In the name of Allah and peace be upon the Prophet of Allah.
Today I brought to you a simple idea from Istanbul.
It is called "Sanki Yedim".
"Sanki Yedim" is a very simple idea.
It started from an ancient story
that occurred during the Ottoman era.
It tells the story of a very simple laborer
who worked near a sweet shop.
Each day, he would see the sweets
on his way to and from work,
and he would really desire to buy some,
but his income was too low
to allow him to buy all that he desired,
so he would just do his best to be patient and forget about it.
After a while, he became affluent,
and he could, then, buy all that he desired.
But he asked himself a really simple question,
"If I was able to resist my temptations before,
then why should I stop doing that now?".
So, he had a great idea.
He came with a box, and he placed it somewhere.
And every time he saw something
that he desired to buy and thought he could resist its temptation,
he would take its price and put it in the box.
And he would say to himself,
"Sanki Yedim"
And he continued applying this idea
until he passed away.
All the while, his wife knew what he was doing.
When she opened the box, after his death,
she found a really large amount of money.
And when she told her relatives at the funeral
about the method the money was collected,
they all contributed to increasing the money,
and they used it to build a Mosque.
It was called "The Mosque of Sanki Yedim".
This Mosque still stands till this day in Istanbul.
That is why we are here today in TEDxKhartoum 2012,
to revive that idea,
and to say the same phrase that the simple laborer said.
But we will say it in the Arabic language
We would like to say,
"As if I have eaten " [Ka'ani Akalt (Arabic pronunciation)]
(Applause)
OK, first of all,
I would like to ask you a very simple question,
How many times did you get into a supermarket
with a small shopping list,
and when you left,
you found that you had bought five or six more items
that were not written on the list.
And you bought them just because you saw them,
and for no other reason.
And how many times have you been in a restaurant,
and you craved something,
then you ordered it, and as soon as you ate and felt full,
it's as if you never had craved it.
I'd like to tell you a scientific truth,
our desire for food is temporary;
it starts when we see or think of food,
and it can vanish directly if we distract ourselves with something else.
That is why the idea, simply, is that each one of us
can bring a box and write on it,
"As if I have eaten".
And whenever you crave something
that you really don't need,
take that money which you would have used,
and say to yourself,
"As if I have eaten"
And then put the money in the box.
OK,
why do we have to do that?
Because this cycle repeats itself,
we desire a meal,
we go to a restaurant, we eat,
and we all know where it goes in the end.
But today we came with a new suggestion,
We want to say,
whenever you crave something,
take its value in money,
and say to yourself, "As if I have eaten",
and put it in the box.
Don't just make yourself happy,
use the money and make others happy with you.
(Applause)
OK.
To find out if our idea is useful or not,
and if the money can really be used
to benefit someone or some cause,
we carried out a very simple survey,
We asked, "How many times do you eat out of your home?",
And "how much do you pay each time?".
We distributed questionnaires to different segments
of the community with different age groups.
You can see here the results we obtained,
The yellow section shows the percentage
of those who spend between 50 to100 pounds a month to eat out.
The blue section shows the percentage of those who spend
between 150 to 200 pounds a month eating out.
The red section, which is a very large percentage,
represents the people who spend
more than 500 pounds a month.
Here, I would like to ask,
the amounts of money we can collect
if we apply this idea,
What can we use them for?
Where can we use them?
We have in Sudan many voluntary organizations
which are doing a great job.
But these organizations need our support to continue their work.
I would like to take you on a small tour.
To show part of what these organizations do.
We have organizations working to provide breakfast for schools.
These people wake up every day
at four o'clock in the morning
to prepare sandwiches to be distributed
at nine o'clock in the morning,
The number of meals they provide
have come to reach 50,000 breakfast meals a day.
(Applause)
We also have volunteers: young men and women,
who have vowed to build schools.
They go on their own to check out schools,
they repair what they can, they paint the schools,
they collect used books from schools
which have supplies of new books,
and take them to remote schools
where five to six kids share one book.
And they reach, sometimes, the extent
of compensating for the lack of teachers by becoming the teachers themselves.
Don't these people deserve our support?
(Applause)
We also have many organizations responding to the difficulties some illnesses cause
such as cancer and renal failure.
Some patients cannot afford to get treated.
These organizations have taken full responsibility for those patients.
they start with the patient from the stage of diagnosis,
they pay for the medical examinations,
they pay for the treatment,
and if the patient is not from Khartoum.
They provide them with accommodation depending on their funds.
And not only this,
they are even taking care of the psychological aspects;
they organize recreational events each month
for cancer or renal failure kids or any other patients.
As for their contribution in Ramadan,
this is something we can not forget.
They start working 2 to 3 months before Ramadan.
They prepare a so-called Ramadan shopping bag,
so that it be distributed to the needy, widowed and poor.
And when Ramadan begins, they prepare
around 1000 Breakfast tables each day,
in shelters and in front of hospitals,
As for --
(Applause)
the orphans, and because they are disadvantaged,
organizations are trying their best to fill that gap
with activities ranging from giving them monthly allowances,
and holding recreational events; to holding medical care days.
Even the disabled and the visually disabled have organizations
trying to provide for all their needs as much as they can.
The elderly and retirement homes,
their daily needs and Eid visits.
All these things are also not neglected.
As for blood donation,
they organize campaigns for this purpose,
in the markets, universities and public places.
Till this moment, there are three organizations
working for blood donation; they have transformed
the culture of blood donation in Sudan from 5% to 30%.
Can you imagine the number of people they have saved?
(Applause)
And I would like to tell you one final thing,
If you were to see the organizations that dig wells in the thirsty lands,
If you could see the happiness on those people's faces when the water rose,
believe me, that is worth living for.
(Applause)
What I have described right now is just
a small part of what these organizations do.
These are a few examples; there are many other organizations.
And volunteering is thriving in Sudan.
But these people, they can't work
If we don't work with them and support them.
At the end, what I would like to say is,
the choice is yours,
you have all the information you need,
and it is easy for you to access these organizations at any time.
These organizations have been working for years,
and they want to continue to contribute with your support.
That is why, and based on our idea:
"As if I have eaten",
I would like it to shed light on one
principle only.
That we can sacrifice some of our luxuries for someone else.
I'm not asking you to sacrifice something essential,
and I'm not asking you to deprive yourself.
I am just saying,
Sacrifice some of your luxuries for someone else.
I know there are many problems,
prices are increasing,
people are broke,
people are hungry,
people are sick,
and the traffic is terrible,
and everybody says,
"With all these problems occuring in Sudan,
if I donate something, will it change anything?"
But today, we want to say,
We have to think more positively,
To have more faith,
that we, you, him and her,
if we are all able to change the way we think, and we act positively,
We will find a solution to all these problems happening here.
(Applause)
For that reason
If you can't apply the idea: "As if I have eaten "
I hope it can inspire you to do anything else,
think with us,
look at your life, how is your day ,
where do you spend most of your money, what are your luxuries
that you can do without?
So we can change.
It is possible that you talk a lot over your phone,
maybe you recharge your phone with a lot of credit,
and this credit, just disappears, without you noticing.
In this case,
sometimes, you can tell yourself,
"As if I have recharged my phone".
Take that amount of money,
put it in the box.
(Applause)
Or maybe you go often to the mall,
and you like this and that,
and you buy this and that, and then you get back home,
and you don't know where to put all that stuff.
In this case also, I would like to tell you,
when you see something,
say "No" to yourself sometimes,
And just say, " As if I have bought it",
and take that amount of money ,
and put it in our box.
Each person can see what suits her or him best.
Notice where do you spend your money,
and how much you are willing to donate,
But please acknowledge
that the money you use for your luxuries,
is a hope for a better tomorrow for some other person;
It can represent a book,
an education,
a means of filling an empty stomach or relieving pain,
this is what we call a luxury.
(Applause)
That is why I would like, when we leave this place,
each one of us to prepare his box.
Write on it what you like.
If you like write, " As if I have eaten"
If you like write, "As if I have bought it"
"As if I have recharged my phone"
At the end, it is "As if I've done something".
As you like.
But before you do this.
You have to gain the faith
that our small sacrifices
that we can hardly notice,
believe me,
make these people's lives much easier,
and paint big smiles on their faces.
Thank you.
(Applause)