods of life, not unlike the boy harnessing the wind and bringing forth water to nourish his farmland and village.
May we be people who are freely empowered by God’s spirit. May we creatively and constructively harness God’s spirit as we advocate for others and move beyond the barriers of language and culture. Amen.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 4, 2025.
