Haphazardly Trying to Make the World a Better Place. Inspired by my time as a student at the University of Notre Dame.
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 ...
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 ...
[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 ...
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 ...
Children in Barguna, Bangaldesh watch YouTube video responses of people who told me to provide this village with clean & safe drinking water. Clean water project implemented with Save the Children.
You can see the full video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJubQzKYMGg
... Maybe Next Year
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).
Click the jump for the list…
When I first heard of Twitter, I couldn’t ever imagine myself using it. I already have a blog, so why do I need to go beyond that by posting short messages about what I’m doing at every little moment?
I tended to agree with people who suggested that Twitter is nothing more than “inane twaddle” and more akin to a “glorified messenger service”. But that was before Matt started integrating Twitter into this project.
As Matt explained to me, the internet connection in Uganda is worse than Bangladesh. So, not only is video blogging out of the question, but also even regular blogging is sometimes hard. Each photo he uploads to this site, he told me, takes about half an hour.
That’s how he got involved with Twitter. Thanks to Twitter, I’ve been able to keep track of the ups and downs of his micro-finance project to help over 180 Ugandan grandmothers earn an income. When you guys stepped in by offering to help finance his work, we were able to see how he did things every step of the way – practically in real-time.
After being inspired by Matt, I started to use Twitter myself. Sure, sometimes I do talk about inane things, like the new Star Trek movie posters that came out or the difficulties in making a background layout for the YouTube channel. But, I’ve also been able to share important experiences I wouldn’t have blogged about.
As those following me on Twitter know, I recently came back from a trip outside of Dhaka City that involved an overnight boat ride. Although such boats can be safe, there are also a lot of risks. One of the colleagues I went with, in fact, had lost her cellphone after being robbed at the docks.
If it wasn’t for Twitter, I would never have talked about the warning I got from someone reminding me the importance of locking my cabin door and then – after docking – how I had to stay inside the cabin for three extra hours while we waited for the robbers and thugs along the docks to lose interest.
After Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, I was one of the few (or perhaps the only person) live-blogging during disaster relief work. Most of the personnel in the field (from various NGOs and charities) simply didn’t have time to do much more than send a quick email or SMS a friend. I could very easily see the importance of Twitter in providing quick, accessible, and important information in a situation like that.
The way I see it, Twitter has a lot of potential – maybe even more than blogs itself. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be “inane” stuff on there. For me, my biggest limitation to untapping that potential with Twitter is the equipment I have. I usually have to pull out my MacBook, boot it up, and then use Twitter. The keypad on my old Motorola cellphone isn’t very Twitter-friendly.
With this project, I’m trying my best to make important issues (like global poverty) accessible to a global audience by using blogs and video blogs in a way that no one has before. I can very easily see Twitter adding another dimension to making this issue accessible to others. And all it would take is an iPhone (or other smartphone) and use of the ubiquituous cellular (but slow) internet that is cropping up here in the developing world.
Where would I be if I wasn’t here? There is no where else I would want to be than right here, right now. Too often I’ve witnessed tragedies unfold over the TV screen. Witnessed people who are too poor to fend for themselves die and suffer. I would often curse myself under my breath – “if only” I would say. “If only” I had been there – I could have done something. “If only” I could save just one life – it would be worth it. No more do I have to say “if only”. Now I can say “finally”.
For better or worse I’ve been given a chance to make a difference. That difference starts today. Just minutes a ago a BRAC jeep (BRAC stands for the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee – the world’s largest Non-Government Organization) came and picked up 70 blankets to go to Bagarat (near or in Khulna). “How did you get so many blankets so quickly?” a BRAC director asked me. “I bought them to give away in the first place – I just never expected to have to give them like this” I explained.
70 blankets seems like a lot – but at the same time isn’t.
But, the way I see it – most poor families (even before the Cyclone hit) sleep in the same bed. So, 70 blankets translates to 70 families (and these blankets are big enough for that). So that translates to about 200 to 280 people. That means someone is going to be warm this winter and it cost me me less than a buck a person. Even the iPhone can’t compete for that kind of value (and I’m a huge mac geek).
Just how much 70 blankets actually is dawned upon me when BRAC came to pickup the blankets. They came with an empty jeep – but they still had to stuff them all inside…
Here’s a shot of after they managed to squeeze all the blankets in:
The round white tanks are the CNG tanks – the fuel alternative I told you about in an earlier post.
I’m just hours away to the worst affected region in Bangladesh. My aunt warned me that things are so bad there the smell of death is still there. Thanks auntie, that makes me real comfortable going now…
P.S. - For the life of me, I have no idea what magic it takes to make a popular YouTube video. I’m not asking for crying about Britney Spears with a towel on your head popular (that video almost at 13 million views now by the way), but I was hoping my latest video about Dhaka after the Cyclone had featured-on-YouTube-frontpage potential. But it is starting too look like this video will be my lowest viewed video yet. I’m not worried though – especially on a day like today. I now have 200 to 280 more reasons to be thankful I’m here.
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.
