Ursula Rakova - Sailing the waves on our own

Climate is changing, these are among its first refugees. As global water levels rise, islands are beginning to disappear. If they are occupied, where do the people go? How will they prepare? Who will convince them to leave an island they have occupied for generations. Ursula Rakova has created an organization to deal with relocation in the Carteret Islands for those who must face the inevitable, it's called Tulele Peisa Inc.

Nicholas Negroponte - "A mission not a market."

OK as head of MIT Media, Negroponte is no ordinary guy. However, the power of his idea and his ability to involve the contributions of many others in the development of an inexpensive laptop, generated an intelligent solution with extraordinary capacity. The video below on the OLPC idea is a powerful model for social enterprise, any social enterprise.

The Rwandan example in the following video is a powerful illustration of the results. The computer itself has a more powerful wireless capability than your computer, it has a water resistant keyboard, it can be powered by a solar device or a crank generator, it has no hard drive and it is capable of computer to computer networking which extends its distance for more distributed communities. These are just a few of the features that make it suitable for the rigours of remote or extreme conditions.

Jessica Jackley opportunity can change a life.

Jessica Jackley wanted to connect friends and family in the U.S. with friends and family in Africa. Kiva.org raises over a million dollars every 9 days, with 300,00 lenders, and 95 partner lending institutions for microfinance loans for businesses in impoverished countries. All to say, the internet allowed her to participate in the lives of people she cared about by providing opportunity for them. Kiva means unity in Swahili.


A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.

Majora Carter makes "Green is the new Black."

She chooses to fix a neighbourhood, the South Bronx. She seeks a new normal, a reasonable one that has grass instead of garbage, clean parks instead of dumping grounds and a waterfront for people instead of a collection of derelict warehouses. There is a tendency to think of her activism as a solution soley for impoverished urban areas, but her ideas apply to any area where people want to participate in how they live wherever they live. After all of her South Bronx development efforts and successes she has left the Sustainable South Bronx organization to run on its own, to begin the Majora Carter Group with the following mission: "Majora Carter Group builds efficient relationships between organizations and across sectors, helping civic, business and nonprofit organizations meet their individual interests via green economic projects."

Leymah Gbowee had "a crazy dream"

This is Leymah Gbowee, a citizen of Liberia. She decided the war in her country had gotten to the point of "ridiculous." Then she had a dream about peace. In the beginning she cannot accept herself as the leader in the dream. After overcoming her denial, she began her mission to stop the war by sharing her frustration with the killing and raping, announcing that it must stop.



Abigail Disney, Walt's grandaughter, a philanthropist and filmmaker, made this documentary called Pray the Devil Back to Hell. I highly recommend watching this interview with Leymah Gbowee and Abigail Disney. Leymah Gbwoee is now the Executive Director of Women's, Peace & Security Network.

Underway

We had our first session with the kids in the Jane/Finch Neighbourhood. A lot of images were captured with the cameras that we put into the hands of the children. I'm about to download the pics and video but I thought I would share this one that I took with my iPhone during our walk around the neighbourhood.