Sometimes I wish I was a celebrity. Not for the fame. Not for the fans. Not even for the money. But rather, if I was a celebrity and wanted to help people in any country, all I'd have to do is pick-up a phone and a charity would be at my beck and call.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="The Front Door for Many Charities"][/caption]
The sad reality is that, even when I'm on location, it can be an uphill battle to team up with large reputable charities. This is regardless of how many times I get my foot in the door, regardless ...
Within Reach of Davos
In January of 2007, I withdrew from grad school at the University of Notre Dame and began an unemployed, unplanned, and "uncultured" journey to help the poor.
Almost exactly three years later, that journey has brought me to within grasp of being able to talk to world leaders about global poverty at one of the planet's most important conferences. I can get there - but only with your help.
Out of 75 applications from around the world (and many more that didn't make the deadline), I was selected as one of five potential candidates to go to Davos. The winner, is determined ...
The Quest for Sustainability
[caption id="attachment_1801" align="aligncenter" width="481" caption="I Give a Talk to YouTube & Google Staff in San Bruno, California"][/caption]
"Years from now, I'm going to be looking back at this point in my life and laugh," I told my friend whom I'm staying with in San Francisco. "I'm doing something successful enough that people are inviting me to meet them and give talks... yet unsuccessful enough that I can't afford to buy myself some new clothes," I said with a wry laugh.
Right now I'm in San Francisco - home of Silicon Valley. It's home to where all this technology that has made this ...
The Final Week?
This is maybe my final week in Bangladesh.
Since I landed, I've been trying to complete projects related to Challenge Poverty. As you know, I've been working on building that Pond Sand Filter and repairing that school. It's been nearly 6 months and I want to wrap everything up in the next 72 hours. Yeah.... that maybe a bit ambitious. Fingers crossed.
The good news is that the water quality of that Pond Sand Filter is now clear, clean, and deemed safe to drink by official tests conducted by the Department of Public Health here in Bangladesh. Here's a photo. One is ...
Hey Shawn, I saw your Davos video (of course) and the one blaring thing I noticed is that you did not mention what is UNIQUE about YOU. Lots of people work on ending poverty. You even listed websites who are doing it too.. but you didn’t say.. what is special about YOU.
You’ve gotta start using that as your leverage. Thats why I gave YOU money instead of them. That’s why we follow you. You’ve got a unique audience because of the unique way you work – which is also important.
Mention it in your next davos, and in any of the other videos you make that describe what you do. The thing about not using guilt, about showing your viewers where the money goes.. use that. use the unique viewers you have.. we are not middle aged charity people.
We’re nerdfighters and youtubers and we are powerful – use it!
“Innocent children of war, famine, and disease – will you help them?” WELL THEN PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL RIGHT NOW! Operators are standing by! It only costs as much as a cup of coffee a day! Does this sound familiar? Well, that’s part of the problem.
One of the reasons I started this project is because I had the lofty goal of changing the conversation about global poverty. Commercials are a big influence on that conversation. More often than not, when someone sees images of the third world or poverty on TV – it is usually from a television commercial. But commercials like the ones I talk about my latest episode on YouTube, actually do a disservice.
People don’t like to be made to feel guilty. There is no point – making me feel guilty doesn’t get us any closer to solving global poverty. But commercials like these definitely try and take the viewer on a guilt trip – complete with rhetorical questions such as “But who cares? He’s not your child – why should you care?”.
These commercials also go for the pity factor. In the 15 videos that I have thus far put on YouTube – there is only one video which has a child crying. But, judging by all the charity/poverty-related commercials on TV, you’d think that all kids did in the third world was cry and make sad faces. Evoking images that make us see the poor as objects of pity not only do a disservice to the poor – it’s downright insulting. In fact, if I got a dime for every time I saw a kid smiling here in Bangladesh, this project would have paid for itself.
The only thing worse than evoking our pity for the poor or making us feel guilty is the fact that it all boils down to one message: send us your money. Send us your money and you’ll feel better. It’s an over-simplified conception of global poverty that hinders real solutions towards ending global poverty. Did you know, that developed nations get back more money from the third world per year as interest on their debt than we give to them each year in aid? It’s true – and it has been for quite a while.
Picking up the phone and dialing the number on your screen does more to ensuring more pity-evoking and guilt-inducing commercials in the future than it does to help us achieve the end of poverty. I think it’s time to change the conversation about poverty. And, thanks to your support – my loft goal of changing the conversation is starting to look not-so-lofty anymore. As of recently, The Uncultured Project on YouTube is now more popular (in terms of subscriptions) than all the following YouTube channels combined:
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.
I'm Shawn - a 28 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.
