One of my favorite ideas — A good purpose can become great
In the first article of this series, I shared with you my main stimulus to start thinking about one of my favorite ideas. I really recommend you to read it before starting the current one, just to grasp an idea of my way of thinking and of course to keep track of the below story, even if it’s gonna be a bit independent part.
So as I mentioned there, I love helping other people, I like sharing my knowledge and I live to improve myself. And somehow I want to combine all of these three in one go!
A new thread just opened.
October 2021 — After a lot of thinking I finally decided to book the tickets and travel to Tanzania in order to participate in a short volunteering experience organized by these beautiful guys (https://www.wheeling2help.com/). My whole experience and how I felt about it and mainly how it changed my way of thinking is a story by itself, and a long one, a story who I prefer to keep for myself, at least for now, as I am still trying to realize how strong experience was for me and how grateful I feel for having visited this amazing place.
January 2022 — Apparently I came back and I was thinking about how I can help more and more people. Of course, there are many ways to do it but I wanted something more, something which can have a bigger impact than one single person can have. I don’t live in my own bubble and it’s more than obvious that if the whole world doesn’t change, it’s unavoidable to have people living under these conditions. As it’s known, if you want to change the world, change yourself first, and this is what I am trying to do.
But as I said, I want more. Much more. As the legend Giannis Antetokounmpo mentioned when he got the MVP award:
“Always want more, but never be greedy”
7th of January 2022 — On my flight back I was thinking, thinking ideas that can contribute to a better world. This is the legacy we have. Leave this world in a better shape than you found it. We have miserably failed on that but let’s try it again.
Different ideas were coming to my mind, one after another. I‘ve told you, when I travel I always have new ideas!
In this beautiful village, we went, we also had some nice talks with the locals, with local women who are facing so many problems. And can you imagine what is their biggest one?
Please guess!
No, no, it’s not the lack of water. Neither that they live in houses built with wood and soil. Neither they can die from diseases that in our first world don’t exist at all.
Their main problem is the lack of education. This village has a primary school where 5 people are teaching 500 children. DO THE MATHS.
But that’s ok. It’s not, but let’s not focus there. After finishing primary school, if they want to continue studying, children have to go to a different village, where the high school is, and because that village is far away, they have to live there and as you can imagine that doesn’t come for free. Every child needs 100 euros per year for all of her/his expenses. Can you imagine? 100 euros for a complete year. Only a few of the families have the required amount of money.
As a single person, you can contribute, to one, two children? No more than that. Let’s be honest. We are not, at least most of us, ready to sacrifice even, in a really small level, our quality of life to care about the person next to us, let alone people on the other side of the world.
So how we can contribute to this, how we can help more people to improve their life and give them more opportunities?
As I mentioned earlier, I believe that we cannot change the world but we can evolve ourselves and with some more effort we can evolve the people next to us. I am not sure how many of us are willing to leave our conform zone, our daily routine, and try to empower people with our physical presence, so I started thinking about how we can empower people who are Wheeling2Help!
And it’s sad, but true that money is one of the means we have.
Doesn’t sound weird talking so much for helping people but not mentioning volunteering at all?
That’s my intention though, because what I want is to explain to you my way of thinking and how I shaped my idea all the way from some stimulus everyone of us can have in her/his life. They are there, and what we have to do is to see them, is to keep our eyes open.
In the first article of this series, I explained how much I was struggling when I started software engineering, I explained to you how beautiful it would be to have someone to help me, to empower me to find my own way in this crazy world of Software. I did it, not only for Nikolas but for many people during these few years of my career, without asking for anything in return. I am just in love with this feeling of fulfillment you have when you help. And I am sure that I am not the only one. I know a lot of people like me, and I am really excited about that. What if we make a group? A group of people (nerds who are spending most of their time in front of a computer) who are willing to help without wanting something in return.
And what if we go one step further?
How about connecting these people in one network?
And what if people like Nikolas or any other guy, who is lost doing her/his step in the software world, can connect with these people?
Then, magically, the situation becomes a win-win one.
A network where a student can find a mentor, free of charge. A network that can bring those two people closer.
The volunteer and the person who is looking for help or in a better wording, who is looking for empowerment.
“And, just a question because I lost the last part of what you said, Petros. How this network is related to your trip in Tanzania and the people who you want to empower?”
Easy tiger!
In the next article, I am gonna explain to you how these two ideas can coexist!
