My African Adventure — Prologue
I always wanted to get closer with Africa.
My first encounter with a country outside my homeland was a safari trip to Kenya. It was when I was 9 years old and won a ticket in a local TV show (called “Roeem 6:6”). My parents also funded a ticket for my sister, and we both were on an amazing trip. Since then I visited 35 countries in 4 continents, and discovered so many places. But still the feeling is that something really authentic is happening so close, just under my nose.
Did you know that Israel is the only country in the world bordering Africa with a land border? A continent so sheer in size, that its landmass is equivalent to USA, China, India, and the whole Eastern Europe combined, and you still have some landmass left over. With all this sheer size, still, the only land border is with tiny Israel. It is a 394-km long border, that is mostly known in Israel for it’s illegal immigration (wiki page).
By far the medium that connected me most with Africa is TED.com.
Amazing talks like these:
Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!
William Kamkwamba: — How I Built a Windmill
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story
Jessica Jackley: Poverty, money — and love
Watching these, it was only natural that when I also learned about Kiva.org (The last TED talk on the links above is by the founder of Kiva.org), a micro-financing service lending on social projects, my first option for lend a 25$ loan to someone somewhere in Africa. Since then I’ve lend 13 loans of 325$ in total, all targeting Africa, mostly targeting Women. You are invited to see my profile on kiva.org (press the picture on the top) and see my loans portfolio.
Thinking about social involvement, I find it silly that most of our donations (at least of the “average” person) are held in-country, like there is a border for the impact on human lives. Most of the people donating are already doing it to help people that are far from their sight or vicinity, so why no considering it globally? I’m sure that in Africa my loans made (and are making) a much large impact on people by helping them do what they think is right, compared to a loan/donation locally in my country. A dollar for a rural farmer in Africa is not the same dollar for a farmer in Israel.
Kiva.org is such an amazing way to get involved and help people, but doing so while believing in their sight on life, and not trying to change it. I strongly believe in that.
Actually, even Microsoft believes that. With a relatively fresh Mission statement for the company: “Empower every person on the planet to do more and achieve more”, that is really about everyone, and about doing what he or she wants to achieve.
Travel to Africa? Better — volunteer in Africa!
So, one of the perks of working for a large company like Microsoft is the chance to be part of projects that you won’t find in other places. For example, about two years ago, I completed an important life mission and became an official Beta-tester for a shiny new XBOX One device. It was prior to the launch of XBOX One in Israel, and Microsoft needed some testers to try the devices before they are sold. So, yeah, I know, the hard things you need to do. So, doing QA for console gaming, probably would not happen working elsewhere.
And.. Africa. MySkills4Afrika is an involvement project of Microsoft in Africa. By using the skills of Microsoft employees on projects promoting technology or social goals in Africa. This is something that I knew existed since about joining the company 3.5 years ago, but beside hearing or listening, did not get deeply involved. Until the end of this August 2016. It offers some projects that are virtual and some that are in-person, when all travel costs are funded by Microsoft. I applied for 3 projects (in Uganda, Mauritius and Botswana) and was accepted for the project in Botswana.
To be honest, I didn’t put much thought into Botswana when applying. My main goal was to apply for something that will get my wife to be as least mad as possible. Luckily, this and the two other projects overlap with the new-year holidays, which made it easier to get her approval, and correlate with days off-work. Wife happy, I’m happy.
So, what is the story of Botswana? hmm... now might be a good time to find out..
