William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi on August 5, 1987 to Agnes and Trywell Kamkwamba. He grew up in Masitala village Wimbe, a small village where around 60 families lived. The village is located at a high elevation and is blessed with fertile soils. Like many people in Malawi, his village relied on agriculture for a living which was labor-intensive given the lack of technology. It was therefore not surprising that William had a large family consisting of almost 20 people and he had six sisters. He stayed with his parents and four of his sisters in a house that had no access to electricity, a common occurrence for most Malawian families who could not afford this luxury. Less than 5% of the population in Malawi had access to electricity (1998). Every day, his mother and sisters would have to walk three hours to obtain wood for their daily activities such as cooking since most of the trees in the village had already been chopped for firewood and timbre. Deforestation was a severe problem for the village which intensified the effects of floods and droughts, affecting crop yields. Electricity was necessary in helping the village out of poverty and this was exactly what William recognized.