People are what they do, not what they say they are

Under vecka 22 samlades människor och organisationer från hela världen för att delta i konferensen Rework the World. Eventet ägde rum i Leksand, i Dalarna, och syftet var att diskutera ungdomar, entreprenörskap och hållbar sysselsättning. Då konferensen har en ytterst internationell prägel är denna bloggtext på engelska och är skriven av Josefin Uhnbom, som deltog på konferensen.

For four days over 1700 people from all over the world gathered in Leksand, Dalarna for the 5th Global YES Summit ”Rework the World”, a collaboration between the Tällberg Foundation and Yes Inc. Participants ranging from grassroots organizations and top politicians to representatives from global corporations. These included Jan Eliasson, Maud Olofsson, Percy Barnevik, and Bo Ekman to name a few. The conference was meant to serve as a forum between world leaders and smaller entrepreneurial organizations – social entrepreneurs – from all parts of the world, with a focus on sustainable strategies and actions needed to create work and employment through entrepreneurship.

To be honest, it was an overwhelming experience! An event like this holds so much potential and therefore also certain risks for disappointment if expectations are not meet. And there were some non-substantial speeches echoing “Yes, let’s change the world”, and “this is the time for change”. Words and slogans that tend to have little practical meaning, which is why I think they should be avoided so that more constructive conversations can take place.
But there were moments of true clarity, coming from real life-examples of people who already have achieved exactly what this whole arrangement was about. With their words in my ears, I left inspired and eager to get back to work, because that – I believe – is the only thing that truly makes a change. If anything, this conference reminded me of the value of action.
Two of these stories really stood as they illustrate how intertwined action is with learning and how many strong ideas come from facing obstacles and difficulties. The first was that of Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistanian woman who survived being raped by four men in a society that condemn the women, and not the rapist. Rape is considered so shameful that there are even women who commit suicide as an option rather than bear the disgrace.

Mukhtar chose to live and decided to take her attackers to court. At her first encounter at the police station she was asked to write her name, but as she was illiterate, she had to give them her fingerprints instead. She was humiliated, but also struck by the realization that knowledge is power. Mukhtar continued to fight for her rights and in the end she was offered a bribe, as a compensation for the suffering she’d been put through. She didn’t want to trade money for silence but just as she was about to turn the bribe down, she heard herself say; “I don’t want the money; I want to build a school”.
Today she runs several schools and the Mukhtar Mai Women’s Welfare Organization, teaching boys and girls to be free and equal. She wants to provide them with knowledge and education, so that they too, can act.
A similar story is that of Majora Carter, founder of the Majora Carter Group. Majora is a social entrepreneur operating in the Bronx - one of New York’s roughest neighborhoods. She’s an extremely accomplished force who devoted herself to changing the unsafe areas of Bronx, enabling people to be proud of their homes and feel safe on the streets. Her mission included engaging the local community through creating jobs and training programs for people.

My point is this; you need to learn to be able to act and you need to act in order to learn. Mukhtar Mai didn’t need an education to realize the power of education. She started a school to provide people the skills and education that she felt she was lacking to be in control of her own life. Majora Carter understood that action leads to knowledge, that learning by doing is education in itself. The people she chose to employ for her city-planning projects were not technical experts, but they learned through work and as she phrased it while defending the local’s rights to be involved in the actual execution of the makeover; “We live here, we are experts too…”
Mukhtar Mai and Majora Carter have two more things in common; persistence and courage. Maybe these are characteristics that one cannot be trained in, they’re simply choices that you have to make when facing traumas and challenging situations.
So I say be brave, and don’t give up. And make sure that all your learning opportunities are focused on building skills that promote action. Words and slogans are great, but action is everything!

Josefin Uhnbom, Folkuniversitetet