Tofu and Social Entrepreneurs

I am the biggest n00b ever. Earlier tonight I cooked lemongrass chili tofu for my PIA friend, Julianne, and now my fingers are tingling in a very uncomfortable way. Not sure if it's from slicing and touching chili with my bare hands (silly), or if my hands actually got burned by convection above the sizzling tofu. In all honesty, it's probably a combination of both. 

But to the point of this entry... tonight I am inspired :) and I want to tell you why.

There are two people -- one I've met, one I haven't -- both women, both very young, striving for the empowerment of people and the improvement of lives. These two women work and think in a very humble and creative way, and they embody the kind of social and technical entrepreneurship I really admire.

Both stories are related to light.

First, there's Angela, a hard-working and ambitious social entrepreneur -- the co-founder and director of Nusantara Development Initiatives. She's probably the youngest person I've met to have started an NGO. Their biggest project right now, Project Light, is an initiative to train women entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia to sell solar lamps (these nifty things) within their communities. The effort seeks to empower women while also tackling health concerns related to indoor air pollution from kerosene lamps.

Back in August last year, after getting e-introduced through a mutual friend, we met over brunch in Singapore, where I was staying a couple weeks for a VISA run. Angela shared a lot of stories with me about her experiences with NDI, many of which are reflected in this published interview. I won't go through everything here, but I want to share one of her responses that demonstrates her dedication and wisdom, even when she was a freshman in college, to a cause that impacts lives in a positive way.

"It was very difficult [to juggle school and NDI], because it’s only when I finished with schoolwork, at maybe about 12 AM, that I can focus more on NDI. The good thing is that we do things by email, so I’d do that until about 3 to 4 AM in the morning. It was very intensive. We make sure that this is a serious project, and not a “fun” project where we just touch and go. When what you do impacts people’s lives, it’s something serious. We have to carefully think through our ideas, bounce them to experts.

At the same time there’s opportunity cost. When you spend more time doing something else and less on schoolwork, of course your GPA drops. But that’s something that I’m willing to take, because I feel I learned a lot more doing NDI. It’s a lot more meaningful for me."

The second inspiring story: Teen Invents Flashlight That Could Change the World. Spoiler: it works on body heat. Inspiration behind the project?

Two years ago, Ann, who is half-Filipino, was corresponding with a friend of hers in the Philippines who didn’t have electricity. According to Ann, her friend couldn’t complete her homework and was failing in school. 

“That was the inspiration for my project.” said Ann, “I just wanted to help my friend in the Philippines and my flashlight was a possible solution.” 

Ann got to work. She remembered hearing human beings described as walking 100-volt light bulbs: “I thought, why not body heat? We have so much heat radiating out of us and it’s being wasted.”