William Kamkwamba, author, "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind," and Malawi Windmill Maker

Learning to Swim

the pool at ABCCA

Tomorrow Monday I start swimming lessons at my high school, ABCCA. Even though I live only one hour from one of the largest lakes in Africa, I've only been there twice (both times in the last six months) and I'm ready to learn swimming and water safety. I went into my first swimming pool while I was in San Diego over the Christmas holiday. Even though my school has one of best pools in Malawi, I've been pre-occupied with my studies to begin learning.

Working on a book with my co-author Bryan Mealer

I am working on a book about my life with Bryan Mealer, an incredibly talented writer who recently published a book about the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here he sits in my home with Gilbert Wimbe, my best friend. The book will be published next year from an American publisher called William Morrow, which is an imprint of HarperCollins. Bryan came to visit me to work on the book proposal, and then he plans to come back and spend a month in Malawi in June/July.

Video Documentary: Moving Windmills

Phase 1 of a 3-part documentary process, this film was made by my friends at Mov ng P eces. Please let me know what you think of it. They have entered the film into the Pangea Day film festival competition. Thank you to Director and Editor Ari Kuschnir, Director of Photography Scott Kraft and Producer Ben Nabors, and all the people who helped make the film.

HIV/AIDS care in my village

One of my friends is working in an HIV/AIDS project in my village. The many aims of the project are…
• to reach people with HIV/AIDS
• information education and communication on HIV
• Home based care services
• Care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS
• To encourage people to go for HIV testing and concealing [HTC]
• To illuminate stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS[PLWHA]
• Ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS are aware of taking responsibility's for protecting themselves from infection and protecting others from infections.

They also distribute the following items to [PLWHIV/AIDS]: beans, ground nuts [peanuts], washing soap, and bathing soap. They also provide transport for them to collecting their Anti-Retroviral (ARV) medicines to and from Kasungu district hospital. They started with 1 person with HIV/AIDS but now they have reached 120 people with HIV/AIDS. They hope they can reach more but the difficult is transport to reach remote areas. Mack and Dolt donated some bikes, but is not enough. Here is a picture of the people with HIV/AIDS receiving some food, and group of the volunteers.

HIV/AIDS is a huge problem in Malawi, with over 1,000,000 people in our population of 13.4 million people infected. 100,000 die annually. Since 1987, over 80,000 teachers have died. At the end of 2007, about 150,000 people in the country were now taking ARV medicines.

My new school for Fall, 2008: African Leadership Academy

I'm very excited that I will enroll in the very first class of a new, pan-African prep school based in suburban Johannesburg called the African Leadership Academy. Co-founded by four businesspeople and educators, African Leadership Academy will bring together 3rd and 4th year secondary students from over 30 countries in Africa for the very first year. There will be approximately 100 students the first year. The school is located on the grounds of an former printing college and therefore has a large design lab. I visited the campus on my way home from America. I have a lot of preparation to do in English and Math to get ready. Thank you to Fred Swaniker, CEO and his team for this opportunity, and to the Walker family for their scholarship.

Here is an excerpt from their website: "African Leadership Academy (ALA) seeks to transform Africa by developing and supporting future generations of African leaders. Opening in September 2008, African Leadership Academy will bring together the most promising 16-19 year old leaders from all 54 African nations for an innovative two-year program designed to prepare each student for a lifetime of leadership on the continent. Students will be selected to attend the Academy based on merit alone and will complete an innovative curriculum with a unique focus on leadership, entrepreneurship, and African studies. ALA graduates will attend the world’s finest universities and will lead Africa toward a peaceful and prosperous future. The Academy is a nonprofit institution located in Johannesburg, South Africa."