This is an incredible story of how a 14-year-old boy from Malawi who had to drop out of school was able to generate electricity and eventually change his whole family’s and villages situation by building a windmill on his own out of garbage and scrap: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/kamwamba-windmill/.
His initial desire was to be able to have light for him to use at night after the sun has gone down. Now it has developed in to much more than that.