William Kamkwamba Quotes

Although Geoffrey, Gilbert and I grew up in this small place in Africa, we did many of the same things children do all over the world, only with slightly different materials. And talking with friends I've met from America and Europe, I now know this is true. Children everywhere have similar ways of entertaining themselves. If you look at it this way, the world isn't so big.

~ William Kamkwamba

It was common for my father to sit my sisters down and tell them things like, I saw a girl working in the bank in town, and she was a girl just like you. My parents had never completed primary school. They couldn't speak English or even read that well. My parents only knew the language of numbers, buying and selling, but they wanted more for their kids. That's why my father had scraped the money together and kept Annie in school, despite the famine and other troubles.

~ William Kamkwamba

Don't insult me today just because I'm poor, you don't know what my future holds!

~ William Kamkwamba

I didn't have a drill, so I had to make my own. First I heated a long nail in the fire, then drove it through a half a maize cob, creating a handle. I placed the nail back on the coals until it became red hot, then used it to bore holes into both sets of plastic blades.

~ William Kamkwamba

News came of Beni Beni, the madman of Wimbe, who'd always made us laugh in better times. He'd run up to merchants in the trading center with his raving eyes and snatch cakes and Fantas from their stalls. No one ever took them away because his hands were always so filthy. The mad people had always depended on others to care for them, but now there were none. Beni Beni died at the church.

~ William Kamkwamba

Papa, why are you selling our goats? I like these goats.A week ago the price was five hundred, now it's four hundred. I'm sorry, but we can't wait for it go any lower.Mankhalala and the others were tied by their front legs with a long rope. When my father started down the trail, they stumbled and began to cry. They knew their future. Mankhalala looked back, as if telling me to help him. Even Khamba whined and barked a few times, pleading their case. But I had to let them down. What could I do? My family had to eat.

~ William Kamkwamba

Chief Wimbe also loved his cat, which was black and white but had no name. In Malawi, only dogs are given names, I don't know why.

~ William Kamkwamba

When you go to see the lake, you also see the hippos.

~ William Kamkwamba

One thing that has helped me to become patient and cool is that I grew up with sisters.

~ William Kamkwamba