What matters

After I draw with permanent marker russian letters on my keyboard, this blog haven't been updated, however, I am writing more and better in russian now.

What made me back?

Recently I found wiki about SBV business plans competition from Ashoka (or it was Artemisia), which you can join with a team of minimum of 2 ppl. Yes, I have quite long list of "dream team' potential members, but not all of them can read in russian, so in order make it easier for everyone to follow some of my ideas (which in mind are tagged as 'international'), i decided to be back.

But it is not the major reason.

Some of you heared about russian intern in Morocco who is living and working in "charity association for girls in difficult situation" or smth like that. To make the long story short - I finally completed my dream to go to orphanage, look around and think how my future work will impact the future of the kids. The whole thing turned to be deeper that just small "research", but what's more important, it has pushed me to read more, think more about very specific actions that I gonna take. Soon.

So, I got new pieces of the puzzle and now is trying to put them together.
I slept just for few hours last night - we came late from Fes with Alyssa who came to visit me in Morocco, then I put her in train at 7 a.m. and has been surfing in the internet - randomly. At the certain point of time 'surfing' always brings me to UNESCO web-page. I haven't been reading news since December...and you know what?

How much more sense everything has now for me!
Yes, I know what is sub-saharian Africa. Yes, I see the huuuuge difference between upper-middle class i am hanging out with and girls from poor families in association. I have been asking myself - what's gonna happen to them next? Yes, we are bringing interns who teach english and cultural diversity; yes, kids have a bit more chance to get job with basic english, but what kind of job? In a bar? In the hotel? Cleaning the houses? I am not against this kind of job, I am against having NO choice. Just because you were not lucky enough to be born in upper-middle family, to graduate from high school and enter fancy ENSG or IIHEM.

When I now see in the report the illiteracy level in some countries and quality fo education in other, and lack of teachers, it makes me think about reasons and consequenses, not just the fact itself. And emotional connnection with girls from charity makes me think about actions.

Actually, this is why i was writing that I would bring EVERY aiesecer 'to the field' , to SEE and TOUCH the issues we are aimed to solve directly or indirectly, now or in future. It is MUCH more difficult to skip the action if you know the name of the girl you could help (Fatim-Zahra). It is not just 'performance assessment', but kind of human assessment. Yes, I believe in "discover and develop potential" through whatever stuff, but also in a smaaaaaaaal space in busy schedule for the direct actions.

Talking about "having a chance" - what else makes sense is the advice that Martin from Microsoft gave me at IC in Turkey: yes, internships are cool, but look at the existing programs and think how to increase the impact. He meant ICT, I feel the power only now.

Example is simple - through internet we can give access to children to soooo many high-quality things - starting from online lessons to special blogs and testimonials where success stories or advices can be given. 'You are not alone' is the name of PBOX in SPUEF, but if kids from Latin America, Africa, Asia etc could feel the power of network and support from this network, the name would have such a BIGGER sense.

So, lets imagine that each orphanage/poor village in mountains has enough laptops and internet connection. What r the options?
- ah, yeah, teachers gonna steel them
- ah, yeah, kids will find out about games and porn fast and will not study
- etc.

So, we need to have people to
- control the usage of equipment, software and online content
- create the content
- teach basic ICT things
- teach kids how to write & read
- teach kids foreign language
- manage the network in order to capitalize on it
- manage the people in the roles mentioned above

If we have this, it shouldn't be such a big problem to find partners and sponsors.

Here is the opportunity for global organization which has access to high-quality human resources with high mobility, isn't it?

And when I think what kind of impact it may have, it takes my breath away.
Numbers in UNESCO reports.
Choice that people have.
My Fatim-Zahra who could teach dancing, design clothes or become a good director of charity association. Why not?