The author’s main purpose is to show readers that no matter how impossible your situation looks, if you are willing to work hard you will achieve your goal. A young boy named William Kamkwamba displayed his determination by saving his village of Malawi/Wimbe. When a terrible drought hits Malawi/Wimbe, William is forced to drop out of school because his family can’t afford the fees. Instead of giving up, he goes to a local library every day and teaches himself physics from old textbooks. He then spends months digging through junkyards to collect scrap metal, tractor parts, and an old bicycle frame, manually piecing them together to build a working windmill. This shows that William didn’t just sit around waiting for a miracle he put in the actual effort to change his life. Even when everyone in his village had different thoughts about him, he kept going. Because he was willing to work hard, he overcame having zero money or resources and achieved his goal of bringing electricity and water to his starving community. Ultimately, his success directly links back to the idea that raw determination and effort are what actually bridge the gap between a dream and reality. Through this story, the author’s purpose is to inspire us to lock in on our own ambitions, proving that if you are willing to work hard you will achieve your goal, no matter how crazy the odds look to everyone else.

Point

William Kamkwamba’s journey in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind demonstrates that severe structural adversity and social isolation can be overcome through an unshakeable positive mindset, intense curiosity, and a relentless obsession with a life-changing goal.

Evidence & Explanation

When a devastating drought and famine struck Malawi, William’s pohara whanau was plunged into absolute poverty, directly forcing him to drop out of school because they could not afford the fees. Stranded with limited resources and no initial help, William’s goal of saving his community seemed nearly impossible. Instead of receiving support, he faced severe bullying and ridicule from local villagers who openly mocked his ideas and called him crazy. However, William used his unshakeable self-belief to shield himself, ensuring he did not let the harsh words affect him. Driven by pure curiosity and a healthy obsession, his mind pushed through the limitations of his environment. He sneaked into a local library to teach himself physics from old textbooks, and with his supportive father and his loyal friend Gilbert by his side, he began scouring junkyards for scrap metal. By channeling his energy entirely into these positive factors, William successfully achieved his ultimate goal of building a functioning windmill, effectively providing vital water and electrical resources for his village and family. His incredible success serves to show the reader that you can do anything you put your mind towards, if you have enough curiosity and obsession.

Author’s Purpose

The author’s purpose in highlighting this journey is to show the audience exactly where they should channel their energy into the positive things within their control rather than the negative obstacles surrounding them. By emphasizing William’s intense ambition, the narrative serves as a vital reminder to the reader to stay optimistic rather than giving up when faced with overwhelming adversity. The authors deliberately contrast the destructive, harsh words of the bullying villagers against William’s quiet curiosity to prove that inner drive is far more powerful than external doubt. Ultimately, the author’s purpose is to inspire proactive resourcefulness, using William’s story as a blueprint for how a single hopeful mind can uplift an entire community.

Link

This directly connects to our own lives in New Zealand; while we enjoy the immense privilege of free education and abundant resources, William’s triumph over peer judgment, a lack of funding, and a struggling whanau mirrors the hidden hardships many young Kiwis face today, proving that internal determination remains a universal tool for creating meaningful change.

Point

William Kamkwamba’s journey in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind demonstrates that severe structural adversity and social isolation can be overcome through an unshakeable positive mindset, intense curiosity, and a relentless obsession with a life-changing goal.

Evidence & Explanation

When a devastating drought and famine struck Malawi, William’s pōhara (poor) whānau was plunged into absolute poverty, directly forcing him to drop out of school because they could not afford the fees. Stranded with limited resources and no initial help, William’s goal of saving his community seemed nearly impossible. Instead of receiving support, he faced severe bullying and ridicule from local villagers who openly mocked his ideas and called him crazy. However, William used his unshakeable self-belief to shield himself, ensuring he did not let the harsh words affect him. Driven by pure curiosity and a healthy obsession, his mind pushed through the limitations of his environment. He sneaked into a local library to teach himself physics from old textbooks, and with his supportive father and his loyal friend Gilbert by his side, he began scouring junkyards for scrap metal. By channeling his energy entirely into these positive factors, William successfully achieved his ultimate goal of building a functioning windmill, effectively providing vital water and electrical resources for his village and family. His incredible success serves to show the reader that you can do anything you put your mind towards, if you have enough curiosity and obsession.

Author’s Purpose

The author’s purpose in highlighting this journey is to show the audience exactly where they should channel their energy into the positive things within their control rather than the negative obstacles surrounding them. By emphasizing William’s intense ambition, the narrative serves as a vital reminder to the reader to stay optimistic rather than giving up when faced with overwhelming adversity. The authors deliberately contrast the destructive, harsh words of the bullying villagers against William’s quiet curiosity to prove that inner drive is far more powerful than external doubt. Ultimately, the author’s purpose is to inspire proactive resourcefulness, using William’s story as a blueprint for how a single hopeful mind can uplift an entire community.

Link

This directly connects to our own lives in New Zealand; while we enjoy the immense privilege of free education and abundant resources, William’s triumph over peer judgment, a lack of funding, and a struggling whānau mirrors the hidden hardships many young Kiwis face today, proving that internal determination remains a universal tool for creating meaningful change.

The author’s main purpose is to show readers that no matter how impossible your situation looks, if you are willing to work hard you will achieve your goal. A young boy named William Kamkwamba displayed his determination by saving his village of Malawi/Wimbe. When a terrible drought hits Malawi/Wimbe, William is forced to drop out of school because his family can’t afford the fees. Instead of giving up, he goes to a local library every day and teaches himself physics from old textbooks. He then spends months digging through junkyards to collect scrap metal, tractor parts, and an old bicycle frame, manually piecing them together to build a working windmill. This shows that William didn’t just sit around waiting for a miracle he put in the actual effort to change his life. Even when everyone in his village had different thoughts about him, he kept going. Because he was willing to work hard, he overcame having zero money or resources and achieved his goal of bringing electricity and water to his starving community. Ultimately, his success directly links back to the idea that raw determination and effort are what actually bridge the gap between a dream and reality. Through this story, the author’s purpose is to inspire us to lock in on our own ambitions, proving that if you are willing to work hard you will achieve your goal, no matter how crazy the odds look to everyone else.

This  term has been very good  and full experiences .

we have built a fence and nearly finished paving a chessboard, we have installed guttering and we have painted seats .

From each project you always learn something new. when faced with objectives or challenge take it head on and do your best..

This term was probably my favourite one because working on the paper work and practical work was evenly spread out throughout the term and we got to learn heaps of new things. One of my favourite things this term was working on the sleep out, not cause we didn’t have to do paperwork, but because I got to learn things that I haven’t learnt yet. All though my attendance was not as good as term one, while I was at school I learned a lot of new things that I will be able to use in the future if I need to.

Overall I enjoyed all the things I did and learned this term, but this week I’m looking forward to going out on the fun day and having a feed.

Last week we laid down some sand to put our pavers on top of heaps of them were uneven and rocked when you stood on them  so we marked the ones that had problems and grabbed them out individually to fix them up once all of the pavers were levelled they got compacted and paving sand got sweeped between the cracks.

I think i  have been doing amazing this term as I have been well up to date with my paper work. I have already earned credits from the paper work I have completed which is a win in my eyes. I have been trying to learn the carpentry experience so I can become a carpenter one day. I have also been gaining the trust with wha out builders, been going out with them weekly giving me the chance to get the experience I need to get some knowledge to possibly get a position in their team of boys. The time I have spent with them has been amazing as the boys are funny and have the knowledge I’m looking for.

Last week we got close to finishing our paving job. We had to check all the pavers and make sure they didn’t wobble, but if they did we had to take them out and flatten the sand that was underneath them.  I found this task fairly difficult and physically demanding because we’d have to move them and in doing so could make the pavers around it unstable. It also hurt the back because I was constantly bent down.

Last week on Saturday it was the school ball, I started getting ready at around 4 took photos with my family then went over to kawakawa to meet up with my girlfriend cause we was going together. We got picked up from her cousins and they dropped us off and we got there a bit early no one was there. It was alright most of the boys were there, The food was alright. I enjoyed it, it was fun

On Saturday the school ball was held at the Kawakawa union with the theme being peaky blinders. I enjoyed everything about the ball from the setup to the food to the music and everything else. I loved the photo booth as much as everyone else did because it was getting crowded every minute I also especially loved the train ride there it came very close to the feeling of peaky blinders because it was very vintage and fit the description. The train ride there was filled with laughter and excitement and full of high spirits especially because of everyone’s suits they prepared. this definitely was my highlight of the night. Personally I think I should have danced way more than I did because half the time I was sitting down, chilling and eating all the food. I liked the ball very much and wish I went to the ball last year.

We had split up into teams of two so we could do separate jobs. The plan and the goal was to get it done as quick as possible, we had two at the top on the staple gun, two at the bottom pulling for tension, two on the roll of wrap. The job was difficult as we had made a mistake by not making sure our starting line was square. Got the job done in the end and was a good experience.

We were doing the wrap for our cabin we had a good team with us but what I learnt is that team work only gets better when you use communication , talking between each other brings the team closer and you know what to do when you use communication

Last week, the Year 12s and I were given the job of fixing the guttering on the sleep-out because it was sitting too low. First, we had to set up the scaffolding. This took us quite a while because we kept putting it either too close to the building or too far away. Once we finally got it sorted, Peyton and Mana were able to fix the gutter. I went off and packed away unwanted scaffolding, I accidentally dropped a piece of scaffolding right onto my boot. It made me realise just how IMPORTANT it is to wear your PPE!

Wiremu, Vellon, and I were responsible for framing one side of the sleepout using 90 × 45 mm (3 × 2) studs at 2400 mm high, spaced at 600 mm centres as required. However, we identified a hazard when one of the stud positions was marked incorrectly at the 600 mm spacing. I noticed the error when Vellon had marked the stud layout differently to where it should have been. This happened because the bottom plate had been marked but was not transferred to the top plate. Once we realised this, we corrected the layout so both the 6 m bottom and top plates were squared off and marked the same, which made it easier to position the studs accurately.

When assembling the frame, I was in a good mindset even though I had not been there at the start. The studs had been cut to 2310 mm in length. I was happy to be offered the chance to use the nail gun. Although I was not fully confident at first, it helped build my confidence as I nailed the studs to the top and bottom plates. After that, we were ready to install the nogs and use a string line to make sure our side of the frame was straight.

On Thursday, Jack asked Wiremu and me to brace the inside of the sleepout so the frames would not fall over. We had to make sure each frame was square before bracing. First, I took an H3.2-treated 90 × 45 mm timber brace and cut both ends at a 45° angle. This allowed the brace to sit flat on the floor at the bottom and fit flush against the top plate at the top corner. I then used a clamp to hold the brace tight against the stud, which made it easier to screw the top of the brace into the stud near the top plate. We used a spirit level to check that the corner stud was plumb before fixing the bottom of the brace to the stud and bottom plate.

We installed four 90 × 45 mm H3.2-treated timber braces to plumb and stabilise the inside wall framing. Each brace was cut with a 45° angle at the bottom so it could sit flat on the floor, and the top was screwed to the stud where the brace angle was closest to the framing. Two braces were fixed to the right-hand side of the 2400 mm high wall frame, and another two were installed in the same way on the opposite side. Finally, we ran a string line along the top plate from one end of the frame to the other to check that the wall was straight before permanently fixing it in place.

Last week me and a few years 13s started building the frame for our sleep out cabin while the other few year 13’s went on a trip to the hokianga. While building the frames I learnt that when nailing in the nogs you have to nail from either straight through the stud or underneath the nog into the stud. When nailing from under the nog the nail will help support the weight of the nog where if you were to nail from the top the nail wouldn’t hold the nog as well. I also learnt that when using the nail gun you should have the butt of the gun pointing towards the place you want to nail.

Something we did last week was we put some scaffolding up around our sleep out again to take off our guttering and clips, we then bogged the holes and moved our clips up 55mm from its original place. The reason why we did  this is because if it rained heavily the gutters would be too low to catch the water and it would just run straight off the top from the roof.

I learnt that having the gutters too low is not good because of the water running straight off the top of the gutters and would make the gutters useless if it rained heavily.

We built a frame for our paving unit during the creation of the frame I learnt about the Pythagoras theorem and how it applies to framing. I also learnt that you can cut concrete with a angle grinder if you put a diamond disk onto it.

Last weekend, we built the subfloor framing for our 6 m × 3 m sleepout project. At the same time, I started planning the base for the common room and office room project for B Block. Those spaces measure 6 m × 5 m and 3 m × 6 m.

Here is a link to our plan proposals:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Nophm7WKQM3FepHno4X2Gn1DlXLC7aXA1Qbc0f91DxY/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p

The presentation shows how some of us Year 13 students used SketchUp to plan the common room and office room areas around the school. It highlights different approaches the students are taking for these projects. My contribution is on slide 4, which shows my layout ideas and where I think these buildings should go. I also included my design for the roof trusses and overall building form. My drawing builds on Jethro’s initial site plan and follows the locations he set out.

Meanwhile, our teacher divided me and some other Year 13s into two teams to work on the 3 m × 6 m section. We started by cutting the bottom plates to 6 m, then marked stud positions at 450 mm centres, finishing with a 150 mm end spacing. I knew studs would run down the midline at 405 mm centres, placed side by side to maintain wall strength. I was absent the next day, but the class installed insulation between the studs so I could lay the floor covering on top when I returned. One group set out the outer studs at 150 mm centres in a square layout and 300 mm across. My teacher let me use a Quick Drive fastening tool, which was great. It was much quicker and easier to handle than an impact driver and drove 35 mm screws to fix the floorboards in place. Overall, it was a fun and useful week of learning.

Last week some of us year 12s were given a job to finish off the gym seats that the year 13s had built. Our job was to go over it with another coat of paint and varnish. Everything was going really well. We had finished painting so then we just had to wait for them to dry then varnish them again the next day.

But the next day we arrived and found out SOMEONE had gone and messed up the chairs whilst putting them away and also messing up the paint itself. So we had to go over it all over again with the paint which took up most of the day but we finally got to varnishing the chairs. Once we were done with that we moved the chairs back into the sleep to dry. Then we came back the next day to see that the CHAIRS ARE DAMAGED AGAIN so then I gave up and just left maharlia and jojo to sort it out so I was there In case they needed my help.

Something I learnt whilst doing this project is that dust did not work well with paint which some may think is common sense but for me I had no clue so that was cool beans, oh and to never let Javon move the seats back in to the sleep outs.