Ubongo team members Christina Bwana (Head of Production) and Doreen Kessy (Chief Operating Officer) were provided with an amazing opportunity to attend TED Global in Arusha, September 2017.
The event hosted an array of inspiring innovators, truth-tellers, and activists from across the African continent, and the world. Needless to say, the excitement both in the talks and beyond – workshops, networking, dinners and dances- was tangible and contagious!
Both Christina and Doreen learned so much, but here are three key insights from Christina’s experience at TED Global:
1. Movers and shakers are not necessarily the ones with money or connections.
Too often, we think that we don’t have the power to contribute to social issues that matter to us. We are always waiting for someone else to be the leader, usually someone stronger, braver, wealthier than us. A key lesson at TED Global was that we are all capable of doing incredible things if we move past our own limiting beliefs.
“The girl who stood silently, half-naked, in a public square in Cape Town to juxtapose a strong black body to the statue of Cecil Rhodes, a white colonial master who declared ” I prefer land to n*****s”, showed that we do not need to scream out angry words or abuse the money and power we might have in order to initiate a social movement against something as polarizing as racism.”
2. We can change the world one step at a time.
Thanks to the internet and social media, many people feel like to be truly impactful, you have to do something that affects the entire world. However, the greatest changemakers, are often the ones who we’ve never heard of. People who are doing incredible things in their own households and communities, and in turn influencing others to do the same.
“In this case, one community at a time. For instance, Zipline provides life-saving blood donations using a locally operated drone, making null and void challenged faced by un-passable roads and mountains to rural clinics in Rwanda. Starting with the communities in Rwanda has saved many lives of expectant and new mothers and children, and they plan to scale to one community at a time.”
3. Everyone really does want to help someone do something.
With all the awful things happening around the world, it’s easy to get disheartened and stop believing in the essential goodness in people. But TED showed that so many people out there still care, and are fighting each day to make this world a better place.
“The support that was at TED towards those sharing their ideas and challenges and beliefs was enough to bring me to tears, on top of tears for the hearts behind the ideas on stage. Not only were there standing ovations to speakers who, from sheer nervousness, lost their trail of thoughts, but the passionate response and applause towards each speaker in causes as diverse as agriculture to religious unity to scientific discoveries were enough to prove that humanity has not been lost.”
