Last night we came home to a dark neighbourhood. I don’t know when I last spent an evening without power. After the initial scramble to light candles, I realized how quiet it is when the power is out and how dependent I’ve become on electricity. Thankfully we managed to scrounge up a booklight so I could read and my husband had his iTouch to keep distracted.
Click photo to see attribution. Reused under Creative Commons.
Interestingly, about a week before I finished reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, which tells of William’s pursuit to generate electrical power — a great reminder of the power of self-learning and motivation. William’s family (and neighbourhood in Malawi) had no electricity, and despite education and economic barriers, he persevered to build his dream, a windmill.
You can watch his video on the TED Talks website.
