Former Associated Press news agency reporter Bryan Mealer had been reporting on conflict across Africa for five years when he he
ard Mr Kamkwamba's story. The incredible tale was the kind of positive story Mealer, from New York, had long hoped to cover. Sometimes from the humblest beginnings, great things are achieved. This is not just a story of paraffin lanterns being put out and replaced with light bulbs; this is the story of a village saved by one of their own.
The industry of Mr Kamkwamba includes using nails and magnets off an old stereo speaker to create a circuit breaker, and a light switch cobbled together from bicycle spokes and flip-flop rubber.
The author spent a year with Mr Kamkwamba writing The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind which has just been published in the US.
Mealer says Mr Kamkwamba represents Africa's new "cheetah generation", young people, energetic and technology-hungry, who are taking control of their own destiny.
"Spending a year with William writing this book reminded me why I fell in love with Africa in the first place," says Mr Mealer, 34.
"It's the kind of tale that resonates with every human being and reminds us of our own potential."
Can it be long before the film rights to the triumph-over-adversity story are snapped up, and William Kamkwamba, the boy who dared to dream, finds himself on the big screen?
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