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 ...
I maybe in Bangladesh right now – but my mind’s on the World Economic Forum happening right now in Davos, Switzerland. For the first time in the forum’s existence, we really get to know more about the thoughts and views of those attending the World Economic Forum. This is because YouTube has teamed up with the folks at Davos. All of a sudden, Davos has helped turn Bono and Henry Kissinger into video bloggers. This is also the opportunity where people like you and me can get our voices heard at Davos. It’s called The Davos Conversation. It’s a huge step forward in democratizing one of the world’s most important forums.
One thing that surprised me is that I’m finding a lot of kindred spirits at Davos. Bono was there and, of course, he spoke in favor of the Millenium Development Goals that I’ve been talking about earlier. In fact, Bono writes the foreword of Dr. Sachs book “The End of Poverty”. The Executive Director of UNICEF was there and made a similar endorsement as well for the MDGs. But it’s not just celebrities and big wigs that were there making a difference – people from my generation were there too and were making their mark. Take Whitney and Juan for example:
Whitney makes a good point by pointing out that every year, Americans spend $20 billion dollars on ice cream. It only takes half of that to give a full education to every poor person on the face of this planet. It’s facts like this that actually made me a sociologist. My first ever class in sociology was at the University of Toronto. A professor there, by the name of Robert Brym, made a moving lecture which changed the course of my life forever. In a few charts and graphs and a few phrases – he impressed upon me two things: how easy it is to understand some of the world’s biggest problems and how simple it is to fix it…. if we really wanted to.
I also relate to Juan’s point about how we can’t expect our governments to solve all our problems. Politics is a nasty business. Too many politicians promise change but deliver the status quo. Do we simply elect the wrong people? Or is something about the nature of politics that makes it hard for true change to emerge? Don’t get me wrong – if governments could agree to fund the completion of the MDGs, that would be a surefire way to end poverty in our lifetime. It’s just that, change doesn’t come that often in politics. So we need a Plan B – a way to reach that goal through ordinary citizens like you and me.
It would also be nice to have a Plan C – but I have no idea what that would be…
About this Project
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.
