Summary
Government officials discovered William's windmill during their annual inspection at Wimbe Primary. He was introduced to Dr. Mchazime, who asked him many questions about the windmill and was thoroughly impressed by his innovation. His own origins were humble, and his own family had to sacrifice a lot to help him get educated, so he was sympathetic to William's struggle and impressed that built a windmill without even being in secondary school.
Following Dr. Mchazime's visit, reporters from all over came to interview William about his windmill. This garnered him a lot of attention throughout the country, but also locally, as his neighbors finally seemed to accept the windmill as an innovation when radio personalities that they knew well appeared to interview William. This validation was something that William had not yet experienced, and legitimized his windmill in the eyes of many.
Dr. Mchazime also raised money to send William back to school, going around to officials to ask for money on the spot, so that William could return to school as fast as possible. After making some calls, Dr. Mchazime convinced Madisi Secondary to take him as a boarding student, despite being much older than the rest of the students there.
Additionally, without William's knowledge, his story was shared throughout international scientific communities. Soyapi Mumba, the founder of Baobab Health, showed his story to his boss, Mike McKay, who wrote about the story on his blog Hacktivate. This singular news source brought the attention of TED to William's story, and they subsequently reached out to invite him to their global conference.
At this time, William prepared to continue his education at Madisi Secondary. However, because it was a boarding school, he had to say goodbye to his family and friends, hoping to correspond with them as best he could. However, the separation still made him immensely sad. Once he arrived at Madisi Secondary, he didn't fit into the school as well as he had hoped, because he was much older than the other students. They teased him until they found out about his windmill, which garnered him a bit of respect.
In the middle of the school year, William flew to Arusha, Tanzania for the TED conference. Dr. Mchazime even prepared a practice trip to Lilongwe for William to become accustomed to the traveling lifestyle. He met Soyapi Mumba on the flight over, and started to learn how to navigate a new world of hotels, laptops, and other technologies that he had not been aware of until this point.
Analysis
Dr. Mchazime becomes a major player in the story of William's success, and his story serves as a foil to William's own. Like William, he was not educated until late in life, but because of the sacrifices of his father, he was able to do so. As a character in the book, he serves as a glimpse into William's future, if only he was educated in the ways he needed to be to unlock his full potential. This emphasizes the importance of education, and why William will fight so hard to get it in the future.
Additionally, throughout the chapter, events that William is not aware of are being described in close detail, showing an awareness of the systematic process that got him to where he is today. The description of the events foreshadows the magnitude of William's fame, and invokes a spiraling, snowball effect. Since the story is also narrated from William's perspective, his awareness of the people that had to work to get his story recognized demonstrates his gratitude towards them, as he uses this book to also talk about their stories and inventions.
William's description of school indicates his sadness at leaving his home. Despite the material richness of the environment he was in, with functional academic equipment, he was separated from his family and friends. This is especially clear in the dialogue with his father and Geoffrey before he leaves. William is at this point very sad, emphasizing how difficult it will be to communicate with his friends. However, Geoffrey and his father do everything they can do console him, providing support through their words.
William's travel experience is also one that is foreign to him, but rewarding. He cannot believe this is happening to him in reality, and often exclaims as such. For example, he observes the important people on the plane, and says, "I guess I was now one of them, too" (263). This realization fuels the rest of his trip, which happens in the next chapter, but William begins to realize in this chapter how much larger the world is than he previously thought.
