The Senga people of
Over the past week or so, some of my old David Kaunda high school colleagues and I have been engaged in deep and passionate discussions on several issues close to the heart. These discussions started when I forwarded a piece of controversial research I stumbled across online which stated that over the past 10 years, Zambia’s national IQ has dropped from number one in Sub-Saharan Africa to number 7. The topic touched the right nerve and what followed was a hurricane of intellectual exchange. We analysed the why’s and the how’s, pondered, agreed and on very few occasions disagreed on everything from what the definition of IQ is anyway to whether literacy levels, the education system and even the national diet had anything to do with it. Yes the national diet but I won’t digress as this topic deserves a dedicated article of its own. Back to the issue at hand, I found the exchange of ideas and knowledge fascinating and we agreed to build on it. We had started something and needed to see how far it would go, thus the start of this blog and related sites. Going back to the Senga proverb, we were moved to “open the door”. In hindsight, the origin of this shared blog was subconsciously driven by our need to take things further.
Our society has a myriad of problems; some obvious, others not, some historical, others yet to occur. Some of our problems are structural, fundamental and complex whilst others are basic and simple. Going through a whole list of problems is one thing and it’s another to solve them. Is problem solving the sole prerogative of politicians or social non profit organisations? Personally, I don’t think so. We can all play a small part and I don’t mean joining politics, working for an NGO, just voting or donating change to charity. For some, our paths in life means that we cannot do that but if we are moved to action by the many problems we have, surely there should be another way of helping out. This is where the benefits of a shared blog comes in. Hopefully, this blog will be the first of its kind where the many problems we have will be critically analysed by many contributors churning out many new and innovative problem solving ideas. Many minds will ensure many ways of seeing things – theoretically, experimentally or practically. The end result for all this is one thing and one thing only – a solution. Our hope is that one day, this and related collaborative sites will become a database of knowledge and ideas and a central “gathering place” for brilliance. Most importantly, our hope and long term goal is that some of what will start and be analysed here will one day translate into reality.
I will end my introductory blog with a quote from Robert Kennedy who at a 1966 University of Cape Town speech said, “Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and then the total - all of these acts - will be written in the history of this generation.”
Thank you.
Looking through the list of problems I think to myself, ' whats our objective here? Is it to eliminate them completely, or reduce them?What's the standard out there? Dont all nations have a combination of at least a selection of these problems (albeit to varying degrees?)' So I then answer myself: 'maybe the solutions theoretically are not far fetched. In fact they are obvious. But then again, who's listening out there? who's really interested in operationalizing the solutions. If we say 'problem= corruption. Solution = Anticorruption Commission. Have we solved the problem? How do we track success? Food for thought.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is everyone's desire to eliminate problems such as common diseases and corruption but if not possible, reduce them as much as possible. Yes all nations have problems but some do a better job at solving them. Indeed, sometimes, it is as simple as "Problem A = Solution A" but this equation is not always obvious and easy. In all this, from discussing problems to solving them, there is one core process that those who succeed do well. This core process is documentation. I cannot emphasis just how important it is to document and record ideas, solutions and output for future generations to develop on and reference back to. If history has taught us anything, it is that those who document the most are the ones who develop the furthest. Another thing history has taught us is that writing down thoughts of ideas and solutions should never be the sole prerogative of those in power or senior positions as you just never know where the next brilliant and revolutionary problem solving idea will come from.
ReplyDeleteIt was a young 20 something year old who formed a discussion group called “Olympia Academy” where like minded people would share ideas on philosophy and science. This same young person, an unemployed teacher turned simple office clerk would within 3 years publish one of the most revolutionary papers and equations E=MC^2. Today, many technologies used in hospital PET scans, smoke detectors, exit signs, radiocarbon dating reader’s and nuclear power plants take advantage of the realisation of Albert Einstein’s famous equation. In essence, some of today’s problems have been solved thanks to what Einstein wrote over 100 years ago.
PaNsaka is all about having a (shared idea’s) writing culture in Zambia. You ask, "how do you track success?" Apart from comparing actual output or results to a predetermined benchmark, you can compare it with what you first wrote (documented) down as the definition of success.
One of my next blogs will be about the importance of having a writing culture.