Further to my other posts on the Solvey Project which you can read all about here and herewith links below to all of the official sites I wanted to update my thoughts now that the world tour is over.
Just quickly for anyone who isn't familiar with the Solvey project – it’s about getting compassionate problem solvers worldwide networking and talking about local and global problems but more importantly about solutions to those problems. Solvey will support a number of projects or ideas for projects with small financial backing but more importantly by offering the originators of the ideas a global platform and a global network of people and agencies to tap into which may help them make their dream become a reality.
To kick start the second wave of the project following a successful pilot last year, the two founders of Solvey Dave Erasmus and Louis Cole have been on a whistle stop world tour hosting idea jams in cities like Addis Ababa, New Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and those meetings and trips have been documented in daily vlogs by Louis Cole on his You Tube channel Fun For Louis.
What I've taken from watching the project unfold personally is not just a desire to help and get involved in whatever way I can by making donations, spreading the word, sharing the message and such but also, and perhaps more importantly, it’s made me look at myself. It has left me with an overwhelming feeling gratitude for the great fortune I had to be born where I was, at the time I was, by nothing other than chance. I’ve found that just being grateful for who you are is hugely empowering. Not for how I look or what I do or even for family and friends but just gratitude that I am me because one thing I have learned from the Solvey project videos is that being me is an awesome thing.
I am free, I am safe, I am educated, I have work, I have access to global information and communication networks, I don’t know life without electricity or safe water, I can travel, I can read, I can write my feelings on anything and everything without fear of my life, I can believe what I want to believe and dismiss what I want to dismiss, I can wake up in the morning and put on whatever I want to wear for the day and I can pretty much go wherever I want to go in safety. Isn’t that amazing? If I’m ill or in trouble there are reliable responsive agencies to help me get better again or to get back on safer ground… just a press of a button away. That is mind blowing and yet I’ve never seen it that way before.
Watching the Solvey videos has made me realise that all of those things and more make me rich, beyond my wildest dreams, beyond what I ever imagined I was. I feel truly grateful that I am me and I’m amazed that with all of those things at my disposal I don’t do more good things to help people who maybe don’t have just one of those things I take for granted.
My mindset has changed. I am already doing more to support charities in practical ways. I am seeing the role I play in my volunteer position as far more important and impactful on the lives of others than I ever realised before. I want to get in touch with my own roots and I want to do some good, I want to make a difference and I know that I have to start with me. Solvey has made me realise that I need to do some things I have put off and I need to make some changes in my life so that I am in a position to do more to help others but also so that I don’t waste these opportunities and facilities I have at my disposal, things which most of the Solvey participants would give an arm for. I’ve watched young girls my age just want to be able to go about their business in safety, I’ve watched young girls my age just want some electricity or an opportunity to be educated and I’ve sat and thought of how nonchalant I’ve been about what I have and how we often devalue what should be the most valuable things we have by taking them for granted and when we take things for granted we don’t make best use of them. I want to change that.
Besides all of this just watching how lack of technology, lack of access to communication, language barriers & cultural barriers took a toll on Dave and Louis, both seasoned travellers really resonated with me. To see how those things visibly wore them down made me wonder how it must be for the young people who live with that frustration day in day out and yet there was so much hope. There was fire in the belly and determination to change things and make them better. That came from Dave and Louis but moreso from the people they engaged with at their idea sessions. Linking these people together, who are now pretty much members of an elite global movement through the work of Dave and Louis was a master stroke and maybe came as an after thought from the initial intent of the trip.
I can't wait to see which projects are chosen from the video submissions which should be flying in now following the official opening of the submission portal by the Icelandic PM. More than that though I can’t wait to see what I can do to help. I just implore any of my followers and readers to go and watch which issues the youth in Brazil are facing, what is troubling the youth in India, how do the Icelandic youth feel about the way their country is run, go and find out and it will change you. I’m grateful to Solvey for that. I needed a kick up the behind and it gave me it.
Solvey website – to get the official down low on the project and to submit your idea.
Fun For Louis Channel – to watch the fab vlogs of the Solvey World Tour.
Dave Erasmus Channel – for more on Solvey including how to submit ideas.
Donations to the Solvey Project – it’s quick and easy and 100% of donations go to the cause.
The above article by Nnenna first published on A Piece of Cake in May blog in May, 2016.
