Thank you. Now what if I told you that each of you were sitting on two round-trip tickets
to anywhere in the world taped under your seat. Could you think of a place you might
like to go with that? And if I went on to tell you that because you went to this place
you’re dreaming of right now, you were able to save two thousand lives in exchange for
just eighty minutes of your time. Is that something that might intrigue you? And if
you knew that because you participated in this kind of “Melioric” experience of
making the community you travelled to ever better and by doing that you’ve pushed the
happiness button in your brain. Would you be thinking, “Sign me up Elizabeth?” Well
if so, you are thinking the right way, and no there are not any round trip tickets under
your seats. But since I have your attention, let’s talk today about flipping the script
on our pursuit of happiness. Now corporate America would like you to think that your
source of happiness is found right here. Have you ever heard, “What’s in your wallet?”
We’ve all gone there. At Untapped Shores, we believe that the answer to a different
question will dictate your sense of fulfillment and happiness, and that is, “What’s in
your luggage?” Allow me to explain. There is a revolution taking over the way we travel
all around the world, and that is in the spirit of voluntourism, or taking a volunteer vacation.
No longer must you be forced to choose between doing good and having fun. Between taking
a mission trip or travelling in a way that you desire best. So whether you’re going
five minutes down the road to visit Grandma or five thousand miles away on a honeymoon
or a business trip, you can still have a sustainable impact on the places that you visit for a
very small amount of your itinerary, simply just eighty minutes. But how do you pull this
off? Do you bring socks? Do you bring food? No. Today in the world there now exists a
piece of equipment that fits in your carry-on luggage that you can bring with you wherever
you’re travelling in eighty minutes or less create a solution that saves lives and creates
enterprise. I’d like to show you what this might look like. Do you wanna know what this
device is? Yes you do. Alright. Like tinker bell. The more you clap the more I’ll go
bring it out. Alright. So this is a typical piece of luggage that we would take. Now,
if you’re anything like me you often over pack when you’re travelling. So of course
you got to have your outerwear. Have your hats. You have your books to read on the beach.
Business wear. College shirts that never ever stay DE wrinkled even though they say they
do. Got my day wear. Some jeans for night wear. Oh I must of been feeling really ambitious.
This is workout gear. Nope. Not using those. Workout shoes. Pajamas. Sunglasses. The list
goes on. Can you tell me why I thought I would need these on a long weekend? I simply don’t
know. Don’t you think in the spaces these took up in my luggage, they could be put to
better use? Now it can. If you can just find it in your luggage, and in yourself to leave
home something that you really don’t need and bring the gamechanger. This is it. This
is the pure shores piece of equipment. It’s wrapped in its safety travel for safe travel
so it doesn’t break, but this is light. It’s small, and this produces an aqueous
solution which is used today by the likes of the United Nations and the Center for Disease
control or the CDC to do two things. One, create clean drinking water, and two, to prevent
the spread of infectious diseases, such as Ebola. That’s right. The solution that this
unit produces is being used today to combat the spread of Ebola. So if you’re thinking,
“Gosh, I really do need to think about packing one of these in my laptop bags the next time
I get on a plane.” You would be thinking exactly right. And of course I’d love to
share with you the huge impact that a unit like this can have through one of our travel
experiences, and this is a true story of a little less than a year ago we were in Uganda,
Africa about to go on safari, but of course beforehand, let’s do a little good. We met
with two sisters who were just glowing with excitement because they were both pregnant
at the same time, and what’s more they found out that their babies were due within a couple
days of each other. Now, being an expectant mother in a developing country is a little
bit difficult because of course as you know their health care isn’t as good as what
we have it here. A typical delivery looks like this: on the floor of your mud hut with
no painkillers and no sterile medical tools so that you’re forced to cut off the umbilical
cord with your fingernail. This is their reality. But the two sisters took very different paths.
Sister Josephine decided that she was going to pay a couple of shillings and ensure that
she gives delivery at a clinic that had access to safe water and also a sanitizing solution.
Hannah, her sister, could not afford to give that delivery, and this ended up in a tragedy.
Both sisters suffered from post-partum hemorrhaging, but because Hannah delivered her baby alone,
she knew that eventually she was dying. There was nothing there that could save her. And
so in her last gesture of motherhood, she gave her baby a name before she passed. Innocent.
She named her baby Innocent and then she died. It does not have to be this way, and if you
all find it as inconceivable as I do that eight hundred million people every day have
to wonder if the next sip of water they drink is the one that has the potential to kill
them. Fear not and be relieved that finally there is a tool that you can bring to the
communities that you travel to that can prevent these deaths, so that one day we never have
to hear a stat like that again. There are happy success stories for this, and that happens
with her sister Josephine. Josephine, who had her baby in a clinic that had access to
a solution like the one that comes out of this piece of equipment, fresh water, sterile
medical tools. Her and her baby are alive and well today and they are thriving because
of this. She also participated in a workshop. An eighty minute workshop held with travelers
like yourselves. Me and my fiancé taught her not only how to use the unit, but also
some business principles so she could be entrepreneurial and take the material that comes out of this
unit and use it as a sellable product for profit. Today she sells mosquito repellent
to combat malaria. She sells hand sanitizer, and dishwasher detergent. And this has made
a completely new life for her and her baby, now that she has a sustainable stream of income
all because a traveler brought this to her community. It’s really amazing. There are
a lot ways to deploy this if you just get creative. Perhaps you’re travelling five
minutes from where you’re sitting right now to the center of Rochester, where there’s
a homeless shelter, or you’re visiting Grandma in the Midwest, and you see her at the hospital.
Bring one of these with you because every one of those institutions has to have a disaster
recovery and relief plan. In the event of a tornado, hurricane, or flood, they’re
going to want to have a way to solar charge a unit and get access to a purifying water
solution or sanitation. This is crucial. And then you can get back to visiting with Granny.
Next slide. Or if you so choose, you may be travelling for business. You have a board
room presentation, or this is your school classroom and you need to go to class. You
can take care of your business by day, then just a few hours later be meeting with the
head of a charity, and telling them how this can revolutionize the lives of their stakeholders,
and then get back on with your day. Or you can visit a school and teach them the importance
of sanitation and especially hygiene. Washing their hands and then deploying one of these
units at their school whether it’s in the Caribbean, in Africa, in America and beyond.
This solution can help anywhere that you happen to travel too. Next slide. But what does this
have to do with you on your pursuit of happiness. Actually, a lot and there’s people a lot
smarter than me who have proven it to be so. My friend Mr. Maslow here, this is his Hierarchy
of Needs that most of you are pretty familiar with, this dictates the core needs in your
life that you need to fulfill in order to achieve happiness and fulfillment. So of course
when you act as a traveler, deploying this in the community that you are visiting, you’re
helping pull those needful women and children up a tier and we found when that happens scientifically,
your brain lights up during that action and you yourself are pulled up a tier almost as
high, if not definitely as high, as the self-actualization. Total transcendence and you know why, because
that is when you’re being the best version of yourself. You’re giving back as you go
and it’s wonderful. This is compounded when you think about a psychological principle
developed right here on campus years ago by Dr. Deci and Dr. Ryan called “Self-Determination
Theory”. When you incorporate the three core values with an SDT into your daily life,
you’ll experience total happiness and fulfillment. So, the first one is autonomy or the feeling
that the things you do are freely chosen. These women are happy that they can choose
to run their own water business instead of to have to walk eight miles a day for water.
This little boy feels competence or the skills that he’s learned in how to make clean water
means that he can now provide for the health and survival of his community at large and
he’s very proud of that. And third, is relatedness or a sense of community and the positive interactions
with the people around you. These women who have no husbands, most of them have AIDs,
were not regarded very highly in their society but when they have these devices and are now
bringing life changing solutions and saving the lives of villagers, they’re now earning
an income and being contributors. That’s when they earn the respect of everyone and
it’s very powerful. Remember, this is simple. If you can pour a cup of water through a funnel,
you can run this unit. You don’t need to be a scientist or a doctor. It’s really
amazing. And so now that I’ve made the stage look a lot like what my closet at home does,
I hope that you now think differently about the ways you can pack your suitcase when you
decide to travel. Again, whether it’s five miles away or five thousand miles away, you
now have the chance to untap your inner humanitarian and make a difference. And now finally, when
it comes to packing your next piece of luggage, there’s only one question left to ask, “What’s
in your luggage?” Thank you!
Subtitles by the Amara.org community