I told you I would update a post after this amazing day, and I like to keep my promises. Here’s a short video that I made to summarize the day in short.
But if you don’t like videos for some reason and prefer a summary in written form, I will provide that for you as well. In my post from a couple of days ago, I mentioned that I was selected to be a Global Poverty Ambassador for the Global Poverty Project for the year 2012. I could not be more excited for what is to come. Today was the launch of the program by the Global Poverty Project and The Co-Operative with Bill Gates and Hans Rosling at the LSE.
This morning, I was extremely nervous. I did not know what to expect for what was to happen today and my nerves were intense. I went to Uni and went up to Shaw Library in Old Building to check in with the GPP and get my shirt, name badge and mingle with the other ambassadors. I won’t go into detail about the mingling that took place so *mingle, mingle, hand-shake, mingle* and then we heard the introduction by Elisha London to the Global Poverty Project. To find out more about the program before I can give you the 1.4 Billion Reasons presentation myself, go here.
We then got into a formation for a group ambassadors picture with Bill Gates. This is one of the only times that I do not like being relatively tall, because I had to stand near the back. Bill came in and we all greeted him as we took a couple of photos with the Royal photographer. By the way, he said that his favourite Royal was Prince Harry because he is the most fun to talk to, but apparently Prince William is warming up to conversation. Bill Gates is pretty cool. You would expect a man whose net worth is $59 billion to be pompous and superior, but Bill was certainly not. The group then ventured down to Old Theatre where we took our seats in the lower level to watch the presentation.
What an incredible presentation was in store. I highly encourage you to watch the recorded lecture when it is available on www.globalpovertyproject.com Hans Rosling and Bill Gates gave valuable information related to eradicating poverty, where poverty is going in the next 40 years, and what we can do to stop it. These things range from increasing the education of underprivileged individuals, creating sustainable agriculture, and eliminating Polio and Malaria. Bill Gates presented information from his Annual Letter that you can read here. You can also re-read all of the tweets I posted live from the event in my sidebar or on twitter @kerryrad Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) was also in attendance of this lecture and was at the reception afterward!
After the presentation there was a reception back in Shaw Library to celebrate the UN International Year of Co-Operatives with cake and more mingling. We chatted with Hans Rosling about various things, and he is really exceptional. If you don’t have the pleasure of knowing who he is, I highly encourage you to check out his website at http://www.gapminder.org/
The afternoon had come to a close and I had not only had a life-changing day, but one of the best I have had in a long time. I can genuinely say this week has been absolutely splendid and I hope it can only get better from here. I am really hoping for the best in 2012 and I believe that the best can happen.
I will have a lot more information about the Global Poverty Project and our goals after our training weekend here in London on February 25-26. I plan on making a vlog to present the 1.4 Billion Reasons presentation to you all as well. I really encourage you to help me spread the word about extreme poverty around the world by watching my vlogs, reading my blogs, and passing along the link to my blog to your friends and family. Together, we have the power to raise awareness about this global issue and with this awareness we have the opportunity to eradicate extreme poverty.
So, I met Bill Gates, Hans Rosling and Bonnie Wright today. I realised that I have a genuine passion and life-calling for campaigning and advocating for human rights and the eradication of poverty. I even made pumpkin and dark chocolate pancakes and skyped my friend Marshall Wieczorek from the band Wretched.
I hope you had a great day as well.
–Kerry
