Challenges are a way of life for William Kamkwamba.
When he was 14 and living in Africa, he built a windmill using parts from a junkyard to provide electricity for his family’s farm.
“Challenges are not there to stop you but are there to encourage you, to strengthen you,” the 24-year-old inventor and author told a crowd of about 45 students and community members Tuesday evening at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Beyond the homemade windmill, Kamkwamba knows a thing or two about overcoming obstacles. Growing up in Malawi, a country in southeastern Africa, he attended a few months of high school but had to leave because his parents could not pay the fees for the school
Wanting to continue his education, he went to the library regularly and one day stumbled upon a book with a picture of wind turbines on the cover, prompting the windmill idea. The project garnered attention in the media and among intellectuals.