Tech Needs Girls, the Planet Needs Them More

Children and women are affected by climate change the most; technology transfer will help solve the crisis.

Somewhere in July this year, I received an invitation from my friend Regina Agyare; it wasn’t for a birthday party or a graduation ceremony. Regina is a world class Ghanaian software developer and the CEO of Soronko Solutions, a software developing company in Ghana. Soronko had started a project called ‘Tech Needs Girls’, a movement that is inspiring, empowering and training girls in communities in technology.

My task according to the invitation was to visit one of her Tech Needs Girls hub in Maamobi, a community in Accra, to talk to the girls about the environment. I had heard about these girls, some of whom were from very difficult backgrounds, but have broken many social barriers and already started coding under the tutelage of the Soronko team. I wasn’t particularly flattered by the invitation; I was humbled. Regina was connecting the dots. Children and women are affected by climate change the most; technology transfer will help solve the crisis.

But where do I start the conversation with these girls about the environment? Do I just talk about sanitation and proper waste disposal and leave, or do I paint them the bigger picture- climate change? Should I break down Julia Butterfly Hill’s powerful message on Disposability Consciousness into the simplest terms? How do I even tell them about the climate crisis? More than half of these girls are barely 15yrs; how would they come to terms with the reality? Would they believe me at all? These were questions that vibrated within my head as I made my way to the learning and training hub that afternoon.

When a team member from Soronko picked me up half way in a cab and we exchanged plesantaries, I got an inspiring assurance, “the girls are going to be happy to see you, they are really amazing”. Surely they were, and by then I had decided in my head to tell the story as it is.

I will tell them about the climate reality, the reality they must know now, the reality about the future created for them by past and present generations driven by greed, profit and insatiable economic injustice. “We’ve knocked back the ‘good’ times - the greed times – and now we are lurching about like drunkards trying to pretend we just need a cup of coffee and then we will be fine to drive”.

Then again I should be careful not to paint a picture of gloom, panic and despair. Our Chairman, Al Gore, admonishes all Climate Reality Leaders to present a message of faith in our generation to solve the crisis and hope for the future. I now know where to start. I won’t only tell the girls about switching their bulbs off when not in use, harvesting rain water or even avoiding wastage of water when they brush their teeth. 

I will also tell them about the sun, the light it gifts and how technology can harness that light to give electricity in their homes. I will tell them that is what will save the planet and will safeguard their technology-driven future.  Tech needs girls but the planet also needs them.

I had an awesome hour with the girls. The sunrays from the windows washed across my face as I attempted to explain solar energy. And when I was asked a question by one of the girls during the Q&A section about where else our electricity in our homes come from, I knew we had made progress.
I left the hub with a short message for the girls, “tech needs girls, but the planet needs you more”.

Of Climate Reality, Football and a Village I Love

I have not written a blog post the whole of 2014. This surprises me considering my deep affection for blogging. But life has been very busy, busier than I had imagined this year would be; and I could hardly keep track. One of my resolutions for this year was to visit 12 new villages in Ghana to talk to children and young people about the environment. My goal was to train a new generation of young people who are passionate about the climate and are driven enough to take action. The vision is to see the youth environmental movement spread to every nook and cranny of Ghana and I believe we could start from villages and peri-urban communities where environmental awareness is very low and opportunities extremely less.

Earlier this March, I became a Climate Reality Leader — personally trained by former US Vice President Al Gore, to educate the public about the causes, dangers and possible solutions to the global climate crisis. Johannesburg was a huge inspiration for me and the hundreds of people who flew from all over the world to learn from Chairman Gore.

At the Climate Reality Leadership Corps

My first Act of Leadership after Climate Reality was a presentation to the youth group of OrphanAid Africa, more than 70 young people between the ages of 18-26 who had chosen the environment as a topic to discuss for the month of March. To many of them, global warming was a distant term they only hear in literature and from the media; but to others too, it was a stark reality they were confirming once again through the photos of wild fires, drought and floods. By the time I finished the hour long session, the room was dead silent you could hear a pin drop. A young girl stood up and asked, “Sir, what can we do to stop global warming?”I smiled.

Climate Reality presentation for young people from OrphanAid Africa

Soon the time came to visit my first new village. I made a 7hrs journey to Amoako village in the Jasikan District of the Volta Region of Ghana. My friend Emmanuel had fallen in love with this awesome little community during his national service days. For the love of the underprivileged kids and the startling absence of opportunities to support their development, he chose to stay to serve the village. I wanted to see this village and meet these amazing children.

The road to Amoako village from Nketsi, the nearest village is 8km and can only be accessed by foot or a motor bike

I heard the boys of school going age in the village really loved football. Well, football is my second passions too, so why not play football and use soccer as a tool to talk about the environment?  Prince, my team member from the Ghana Youth Environmental Movement (GYEM) made the trip, and being a football addict himself, the stage was set. We had a great soccer game and afterwards an interactive chat about the environment laced with ice breakers. What a fulfilling day it was! Amoako is a village without electricity, we will travel back there in August to promote solar energy using football.

The Amoako village Eco-Soccer team