TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) just recently premiered four videos from the first ever TEDGlobal held earlier this summer in Arusha, Tanzania. The conference was titled “Africa: The Next Chapter.” I have to say I was moved by George Ayittey’s statement that helping Africa is like the “blind leading the clueless” – I was also inspired by William Kamkwamba’s story of building a windmill in his village in rural Malawi. Both videos are included in the previews (listed below).
TED’s description of the four talks now available online:
Euvin Nadoo set the scene on day one, describing a continent poised to light up.
George Ayittey roused the audience alternating from lacerating criticism of Africa’s “hippo generation” to inspiring appeal for the “cheetah generation” to arise.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the final speaker of the four days, provided a tour-de-force, telling powerful personal stories and showing how the different pieces of the aid vs trade argument, which had animated the conference all week, could be reconciled.
And 19-year-old William Kamkwamba won a standing ovation for his shy 3-minute interview, revealing how as a 14-year-old he solved his parents’ energy needs in a village which had no electricity.
For those new to TED, here are a couple of my favorite talks:
>Hans Rosling, debunking third world myths with data
>Gregory Colbert, incredible imagery; discussing animal copyright
Rosling: “Mao Zedong, he brought health to China!”
:-/
Interesting talk, nonetheless. I think I can use some of this stuff in Global Studies.
[...] was actually two years ago now that I had posted about a young man in Malawi and his windmill. I continue to find his story inspiring and look forward to his forthcoming [...]