A reception program introduced a University professor to an African man whose life was changed by her textbook – halfway around the world.

William Kamkwamba studied “Using Energy,” a science textbook University professor Mary Atwater wrote, to build a windmill that generated electricity for his family’s house and village for the first time in Malawi. He was 14 years old.

Atwater met her long-time anonymous student, Kamkwamba, now 22, last week at a reception in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the American Institute for Research and the International Book Bank.

“It was very nice to meet a young man who had a vision to change his world, and he used my book in order to help him change his world,” Atwater said in a telephone interview Monday. “I was very pleased I had lived long enough to be able to see that something I wrote made a difference in not only a person’s life but in an entire group of people’s lives. It was a wonderful experience.”

Although Kamkwamba could not read English, he studied the pictures and diagrams found in Atwater’s textbook for guidance in constructing the windmill. The reception celebrated Kamkwamba’s accomplishments.

The American Institute for Research donated the textbook to a book room in Kamkwamba’s Malawi village.

“They did this program because for years they have been sending off books to a variety of countries, and they never know what happens and the consequences,” Atwater said. “But here was a situation where they learned what happened to a book they sent halfway across the world. They were so excited to celebrate something good that came from the book,” she said.

At the reception, Atwater presented Kamkwamba another copy of her book “Using Energy” with additional materials, including a teacher’s edition and student notebook to write down lab results, after learning the copy he used was stolen from the book room in his village.

Atwater also received a signed copy of Kamkwamba’s new autobiographical book, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” co-authored by Brian Miller, which shares his life struggles and success after building the windmill.

Atwater asked him to autograph his book. The first thing he wrote was “Thank you,” she said.

In 2001 Malawi suffered a severe famine. Kamkwamba’s family was starving, living off of one meal a day because his father’s maize fields were dry, he said in a conference.

Kamkwamba’s family was unable to pay his school tuition, and he left school in fifth grade. Determined to receive an education, he visited the village’s book room and studied as many books as he could, mostly scientific in nature, he said. The pictures of windmills on the cover of Atwater’s book inspired him to build one.

After visiting a scrap yard, he constructed a windmill from a bicycle frame, PVC pipe, melted PVC blades, a tractor fan, shock absorber and bicycle generator. The windmill provided enough electricity to power two radios and four light bulbs.

Three windmills and one solar panel stand in his village now, Atwater said.

After Kamkwamba graduates from high school, he wants to earn a college degree from the U.S., Atwater said.

“I’m hoping he’ll be able to come to Atlanta on a book tour,” she said. “It would be very nice to show him the variety of institution options available to him in Georgia.”

Atwater said she plans to stay in touch with Kamkwamba.

For now, Kamkwamba gives back to his village through funds from his book, Atwater said. He pays school tuition for several family members and also funds a youth soccer team. He wants to modernize the elementary school in his village.