there is so much noise in our generation
the constant sounds of pings and
notifications in our phones the constant
stream of articles and think pieces
rushing down our timelines there’s an
incredible amount of information we
consume on a daily basis now more than
ever our sense of community and
consciousness has become more global we
are more aware of the injustice is going
on throughout our world unless this has
added credence and volume to many of
these issues that matter I think it has
also made us numb numb to the pain and
the violence and the war because we
could not possibly feel it all and if we
did well what could we do I grew up in
Lagos Nigeria and I was shorted from a
lot of the inequalities I saw going on
around me my government’s idea of
development was destroying and
demolishing poor communities out of
sight out of mind
creating a facade of development now
when I was 16
I’m of the United Kingdom to pursue
further education and I suddenly became
more curious of this country had called
my home though the pressure borne on me
to be a spokesperson or to be an
ambassador of Nigeria many people around
me hadn’t heard of the country or
perhaps they had heard of Chinua Achebe
or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie so I decided
to do a lot of research and I realized
that I had been lucky luck should not
determine whether I am married at age 13
or died at age 15 in childbirth luck
should not determine whether I have
access to clean water or were they
experience cholera in my lifetime luck
should not determine whether I have
access to sanitary pads or although I
must drop out of school
once puberty begins so after doing all
of this research I desperately wanted to
give back but I really didn’t know how
to or where I would
begin would I start with tackling
corruption or perhaps I would look to
campaigning against female genital
mutilation or maybe raising awareness
about access to healthcare in my country
but in a country with problems that
seemed endless
they almost felt impossible but what I
believe to be true now is when we are
faced with many of these social problems
we should view them as opportunities to
be changemakers now January of last year
there’s a lot of outrage on Twitter in
Nigeria about the price of sanitary pads
the price of these products had
increased by double overnight and as
this increase seemed ridiculous
to be honest I didn’t pay much attention
to it because I knew I could still
afford these products and then a tweet
was retweeted onto my timeline asking
what would happen to girls who now could
no longer go to school where would they
go I began doing my research again and
I’ve read an UNESCO publication that
said one in 10 girls in sub-saharan
Africa missed school during their period
one week becomes weeks becomes a month
becomes a year and eventually these
girls drop out of school altogether
I had never once thought about how the
impact of this basic product could
affect the lives of millions in my
country and to put it into perspective
65% of Nigerian females do not have
access to sanitary pads this tweet for
me was a call to action and I sparked
interest in six other girls too and
together we formed an organization
called sanitary aid for Nigerian girls
in our first month through crowdsourcing
we’re actually able to raise eight
hundred thousand naira sounds a lot but
it’s really just two thousand dollars
but we were incredibly excited about the
work that we would embark on
interestingly at this point we had not
met each other our founder is based in
the UK I’m here in DUI
and the rest are scattered across the
country now you may have heard perhaps
the African communities are cultures
don’t value the girl child education
unless that may be the case in some
circumstances there are real structural
barriers that prevent girls from
completing their education a few years
ago I had the opportunity to volunteer
in a public school in Nigeria and I
observed an interesting phenomenon when
a girl would want to go to the bathroom
she would go with three or four of her
friends the three or four of them would
form a circle around her as she crouched
down to dig a toilet bowl and here she
would use the bathroom as her friends
protected her and offered her a sense of
privacy in these environments there is
no dignified way to experience your
period so our organization aims to do is
to provide free sanitary pad for girls
in public schools and internally
displaced people’s camps to date we have
raised three million naira which is just
around ten thousand dollars we have a
vast network of 73 volunteers across
eight states and we’ve been able to
impact the lives of 6,000 girls in my
country so whilst I’m here at Brown
taking a full course load and living
part-time at the Rockefeller Library I
manage our website as well as our
international fundraising efforts and
this is nothing compared to being on the
ground interacting with these girls
whose lives were changing it is an
important work and it must be done I
believe as a generation we cannot afford
to be passive there is something that
each and every one of us must do and I
don’t believe we should wait until we
have achieved a certain sense of
financial security there’s something we
so here’s how you can change the world
around you ask yourself what is it that
you’re passionate about
what social problem fuels you with rage
and how can you channel that rage
towards something good
next read all that you can about the
topic because I believe that knowledge
is power and once we have the passion
and the knowledge we’re already halfway
there you don’t need to reinvent the
wheel or to found your own NGO instead
you can find organizations that are in
line with your values and care deeply
about this issue you share lend your
voice donate to these causes sacrifice
your time we must be relentless in this
pursuit of change we seek in our world
our activism should not start and end on
the internet ask yourself what would you
do if you could do anything and you knew
you wouldn’t fail what is your vision
for our future and how are you going to
contribute to creating that future I
believe that we ought to be the change
that we wish to see thank you [Applause]
the constant sounds of pings and
notifications in our phones the constant
stream of articles and think pieces
rushing down our timelines there’s an
incredible amount of information we
consume on a daily basis now more than
ever our sense of community and
consciousness has become more global we
are more aware of the injustice is going
on throughout our world unless this has
added credence and volume to many of
these issues that matter I think it has
also made us numb numb to the pain and
the violence and the war because we
could not possibly feel it all and if we
did well what could we do I grew up in
Lagos Nigeria and I was shorted from a
lot of the inequalities I saw going on
around me my government’s idea of
development was destroying and
demolishing poor communities out of
sight out of mind
creating a facade of development now
when I was 16
I’m of the United Kingdom to pursue
further education and I suddenly became
more curious of this country had called
my home though the pressure borne on me
to be a spokesperson or to be an
ambassador of Nigeria many people around
me hadn’t heard of the country or
perhaps they had heard of Chinua Achebe
or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie so I decided
to do a lot of research and I realized
that I had been lucky luck should not
determine whether I am married at age 13
or died at age 15 in childbirth luck
should not determine whether I have
access to clean water or were they
experience cholera in my lifetime luck
should not determine whether I have
access to sanitary pads or although I
must drop out of school
once puberty begins so after doing all
of this research I desperately wanted to
give back but I really didn’t know how
to or where I would
begin would I start with tackling
corruption or perhaps I would look to
campaigning against female genital
mutilation or maybe raising awareness
about access to healthcare in my country
but in a country with problems that
seemed endless
they almost felt impossible but what I
believe to be true now is when we are
faced with many of these social problems
we should view them as opportunities to
be changemakers now January of last year
there’s a lot of outrage on Twitter in
Nigeria about the price of sanitary pads
the price of these products had
increased by double overnight and as
this increase seemed ridiculous
to be honest I didn’t pay much attention
to it because I knew I could still
afford these products and then a tweet
was retweeted onto my timeline asking
what would happen to girls who now could
no longer go to school where would they
go I began doing my research again and
I’ve read an UNESCO publication that
said one in 10 girls in sub-saharan
Africa missed school during their period
one week becomes weeks becomes a month
becomes a year and eventually these
girls drop out of school altogether
I had never once thought about how the
impact of this basic product could
affect the lives of millions in my
country and to put it into perspective
65% of Nigerian females do not have
access to sanitary pads this tweet for
me was a call to action and I sparked
interest in six other girls too and
together we formed an organization
called sanitary aid for Nigerian girls
in our first month through crowdsourcing
we’re actually able to raise eight
hundred thousand naira sounds a lot but
it’s really just two thousand dollars
but we were incredibly excited about the
work that we would embark on
interestingly at this point we had not
met each other our founder is based in
the UK I’m here in DUI
and the rest are scattered across the
country now you may have heard perhaps
the African communities are cultures
don’t value the girl child education
unless that may be the case in some
circumstances there are real structural
barriers that prevent girls from
completing their education a few years
ago I had the opportunity to volunteer
in a public school in Nigeria and I
observed an interesting phenomenon when
a girl would want to go to the bathroom
she would go with three or four of her
friends the three or four of them would
form a circle around her as she crouched
down to dig a toilet bowl and here she
would use the bathroom as her friends
protected her and offered her a sense of
privacy in these environments there is
no dignified way to experience your
period so our organization aims to do is
to provide free sanitary pad for girls
in public schools and internally
displaced people’s camps to date we have
raised three million naira which is just
around ten thousand dollars we have a
vast network of 73 volunteers across
eight states and we’ve been able to
impact the lives of 6,000 girls in my
country so whilst I’m here at Brown
taking a full course load and living
part-time at the Rockefeller Library I
manage our website as well as our
international fundraising efforts and
this is nothing compared to being on the
ground interacting with these girls
whose lives were changing it is an
important work and it must be done I
believe as a generation we cannot afford
to be passive there is something that
each and every one of us must do and I
don’t believe we should wait until we
have achieved a certain sense of
financial security there’s something we
so here’s how you can change the world
around you ask yourself what is it that
you’re passionate about
what social problem fuels you with rage
and how can you channel that rage
towards something good
next read all that you can about the
topic because I believe that knowledge
is power and once we have the passion
and the knowledge we’re already halfway
there you don’t need to reinvent the
wheel or to found your own NGO instead
you can find organizations that are in
line with your values and care deeply
about this issue you share lend your
voice donate to these causes sacrifice
your time we must be relentless in this
pursuit of change we seek in our world
our activism should not start and end on
the internet ask yourself what would you
do if you could do anything and you knew
you wouldn’t fail what is your vision
for our future and how are you going to
contribute to creating that future I
believe that we ought to be the change
that we wish to see thank you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: