The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

The week after Christmas, William finds out that the scores of the Standard Eight exams are ready. He runs to Wimbe Primary school, dreaming of the wonderful school he will go to and learn to be a scientist. William finds the list and scans the list of students going to the boarding school in Kasungu. Yet his name is not there. It turns out that William’s grades were only good enough to get him into Kachokolo, a community school often ignored by the government. William is disappointed, but tries to stay positive by thinking that he can study for two years at Kachokolo and then take his Junior Certificate Exam and transfer to a better school.

January brings daily rains that nourish the newly planted maize seedlings. The forests also blossom and the flies and mosquitos come out in full force. These insects and the damp rain make life even more unpleasant for the people who are desperately searching for work and food. Maize and gaga are now so scarce that some dishonest traders mix sawdust in with tiny amounts of corn flour to trick hungry people.

Agnes still bakes hot cakes every day, bringing one hundred fresh corn cakes to the market each day for farmers who have no other option for food. Traders like Mister Mangochi who charge high prices for imported maize are the subject of much abuse, but the traders have to charge high prices to make their own profit in such a difficult market. Often in all the chaos of trading and yelling, Agnes can’t protect herself from customers who steal extra cakes or eat the cakes quickly and do not pay.

As the price of maize continues to rise, Agnes can make fewer hot cakes and the Kamkwambas’ profits shrink. The blob of nsima at dinner gets even smaller, and William’s seven-year-old sister Rose starts to take more than her fair share of the food. Doris complains about Rose’s improper behavior, but Agnes and Trywell say nothing. Rose and Mayless, the youngest sisters, show the effect of low rations more than the other children, due to their already thin frames. Still, Doris becomes paranoid that she will no longer get any food, and punches Rose the next time she takes too much nsima. Agnes pulls them apart, but says nothing to scold Rose or Doris.

The government continues to ignore the food crisis, and there is no relief maize sent to the ADMARC. People begin to be paranoid that the government is working to hurt people in other ways beyond selling off the maize. Many people take their money out of the bank for fear that the government will steal that as well. Trywell withdraws the Kamkwambas’ entire savings and buys food for one week.

Despite everything, William looks forward to school in January. He thinks that being hungry at Kachokolo will be easier than being hungry at home. The only problem is that his family cannot afford the proper white shirt for the uniform. William gets a white shirt from the thrift store but he can’t get it clean without soap. Still, William meets Gilbert on the first day of class, happy to be back at school.

William and Gilbert walk forty minutes to Kachokolo and gather in the yard with the other new students. The headmaster W.M. Phiri welcomes them and shares the rules of wearing a proper uniform and arriving on time. As the students file into class, Headmaster Phiri stops William and asks why William is wearing flip-flops instead of the proper uniform shoes. Unwilling to tell the headmaster that his family cannot afford shoes, William lies that he can’t wear his good shoes to school because he has to cross two streams on the journey and his mother does not want him to get mud on his good shoes.

Aside from uniform shoes, William’s family also cannot afford school books. Gilbert says that William can look on with him. Conditions at Kachokolo are not much better than the sad state of the Wimbe primary school, with no money for new desks, repairs to the building, or new supplies for the classes. Still, William enjoys learning about ancient civilizations and finding Malawi on a map.

Unfortunately, hunger is actually harder for William to deal with at school than in the field. Most of the students have trouble paying attention and talk at recess focuses only on food and hunger. Even worse, Headmaster Phiri announces in February that the grace period for unpaid school fees is over. William knows his family does not have the money. He finds his father in the field that night and asks about money for school. Trywell shakes his head and promises that next year will be better.

William sadly tells Gilbert the next morning that he has to drop out. With Gilbert at school, William goes to find Geoffrey, whom he hasn’t seen in weeks. William is shocked at how skinny and ill Geoffrey has become, but Geoffrey ignores his own troubles to tell William to trust in God through his school difficulties. In fact, 50 of the 70 students at Kachokolo had to drop as well. William is reminded that all of Malawi is suffering together.

By late January, even the gaga of corn husks is gone and famine truly arrives in Malawi. William is reminded of the plagues of Egypt as he watches starvation make skeletons and zombies out of people. Even worse is kwashiorkor, a condition where a lack of proteins in the blood causes a starving person’s body to swell. Starving people will eat literally any root or seed they find, even if it puts them at risk of poison or disease.

Men continue to pass through Wimbe looking for any work or food. Men stop at William’s house, thinking that their iron roof means they have money and food. One man even walks into the Kamkwambas’ dinner and eats half their nsima before walking away. In the market, people alternately stare at the traders with their small portions of maize selling for the price of gold, or scream and plead with God to end their suffering. Everyone has stories of starving people who died as they were being given food.

Amid all the starvation and suffering, President Muluzi goes to London. When a reporter asks Muluzi what he plans to do about the famine, Muluzi responds that diseases are a problem in Malawi but that no one has died of hunger. Hearing this interview on the radio, Trywell shakes his head at the President’s willful blindness. William knows that it is up to them to make sure that they survive.