My interview with Bryan Mealer, the author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

October 10th, 2009 by Frankie De Soto

My interview with Bryan Mealer was also brief but I liked the fact that he is like a modern day adventurer. He is actually the author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the actual inspirational story of William Kamkwamba, the boy who built the windmill at age 14. Bryan is a former Associated Press staff writer based in Congo and he reported across Africa. I was very impressed when I asked him why he moved to the Congo “I wanted adventure.” he said with a grin. I was like, wow, I would never make a move a like that, to be away from my friends and family but for Bryan it was also a calling. In the Congo and even throughout Africa, war breaks out and affects the people. “No one was covering that war.” Bryan said. Bryan also mentioned that living in Africa is totally different than living in the United States and even Africa itself has diversity in each of the countries residing in the continent.

Bryan travels with William to promote his book that actually came out last week and I asked him about his participation with TED. “I enjoy speaking to the people” he said. “They are really inspired by our stories, especially William’s.” Bryan was really great to talk to and there’s a real lesson here, if you feel like you have a calling to do something, go do it. Bryan did and he made the world aware of what’s happening in Africa and to it’s people.

Tags: TED, TEDxSMU