I must admit that some of my blogs of late may well have been a little downbeat given the present state of the world. However, a recent event reminded me that I have often marvelled at the capacity of those in power to screw things up whilst maintaining a belief that the young of the world will be our salvation.
This was confirmed a few weeks ago when I returned to my old university where I sponsor a competition for social and sustainable entrepreneurship.
My first surprise was that there were over eighty entries and secondly that the preliminary judging had only managed to reduce the finalists down to eight instead of the usual six.
To judge the finalists, I was joined by a team of three further experts, and we were treated to eight presentations. Every one of the presentations was professional and met the criteria of making a social and sustainable contribution. The high standard made judging very difficult, but we eventually arrived at a first second and third.
In third place was a student who were themselves neurodivergent and had used her years of experience to develop training and training aids to provide relationship education to neurodivergent young people. Already this was attracting interest from organisations that cater for neurodivergent young people.
In second place was a student that had recognised the lack of sustainability in children’s toys, She recognised that the common children’s modelling plasticine was non-biodegradable. She had developed a replacement that was equally effective, was in a range of colours and was biodegradable.
The winner was a student that had roots in Africa and had identified that poor farmers were taking their produce to market but often having to throw the left-over produce away as it rotted quickly in the sun. At the same time, she recognised that dried produce sold for twice the price. She set about solving the drying process.
She saw that they had little in the way of raw materials but that there was clay readily available on their farms. So, she set about designing a simple clay brick with holes in that could be used to construct a drying assembly. Building the chamber was achievable using local materials and the drying would dramatically increase their sales and hence their way of life.
Thinking back to that evening I realised that one young person was working to find a way to help neurodivergent people, one was leading children down the sustainability path, and one was helping farmers in Africa to help themselves.
I realised that these young people had tackled problems that fly under the radar of the politicians and policy makers. They were able to find ways that would positively affect people’s lives, not by laws or directives, not by grandiose expensive schemes, but by seeing people as individuals with real problems. They also saw that the best solutions are not imposed but rely on solutions that allow those they help to help themselves.
Suddenly I had lost my fear of the state of the world. Yes there are wars that big countries seem unable to stop, yes there are political parties that become increasingly polarised, and the news is full of bad things. But beneath it all are young people determined to make a difference in a more focused and personal way.
Thank you to these young people for reminding me of my core belief in them and the other imaginative young people in the world.
