This is a remarkable story of what our real world connected age makes it possible for one person to accomplish. Here is an overview in from the blog of William Kamkwamba:

William Kamkwamba, a 19-year-old high school student, first saw the internet at a TEDGlobal conference last month in Arusha, Tanzania. He was invited to the event - which aims to promote an exchange of ideas in the fields of technology, entertainment and design - after Malawi’s Daily Times newspaper covered his efforts to generate electricity for his parents’ farm by building a windmill of his own design.

The windmill is remarkable because Kamkwamba left school at 14 as his family was unable to pay the school fees. Armed only with his intelligence, a book on electricity, some plastic piping and found objects, Kamkwamba built his first windmill, which generated enough power to run a light in his room.

His second, larger windmill uses a bicycle to increase efficiency and was able to generate power for his parents’ house and charge car batteries or mobile phones for people in his village. As news of Kamkwamba’s achievements spread, he was invited to the second biannual TEDGlobal conference, where his three-minute presentation about the windmill won him a standing ovation from delegates.

While at the conference, the young Malawian saw the internet for the first time and within hours began Google-searching for “windmill” and “solar energy” and was amazed with how many hits were returned for each search. Kamkwamba was particularly impressed with the speed at which he could achieve things using the internet. “I was very excited when I saw the internet for the first time,” he said. “The internet makes transfer of information very instant.”

via worldchanging