William Kamkwamba was born in Dowa, Malawi in 1987 and raised in Masitala village along the central plains. One of seven children born to sustenance farmers who grew maize and tobacco, his childhood was often interrupted by drought and hunger. At age twelve, Kamkwamba became fascinated with electricity – a luxury enjoyed by only 2 percent of Malawi. He taught himself radio repair and began tinkering with bicycle dynamos, hoping to understand the inner workings of generators. During a devastating famine in 2001, William dropped out of high school. As thousands died across the country, he continued his education by visiting a small library near his village. After seeing windmills on the cover of an 8th grade science book, he set out to build his own machine using scavenged parts from a scrap yard. His first windmill was made from PVC pipe, a tractor fan, an old bicycle frame,
Bryan Mealer is the author of All Things Must Fight to Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, written with William Kamkwamba. A former Associated Press staff writer based in Kinshasa, Congo, Mealer has reported across the African continent. His work has also appeared in Esquire and Harper’s, among other publications. Born and raised in Texas, he now lives in Brooklyn.
Joshua Prince-Ramus is Principal of REX Architecture P.C. Buildings currently under construction include the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Texas; Museum Plaza, a 62-story art institute and mixed-use development in Louisville, Kentucky; and the Istanbul headquarters for Vakko, Turkey’s preeminent fashion company. REX recently won the international competition to design the new central library for Kortrijk, Belgium, and is one of three finalists for the new Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.
Prince-Ramus was a founding partner of OMA New York—an American affiliate of the Netherlands-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture—and served as its Principal until he renamed the firm REX in 2006. While REX was still known as OMA New York, Prince-Ramus was Principal in Charge of the Guggenheim-Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas and the Seattle Central Library, hailed as Time magazine’s 2004 Building of the Year and by the late New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp as “the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review in more than 30 years of writing about architecture.”
Aerial Photography – A Lofty View of What Will Change Everything
Bobby is the author and photographer of seven photographic books, including Through the Eyes of the Gods: An Aerial Vision of Africa (2005), Through the Eyes of the Condor: An Aerial Vision of Latin America (2007), and African Critters (2008), each published by National Geographic. Since 2002, Haas has focused his artistic endeavors primarily on aerial photography in an effort to capture the grandeur and mystique of Earth’s continents from this unique perspective. Haas is Chairman of the Board of Haas Wheat & Partners, a Dallas-based private investment firm. The Firm’s national reputation as a leading strategic investor has been established over the past few decades in a series of noteworthy acquisitions, including Dr Pepper Company and The Seven-Up Company. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, Haas has endowed professorships and been a frequent lecturer at both institutions.
After growing up in Dallas, Rogers Hartmann moved to Los Angeles to begin what would be an almost twenty year career in the film business managing screenwriters, directors and novelists. She continues to manage clients, but is currently producing film and television, as well. In June of 2008, Rogers was diagnosed with Dystonia, more specifically, Spasmodic Torticollis. Almost immediately, Rogers was invited to appear on Oprah with Michael J. Fox, The Today Show with Meredith Vieira and NBC in the Dallas/Forth Worth Metroplex. She then decided to take a break from television interviews, so she could focus more time on writing articles for a variety of publications, some local and some national. It is estimated that over 400 million people have seen her personal story.
You can learn more about Rogers’ organization Beat Dystonia at lifewithdystonia.com.
Dr. Abraham was born in Northern Ireland in 1947. He is currently the Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology at SMU. Educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen and Queen’s University, Belfast, Dr. Abraham went on to receive a Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky and a Doctorate in Philosophy of Religion from the University of Oxford. In 2003, he was appointed as Altshuler University Distinguished Teacher at SMU. Dr. Abraham works as a philosophical and systematic theologian in the Wesleyan tradition. His interests range across the whole spectrum of issues that link philosophy and theology. He has done significant work in the epistemology of theology and in systematic theology; more recently he has developed a keen interest in the intersection between theology and politics.
Lewis is a 13-year-old piano phenomenon. He started playing simple tunes on the piano when he was three. He had composed many of his own songs by the age of five, and by eight, he was performing in piano competitions and recitals all over the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. His love for music and unique performance abilities have created many opportunities for him, including numerous local, national and international concert recitals and television appearances. In 2005, he was a top finalist in the International Russian Piano Music Competition, and in 2008, Lewis was featured on America’s Got Talent as a child prodigy. Earlier this year, Lewis performed the “Star Spangled Banner” in front of a crowd of over 170,000 fans at Texas Motor Speedway. Lewis continues to use his gift and is routinely asked to share that musical connection that is bigger than himself.
Turk is an Austin-based writer and filmmaker, and the director of the new feature documentary, One Peace at a Time, which looks at the possibility of providing basic rights to every child. He has published ten books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestseller, The Tao of Willie, which Turk coauthored with American music legend, Willie Nelson. He is also the author of the novels Fast Greens and When Angels Sing. Turk also directed the feature documentary, Nobelity, and is the co-founder of the education and action nonprofit, The Nobelity Project. As an actor, Turk played that idiot narcoleptic guy in HBO’s The Sopranos. His feature films include Waiting for Guffman, The Alamo, Friday Night Lights and Rick Linklater’s Scanner Darkly.
