11, originally uploaded by Epic Change.Teachers, parents and students stand in-line at the internet cafe to vote for Epic Change on IdeaBlob
My good friend Stacey Monk CEO of Epic Change has taken full advantage of every opportunity she can find to fund the program she works with in Tanzania. A school that has in its turn taken full advantage of every opportunity that her efforts and theirs have provided. They placed #1 out of 107 schools in their district during the National exams this year. This is one of many milestones that Mama Lucy the founder and head of Shepard’s Junior Primary School has reached through hard work and a little helping hand from Epic Change. They are now working on their next big hurdle. A technology lab for the school. A technology lab that not only needs equipment, but also a way to connect to the internet we here in the luxury of the western world can access with out much thought. A mighty challenge indeed. They are making it happen. As finalists in IdeaBlob’s $10,000 competition they are very close indeed to making this dream a reality.
How ironic that they should be raising funds for this school through a medium that that school has limited access to. Stacey blogged about the voting happening in Tanzania. They are leaping past all the hurdles in their way to vote on-line so that they and their children can get access to all the opportunities that connectedness can offer. Including fund raising events such as IdeaBlob. Without a partner like Epic Change, their chances of successfully accessing these opportunities is slim. Which points to huge flaw in the system. If home grown solutions can’t flourish… if social innovation from outside is granted advantage over that from the inside; based not on the merit of the plan or but on their access to the right technology, then we are just making another elite club and excluding the people who care the most from the process of change. That’s no way to change the world!
I invite you to vote for Epic Change on Ideablob . The voting ends May 31st. So don’t delay. Mama Lucy, the kids at the school, the town of Arusha and Stacey Monk and all the folks who have worked to make Shepards Junior the best primary school in its district deserve that technology lab!
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