Builders, Truth-Tellers, and Catalysts

Su Kahumbu Stephanou is the CEO of Green Dreams TECH and the app iCow. Her app supports farmers caring for livestock so they can access livestock calendars, track fertility cycles of their animals, as well as guide them on breeding, nutrition, and milk production. The app has helped farmers increase productivity and incomes. The fact we can use mobile telephones to enable millions of farmers’ access to crucial information that isn’t accessible or difficult to find really got my wheels turning. If we can do this for farmers, what can we use with this same technology to support teachers and build their capacity throughout Tanzania. Africa has 1 billion mobile phone subscribers; reaching people through their devices is the way forward.

These two speakers are just scraping the surface of what I was able to see and learn from. When you see art start conversations and bridge divides, solutions to solve the global food crisis presented, and drones making supply chain networks more efficient to deliver blood and medical supplies you can’t help but be hopeful. Dig deeper here.

Our world and the people who live in it are pretty incredible. While I have gotten to surround myself with so many intelligent, well meaning people, I have seen the dark parts too. I know the reality that exists for many of my students and other of the world’s most vulnerable people. It hurts, but I choose to live optimistically. I choose to come in and out of these sort of conferences or settings reinvigorated with a belief of what is possible. Take a moment to go out of your comfort zone and meet someone who knows a lot about something you know nothing about. Find the builders, those who speak truth to power and are catalysts in your community. Ask them questions, understand their world, and maybe, just maybe, a bit of their passion will seep into you. Maybe their fire will ignite something in you, and that desire to make the world a better place can continue to spread.