Summary
Chapter 4 follows a transition period in the life of William Kamkwamba, who is slowly starting to grow up in rural Malawi. He began to hunt less, hang out in the trading center more, and take part in games of bawo, a mancala-like game that uses pieces and a board with holes. This game took up much of William's time then, and when it was evident that he was not hunting as much, Khamba started to follow him to market. This embarrassed William, and he shouted at Khamba a lot during this time, instead of the joyous camaraderie they had during the hunt.
As part of his growth, William took an interest in repairing radios and other machinery. Radios are an important part of Malawian culture; many people even consider them like "members of their families." With the importance of his machine, William seemed curious to know what is inside, and he and his cousin Geoffrey spent a lot of time taking apart and putting these machines together. Eventually, they became very good at fixing them, and started a repair business.
However, the two boys needed good batteries for their radio repair shop in order to figure out what was wrong with the machines. They rummaged through trash to find good batteries with juice, and became adept at identifying ideal brands for their purposes. The community seemed to respond well to their business venture, even if they were a little skeptical at first of their young age. Machines and science interested William far more than farming, even though he didn't know of science as a field yet. His level of schooling hadn't yet allowed for any in-depth scientific curiosities to sprout, but William looked forward to secondary school, where that kind of class would be offered.
Agriculture was still one of the major ways that William's family made their income. They mostly grew maize, or chimanga, much like other families in Malawi, as well as tobacco to earn some extra income. For most of their meals, maize was made into a dough-like porridge called nsima, which was typically eaten with relish. The farming of maize was a very involved process, and required year-round labor from the entire family, from making ridges with a hoe to dropping the seeds into the ground. In normal times, the winter months of December and January make it more difficult to grow nsima, however, but the cycle always comes around and the food is once again plentiful the next year.
However, in December 2000, the weather made it so that all of the chimanga plants either died of too much or too little rain. In addition to the unusually terrible weather conditions, the policies of the new president made it harder for small farmers to buy fertilizer, the price of which skyrocketed. The combination of rain, drought, and lack of government aid made it so that the majority of the country was now faced with a food shortage, which only worsened in the coming months.
Analysis
William's radio repair shop is another early sign of his innovative mind geared toward technology. Given the importance of radios in Malawian life, it makes sense that he tried to understand how they work and how to fix them. His curiosity towards these devices from his first exposure with them also makes sense—they are, to the uninformed eye, magical devices. However, William does not describe them as such. Instead, he grows to understand these objects through "trial and error" and "experimentation"—two secular, scientific processes that do not involve blind belief. Given his experience with magic, these efforts are much more logical and clear (68).
Furthermore, William's interest in these mechanical objects brings him ultimately to the field of science, which he did not previously know the definition of. His education at Wimbe Primary School was not sufficient to provide him with this answer, which demonstrates the inadequate systems of education throughout Malawi. Even if children are interested in or curious about something at a young age, without education or the proper training, they are unable to do anything with that curiosity. So William hopes to get into a good secondary school, one with science labs and experiments to conduct, but the fact that this quality and level of education is not guaranteed is a little shocking to a reader from a country that might have these resources no matter the quality of the student's grades.
The language of farming differs greatly from the language of technology. In his descriptions of the tilling of the land, William says he was "hacking apart" the soil, then explains why that needed to happen (73). The process is much less self-evident than his hunting trap, where every object has a place and its function is almost immediately clear. Additionally, the conditions for farming are a lot more difficult than the conditions for William's machines. The weather plays a large part in its success, accidents with the hoe are much more common, and often, agriculture needs the coordination of multiple people to properly plant the seed. The individualistic nature of technology as opposed to the collective nature of agriculture is also a large part of its appeal for William given he prefers to work alone.
