What would you say if I gave your donations to someone whom (until recently) I never met, who used it on a country I've never been, and helped people I've never seen?
What you would get is this video:
First, it must be said that this is far less sketchy than it seems. Rohan was a friend of mine long before I sent him a dime. I trusted him enough as a friend before I entrusted him with part of this project. That, of course, does limit how often I can do things like this.
Second, there is a specific reason I wanted ...
Why I Went to VidCon
[caption id="attachment_2489" align="aligncenter" width="481" caption="Hank & John Start VidCon Early in the Morning (thus the rare shot of empty seats)"][/caption]
VidCon. In a word? WOW. As one friend put it, "it's like the internet exploded into real life". It was surreal, amazing, & awesome to meet people that I've only been able to see through my computer screen.
Even though there wasn't nearly enough time, I'm in awe at how seamlessly online friends turned into "real life" friends. In most cases it's like you've known someone for ages and are just hanging out.
[caption id="attachment_2488" align="aligncenter" width="482" caption="This photo makes me look more ...
My 5 Fact Pitch to Save the Children
It's the first of April, and I'm standing in a dimly lit room with a bright projector light blinding me. In front of me, some high ranking officials who came to hear me speak. This is no April's Fools joke: this was my presentation to Save the Children USA's Global HQ.
[caption id="attachment_2423" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Save the Children's USA HQ (pic by Madge Canning)"][/caption]
After an hour of Keynote slides, graphs, and videos I was pleased to see that my presentation was well received. Lots of nodding heads. But I needed one more thing. I need to drive the message home. It ...
Does Steve Jobs Care about Global Poverty?
Less than 24 hours ago, Apple surpassed Microsoft to become the world's biggest tech company. As someone who used to spell Microsoft with a dollar sign, I can't believe what I'm about to say: this is a bad thing for the world.
The only thing I love more than Apple is what I use my Mac gear for: fighting poverty in developing countries. In this regard, unlike Microsoft & Bill Gates, Apple & Steve Jobs don't seem to care much about poverty and global development.
[caption id="attachment_2235" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One runs the biggest tech company in the world, the other is a global ...
Hey there ONE Campaign folks! I’m a big fan of you guys. In fact, I wear your ONE Campaign bracelet almost everywhere I go! I can also tell you’re a huge fan of my work – especially my latest video called “Thank You YouTube”:
Thanks so much for finding a way to reduce that video down to 30 seconds (which I guess you guys decided to call “ONE Thank You”):
I’m really flattered you even stuck with a similar text effect for the “Thank You” at the end!
FYI, I come up with stuff like this all the time. Why not give me a call? I’d be happy to help out if you guys out more formally sometime
P.S. On a more serious note, this is actually an awesome message from The ONE Campaign. It’s positive, non-partisan, and optimistic. The fact this 30 second video is going to be used in a national ad campaign should hopefully counter-balance those dark, depressing, guilt-inducing videos we often see on TV about global poverty.
It’s no secret that I’ve been lucky to work closely with the great organization that is Save the Children USA. They seem to be making leaps and bounds in their attempt to change the conversation about global poverty. I absolutely love this video:
It’s a great balance of the harsh reality but also combined with a really positive and hopeful message. If you were on the fence about how great Save the Children is – hopefully this video has erased any doubt
Santa’s not putting anything underneath the tree this year unfortunately. In fact, this past year, there have been no birthday presents, nothing for the holidays, and definitely no surprises. Between my parents helping me replace my busted external harddrive, helping provide the airline points so I could meet Hank and John in Texas, and helping me return to Bangladesh in the new year – they have been supporting me as much as they can.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things on my wish-list. In this blog post, I’ll list some of the things that would make a huge difference in this project. However this isn’t a ploy at Christmas-time cyberbegging because the most of the things on this list require a Christmas miracle (or two).
One of the things I’ve learned from this project is that some of the most vile, intolerant, and hideous comments I have received have been left by local Bangladeshis who are privileged enough to have the resources to access (and be hateful) on YouTube.
The thing to keep in mind is that, with over 80% of the country earning less than $2 a day, those within Bangladesh who are able to comment and critique my videos come from a very narrow (and very privileged) position in society. I guess sometimes the hardest people to get through to are those living right in the middle of it all.
As of this Monday, the money that I had allotted for Challenge Poverty has now been transferred (in full) to Save the Children USA. It’s the YouTube community that is voting on what I do – but it is Save the Children that will be carrying it out.
This is a huge of a load off my chest. This project has come with a lot of jobs. I had to become a part-time cameraman, director, editor, field/aid worker, graphic designer, webmaster, accountant, and full time blogger, vlogger, and tweeter. But the biggest stress has always been that I’ve been entrusted to handle other people’s money. This is a big chunk of the money donated to me and, by teaming up with Save the Children for this particular project, I can sleep easy knowing each and every penny is going to be spent wisely and efficiently.
It was only when I was getting the paperwork for this together that I realized the scope and scale of this project. When completed, Challenge Poverty will have been funded by over 200 different donors – many of whom are my age or younger and most of whom are first time donors to something like this. In total, this project has received donations from 18 different countries across the globe. Not only that, there have been countless people from 11 different states across America who have donated in cash during the Tour de Nerdfighting.
I have a strong idea as to what we will spend this money on. But it’s not to late to lend your voice to what is no doubt on this highly ambitious project Feel free to vote by YouTube comment or by video response to this video.
For this year’s Project for Awesome, I decided to pull out all the stops and show you guys a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing but haven’t had the time to put into individual episodes or videos. I keep saying that this project is less about me and more about the community behind it – hopefully this latest video helps convey that.
And, yeah, this video does use copyrighted music by Coldplay (part of EMI Records). I did enough research into YouTube’s agreement with EMI Records and am fairly certain this video won’t be taken down. But, of course, I also had to forfeit any chance of earning any ad revenue and (as I later found out) any reasonable chance of having this video being featured or promoted. EMI can also reserve the right to take down this video, region lock it, or place ads on it where they can earn all the ad revenue from it (just like the Counting Crows & Universal Music have region locked my Cyclone Sidr video and take all the ad revenue from it).
But that’s cool. This was a kind of video I wanted to make for ages. I just never could find the right match of visuals and music until I heard “Life in Technicolor ii” by Coldplay.
Haha – just kidding. This is just a video of that cockroach infestation I had photoblogged about on Flickr a while back. I sure have come a long way in my phobia of cockroaches. (Heads up – this video is not for the squeamish).
Looking at this video from the comfort of my home here in Canada, I actually feel real sad. Because the fact is I have a few well-to-do relatives in Bangladesh. They all live in nice big modern homes free of insect infestations.
Unfortunately, things got so bad for me in Bangladesh, that I now know that I can’t rely on my well-to-do relatives even if it’s a medical emergency. Unsupportive relatives are one of the many reasons, I decided to come back for a break.
This is not a charity, organization, or anything formal. It’s my journey to try and make the world a better place - one meaningful difference at a time. It’s about inspiring others to believe that we can be the generation that ends extreme poverty. Hopefully, this project can also show the big multinational organizations that there is a better way to engage people on the issue of global poverty.
About Me
I'm Shawn - a 29 year old Canadian from Toronto. Before starting this project, I was a graduate student on scholarship at Notre Dame University. My life took a turn after I met Dr. Jeffrey Sachs (author of the book "The End of Poverty") when he came to give a speech at Notre Dame. That speech inspired me to withdraw from grad school, liquidate my savings, and begin this journey to try and make the world a better place - one meaningful difference at a time.
As of this Monday, the money that I had allotted for 
