Showing posts with label social change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social change. Show all posts

Friday, 24 June 2016

RAIN, RAIN, I WISH WE HAD REMAINED

Yesterday it poured all day, and long into the night. June's roses have taken quite a beating. Will they recover?

At the hospital my stats were not promising: temperature - 37.7 and pulse - 113. The immunology team decided against my receiving intravenous immunoglobulins. Two weeks of antibiotics were prescribed and I was sent home. Unfortunately, a nurse had already hooked up one of my Ig bottles, which would sadly have to be discarded. I regret the waste of such valuable, life saving medicine. But deeply appreciate the nursing staff's concern in making sure I was the priority. I feel so loved by my team of nurses at the hospital; I am seen. Really seen.

As a patient I have to trust many others with my life. I have to trust that when they say they know more than I do, they really do know more. I have to trust that I matter. As a citizen of a country, we have to trust our lives do matter in the hands of those elected.

The vote to leave Europe was not my choice, but democracy is. I value my right to vote and the right of others to vote as they see fit. But sadly, as google analysts are proving by the discovery that many in the UK don't know what the EU is, let alone what leaving it will constitute, what has come to be has come to be as much out of fear and ignorance as anything else.

When a girl like Malala Yousafzai speaks out about the importance of education for the millions of girls who are unfortunate enough to be kept out of school, she is also speaking up for education itself. So often we, the educated privileged, don't know about our own governments, let alone global policies. Worst of all, how many of us can recite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?  It should be the most important piece of literature any student learns. Imprinted on our minds once we leave school and go beyond into the world of Others. That word that scares so many of us.

Shall we begin to recite together? Here we go... 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.' And sisterhood.

It is still raining. But we are together, reading and remembering some of the most beautiful words of our human language. http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the commission that drew up the text of the Universal Declaration, was considered the driving force behind its adoption in Paris in December 1948.

Friday, 7 August 2015

IM/POSSIBLE CHANGE: A TEDx TALK BY RIZWAN TAYABALI

Many months ago, while in India, my brother Rizwan agreed to do a TEDx talk organised in Vellore. He had been asked thrice before during his working travels in countries like Laos and Malaysia, but on this occasion he was physically present long enough to put together a brief presentation.

Rizwan is currently the CEO of Make A Difference, which mobilises young leaders to ensure equitable  outcomes for children living in shelter homes. As of today, Make A Difference works with 5000 children living in 83 shelter homes in 23 cities across India. MAD's highly efficient delivery model annually mobilises 400 Fellows and 3500 volunteers to deliver a range of interventions aimed at helping children overcome their challenges despite the circumstances they face. I've met some of these volunteers and Fellows - they have energy, intelligence, humour and compassion in spades.

I have already watched this talk several times and find new inspiration and wisdom - Rizwan speaks not only of social change, but also of the patience required to develop insight and true understanding of any problem at hand. There is compassion here too, which we all need for ourselves and others in our pursuit of making the seemingly impossible possible. Watch.



If you wish to know a little about my brother's work, he can be googled and 'found', but here is a brief summary: he has over 16 years of social and commercial experience ranging from strategy and design, to delivery and implementation of programmes and change, has worked with and advised more than 150 social purpose organisations across the UK, South America, South East Asia and Africa, and developed the first dedicated framework for scaling social impact (which can also be found online/ youtube).