Susan notes: My friend Yang-May Ooi recently started running. She asked her Fusion View blog readers to share their experiences around how they had begun to run. So I created my first-ever podcast for her to include in HER podcast. This is the follow-up, the second in a series of three. Click on the player to hear my experience; read on if you want more detail.


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TEDxDubai organiser Giorgio asked me to write a post on “what TED means to you and what you are expecting from TEDx Dubai,” before the first Dubai TEDx conference in 2009.

Oops :(

I haven’t exactly done that in this post. But I will. I promise. Next time. Or the time after that. (OK Giorgio?)

I thought it might be more useful to begin at the beginning, because when I posted the TEDxDubai information on another blog, I got comments from people saying they didn’t “get” what TED is/does.

(When I found out TED was coming to town, I couldn’t wait to tell everyone I know, because it’s SO great, so I immediately posted the info and then was surprised by the comments.)

ANYWAY, it made me think that there could be a whole bunch of people in the UAE who are in the same I-don’t-get-TED boat.

TED Basics

If you’re one of the ones in that boat, here’s a simple explanation:

Susan notes: I met the beautiful and amazing Ann Njeri at the Initiatives of Change Tools for Change conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February 2009.

Although still a relatively young (she’s in her mid-twenties), Ann Njeri bowled me over with her confidence, energy, positive outlook and wit. Over a period of three days, I had the pleasure of sharing 12 hours with her and a group of about ten other women from around the world in a Peace Circle led by Jean Brown and Ann Njeri herself. It was a moving and transformational experience.

Dear friends,
 
It’s been more than a month since we said ‘see you again’ to our friends in AFL. Joan (Uganda) and I set into another journey after our enlightening, enriching, entertaining, educating and adventurous programme, AFL came to a halt. Our journey together hasn’t been any less of new learning, inspirations and adventures. We spent two weeks in Cambodia and three weeks in Indonesia.
 
I was worried that people will not be interested, whatsoever, with this two Africans in some Asian countries! Previously, it was easy to hide our inadequacies in the diversity of the AFL group.

But now, we were on our own, on the spot light and no diversity to make anyone interested in what we were doing! How do we still make our message likable? I have to admit that I was a bit stressed up!  But I was wrong, even without the diversity the message was still very valid. People were interested in us and all that we were doing! We got a lot of invitations that we couldn’t make it all. Visited orphanages, NGO’s, made presentations in schools, universities, radio shows…name it all!