Transcriber: Nadine Hennig Reviewer: Angelika Lueckert Leon
Hi. Dreams.
When I grew up I had a lot of time to dream,
because I lived in a small town in the mountains [of] Transylvania,
and my imagination was my best friend.
And I used to dream of making flying machines,
that could have lights that would light when I would sing to them,
and would be controlled by pumps with water with very intricate mechanisms.
And these machines could create other baby machines
that could take any shape and would use any objects.
And in my dreams, I was also imagining how my parents would react
if they [saw] my machines, and how the people in my community
my friends, their parents, would interact with what I made.
Now, I'm going to tell you a secret: That wasn't only a dream.
I transformed this dream into reality,
and together with a lot of people around the world we created HacKIDemia.
That's where these images come from.
HacKIDemia is a global organization
where we design hands-on workshops.
So, children can learn by playing and by doing, by inventing, by creating.
And they do everything, like you saw in the pictures.
They create their own toys by recycling trash,
they create rockets, microscopes from old webcams,
everything they dream of they transform into reality.
And they try to solve problems for their local communities,
for their parents, grandparents.
Now, a big thing about dreams is that we are all entitled to dream.
Everyone's dream is valid.
So, that's why almost a year ago,
we [started] working on this project called "Afrimakers"
because we were contacted by many institutions and schools in Africa
inviting us to go and do workshops with children there.
We decided to do a crowdfunding campaign.
There were 200 people from 17 countries that supported this community project.
And the main idea of Afrimakers was to train local teams of mentors
in 10 countries all around Africa.
We started in Egypt, then we went to Kenya,
Tanzania, Botswana, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, all around the continent.
And the idea for these mentors was that they would have
the training, the coaching, the tools and the environment
where could start prototyping solutions for their community, for their town,
and then be able to teach children,
and parents, and teachers how to help them.
So, we gave all of these teams a maker box, an invention lab,
so they can start prototyping.
The box would have sensors,
gas sensors, Arduino boards, hardware, soldering irons.
And they start learning, just like the kids would learn,
and then they start prototyping all sorts of projects.
Now, I have to tell you that -- just like in space --
we had to work [under] very harsh conditions.
I think, anyone who wants to invent something for Mars
should also try to work without electricity for five days.
We also encountered a lot of restrictions in terms of access.
We went to all the local electronics markets
trying to find components for our projects.
And it was difficult, it was challenging,
but this brought us, all the mentors, together.
We became a family with common goals
of learning from each other and dreaming about a better tomorrow.
Some of the projects the mentors did
were like an air quality monitoring station,
this was in Egypt where air pollution is one of the biggest problems.
They made a pulse monitor for health, so children wanted their grandparents
to measure their heartbeats, so they know when they get to anxious.
All sorts of... like this is a remote controllable microscope,
and the best thing about it is that it is built from an old webcam,
so it basically cost nothing.
What was very interesting [was that] the mentors in the beginning were like,
"But why kids? Why should we...? This is very complicated.
It took us so long to learn and make.
And you want us to go and teach this to 10 or 6 year olds?"
And I told them, "Try it and then you'll understand."
So they went to schools for the first time, and they thought,
"It's going to be hard, they're not going to understand."
And actually, they were amazed.
Because these children, these future astronauts, these future Einsteins
coming from Africa actually learned much faster than they did.
And they came up with ideas and inventions that they never thought of.
So, I think for everyone it was a big lesson,
not to project the limits that were projected on us,
in our educational system on the children.
And actually give them a voice, give them the freedom
of experimenting, creating, and sharing back with us their ideas.
So, we went to many schools.
The mentors [started] training more mentors.
This was in [the] Ghana Technology Institute.
We were supposed to have 50 students to be trained
how to prototype with hardware, and measure data from various sensors.
We had 300 students!
They made a maker fair, they went to museums,
they went to cultural centers.
It was just amazing to see how all the community would come together,
and instead of passive consumers,
they would become active creators, makers.
They would learn and realize that they can solve their own problems.
And I wanted to tell you why we called it Afrimakers.
Because we wanted people in Africa to take this project,
we wanted this project to become a community project
all across the continent.
And that's why we actually gave fellowships.
So, the mentors from Egypt traveled and trained the people in Kenya.
And the people from Kenya travelled to Tanzania and trained the people there.
And I think there is a lot that we can learn from Africa.
And this is actually one of the most important messages today.
We are not going there to help,
we are going there to learn from each other.
This is what people in Africa still do with their hands today.
This is a boat made from a single tree by fishermen in Ghana.
They're doing fridges by hand.
This is a cooling chamber done by Serignon who is a self-taught engineer.
And he is not only doing fridges but he's also brewing his own welding gas.
He could make rockets.
I think what's interesting as well in Africa
is that this maker culture has always existed there.
And they still preserve these communities.
This is a welding cooperative.
This is where people go and weld and learn from each other.
And I met a craftsman here, who does machines for factories,
and earns very well for his life,
and asked him, "Why do you still want to work here?"
And he told me, "I would never leave this community.
When I get too many projects, I share them with my colleagues.
When I have a problem, I ask my friends."
I think this is something we need to bring back to Europe
and to "developed" societies.
I wanted to share a story of two schools.
Because one of the main things we're training mentors to do
is to run these workshops in public schools,
in underprivileged communities, in slums, in favelas, where no one goes.
But also in private schools that can pay them.
So they can actually earn their living by doing this.
This is in Nairobi, in Kenya, and in the morning
we went to the School of the Nations, very rich private school.
Every child had a computer, very luxurious school, just like a private school here.
And then in the afternoon, we went here. This is Mathare.
It's one of the largest slums in Nairobi, it's 2 million people living here.
It's quite dangerous, so we could only go there because we were invited
by the community leader.
We actually had to walk among mountains of trash,
and like very difficult conditions for half an hour to get to the school.
I want to say, the mentors we were training in Nairobi
[have] never been to this place before, [either].
And then we arrived at the school. This is the school in Mathare.
There are no benches, there's no blackboard,
and there were about 300 children.
I don't know if you ever tried to teach science and technology,
and dream about space and inventing the future in these conditions.
It's not easy, but it's not impossible.
And we were very touched by the conditions and the environment,
and we didn't dare to take out our computers, the boards and the tools.
So initially we just started singing with the children.
So, the mentors visiting from Egypt started singing,
and the children taught them their songs and dances.
And then we heard a very loud plane, and we asked them, "Oh, what's that?
That's a plane. Do you know how the planes fly?"
And they were like, "No, no."
And we were, "Ok, how do we do a workshop now, on the spot, to teach how planes fly?
What do we have?"
We realized they have notebooks, and we took two pieces of paper,
and made one into a ball, and then let them fall.
And then we asked them,
"You saw the papers are the same size.
Why do you think one paper has gone to the floor
much faster than the other one?"
So initially they said, "No, one paper is bigger. I'm sure, it's bigger."
And then they were like, "No, I'm sure it's heavier."
Then we opened the piece of paper,
and we showed them they're exactly the same.
"Why do think one went faster than the other one?"
We had two hours of conversation, in circle, with these children
trying to understand how the planes fly,
how the birds fly, how we can go to space,
just by starting with paper.
And I think that's very important
because I don't think it's always only about technology;
I think, it's a lot about people.
For us, one of the main things we learned
is that if we really want people to understand how things work,
if we really want children to understand
how things work and imagine how we could do things better in the future,
we have to use our hands.
And we have to actually question
most of the things we are using.
Is this the best possible way to solve this problem?
Can we go back to the basics?
Can we combine the old know-how of the crafts of doing with the new?
The technology and exploration. How can we combine this?
And how can we empower the young generation to understand the future,
and to contribute to it?
Not only here, everywhere. All around the world.
So, I think, my main message for you today,
the main thing I would like you to take away
is, exactly what we heard earlier,
imagination is the only limit to the things that we can do.
And I think, one of the main things
we learn from children and from doing this project,
is that, if you can imagine something, you can do it.
If you had a childhood dream, just like me, you can do it.
So, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Start today.
Dedicate every single second of your life to achieving your dreams.
Don't forget to use your hands, and imagine a better tomorrow,
and help us build it together with kids.
Thank you.
(Applause)