Having delivered and attended workshops in different cities, I have worked with great minds who are progressive, and others who disregard their potential. Everyone I’ve worked with harboured a great mind. Indiscriminately, we all harbour a great mind. Some reach a point whereby they begin to explore its capabilities, while others are limited either by resources or various other constraints.

In an ideal society, we would all have equal resources and hence equal chances to grow. However, with the existential inequalities, it is essential to help cater for these distinct inequalities and slowly work towards a more balanced world.

Yes, it is easier said than done. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Sometimes the fact that it is difficult to alleviate issues works as a stumbling block; we’ve got to look past it, and try work on small ground issues and slowly tackle larger ones.

Reflecting on the quote above, I have found it to be very accurate on many levels. Attaining knowledge in all respects increases wisdom. As you become wiser, your command and abilities become more distinct. Sometimes you begin to explore new talents, and focus on new potentials that you hadn’t witnessed before. Knowledge doesn’t have to be specific to secular; all knowledge can be useful knowledge.

In society, secular knowledge is regarded as a dominating asset. It often determines employment, entrepreneurial skills and various other roles.

For this reason, I personally feel education to be a pivotal means for an individual to succeed. However, a good education system requires resources to enable steady upward growth. While resources are available online and in libraries in the UK, some developing countries across the globe lack resources. This often constrains their growth and chances of improvement.

As a newly formed charity, Mount Elimu aims to address this issue in developing countries. If we’ve got resources to nurture our talent, so should everyone else. Our long term aims are to promote resource allocation in East Africa (to start off with), by delivering workshops on global poverty, whereby we hope to educate people on a local level, in order to educate people on a global level.

With manageable strategies to start off with, we hope to grow and help empower as many individuals as possible.

While this is our story, we believe we should help improve their story.

(Please get in contact with me if you’d like to help in any way.)

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In the Name of God,

There are many problems in the world, an inconvenient fact that we have to learn to deal with. Economic meltdown, international conflicts, terrorism, world hunger, and the list goes on. All of these problems are a part of reality and is something that we are certainly going to have to face sooner or later. Currently, the world has a tendency to either be ignorant of the problem or just wait until it gets very serious. I believe that there is a very simple and effective long-term solution to all of these problems and that, is education.

For me education has been, is, and always will be the solution to all of the challenges that we face in the world today. The book “Redemption” was written by a gangster on death-row in the U.S. and it talked about his life as the founder of the infamous Crips gang, his time in prison, and the transformation that he undertook simply by learning to read and write. He in fact became so well known as an outspoken critic of gang violence that he was nominated for a Nobel Prize. Giving the education a child needs, rather than getting that child involved in street crime, would do him a whole lot of good for the pen is always mightier than the sword. A basic crime prevention strategy that today’s governments may want to review.

Another classic entitled “Three Cups of Tea” was written by a mountaineer by the name of Greg Mortenson. Greg was lost climbing K2 and ended up in a village somewhere in the North-West region of Pakistan. Having seen the abject poverty of the place, he promised he would build them a school and today he now has almost 60 schools built throughout northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. With this magnificent act of kindness, he has changed the hearts and minds of a whole region. The walls of ignorance were crumbled in an instant. The very notion that girls should stay at home and that Americans are bad people was no longer a reality. Again, could education not tackle terrorism and change the hearts and minds of a population who has come to loath the West? I hope Mr.Obama is making notes.

A lot of the time, people agree with the above notions but don’t tend to do much about it. Arguments such as “Who am I to make a difference?” pop up time and time again. In my opinion this is ridiculous. Bobby, Laren, and Jason were three ordinary students from California who all had a passion for making movies. With $300 and three plane tickets to Uganda, they went on an African adventure only to witness the horrors of children being kidnapped and turned into child soldiers. A couple of years down the line and their charity, Invisible Children, has now won a $1,000,000 cash injection to help build schools for the children of Uganda. They have made the difference. At YourTwoCents, we have the privilege to write and express our opinions freely and openly, and now we want to share the gift of literacy with others.

Ismail Al-Buhaisi is a 19 year old student who lives in the Gaza Strip. After the recent invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces that left 1400 Palestinians dead, hospitals, schools, and offices were raised to the ground. Yet despite this, he still wants to continue his English Degree at the Islamic University in Gaza City. With the help of a UK based charity, we can now provide for his education until he graduates with the renewed hope that he will be able to get a job and provide for his own family. All he needs is £800 a year for the next three years. What he has to pay for in three years, doesn’t even add up to what UK students pay in tuition fees in one. Our commitment is to use the money that we gain from the website to not only continue expansion, but to provide for his education so that at least one more person is free from the shackles of illiteracy. A 10% cut in anything that we gain in monetary funds will be given in the way of helping Ismail complete his education. If you want to get involved, please e-mail any of the in-house writers at YourTwoCents.

Thank You.

“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve obviously never been in bed with a mosquito.”- Michelle Walker

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Networking – is it an art, or is it just a forced form of dialogue where everyone is out for their own gains?

After going to a conference on the same subject a few weeks ago, I began to dig deeper into the subject, and build on my own networking skills. It’s been a learning curve, which continuously needs to be worked upon.

How many times have we been at a conference with major political figures or business tycoons, and unable to have a long and meaningful conversation with them? How many times have we remained silent, in order not to ‘make a fool of ourselves’? We’ve got to seize every opportunity we get. Getting up the ladder in all fields is subject to ‘who you know, and not what you know’.

The aim of this article is not to legitimise talking to every stranger that walks past us, but merely to emphasise on the importance of evaluating our circumstances, and determining how we could maximise the use of potentially beneficial acquaintances. Although it may appear to be a ‘selfish’ or ‘fake’ friendship, our aim isn’t to have a short-term friendship which will be ignored after help, but to continue to help each other. It is arguably the most common way to attain a higher role on your job/in society.

The term ‘networking’ has grown tremendously in popularity over the recent years, especially with the recent introduction and popularity of social networking. In a world of interconnectedness, it has become essential to know people globally for trade, campaigning, fundraising, political changes and several other fields.

One example that comes to mind is how I was able to meet the Minister of Education in Tanzania, during my gap year travels. While discussing my interest in International development to the secretary at one of the schools I helped out at, she realised how interested I was and spoke to the minister about a potential visit, which he agreed upon immediately. This meeting proved quite successful, because a follow up phone call to discuss any matter relevant to international development/job prospects does not require any form of introduction.

Another key example is the advertising of this website; after introducing YourTwoCents to various leaders in political establishments as well as entrepreneurs, we’ve managed to get readers in all fields who fully support our aims. Furthermore, speaking to the heads of societies about YourTwoCents, at university, has expanded our target audience exponentially. Our current hits stand at over 300 every week.

Essentially, all it takes to grow and gain recognition is to make yourself known. However, networking may not be as simple as conversing with various people; the fundamental pre-requisites one must attain are good presentation, approachability, assertiveness, honesty and coherence.

This article does not deny the possibility of growing through other routes, yet emphasises how the current route, through networking, is slowly becoming the conventional route.

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We participate because he has the power of pressure. He patronizes and plants pretty pictures and portraits of the praise he will perfume us in. Oh Poo! We have a portfolio  of pointy pins that prick our inner peace to then take a pill to cure the pain. We have been persuaded like a puppy. Like a poodle playing with a python that poseidon before pouncing. Paw us. Probably we plead with our peasant like minds in the parks and pools of thought not to be persuaded once again – but we persist. The power of peer pressure is plentiful. So ponder or put pen to paper before our potential reaches a point of no progress, where we are persuaded only by others and not ourselves. So be prepared to turn away in the pandemonium of the people and to say “Phuck You”  to your peers that disturb your inner peace. Be positive in the years to come. Praise others on their personalities and lower your pride to perhaps even pressure your piers in doing good.

If you know you are doing something bad, do not drag others down with you to feed you guilt. If you are doing something good, elevate the status of others by inviting them along and do not forget the power of peer pressure.

Oh Poppycock!

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