Adnan Mahmud's posterous

Share Your Solution: Nigeria's Toll-Free HIV Line

For some time now I have believed that society’s many challenges are not results of lack ofmoney. I have believed that many of these challenges are in need of creative problem-solving. I come across these types of problems all the time. I have decided to start a new series in my blog where I will feature some of these problems and ask you to share your thoughts on how you would solve them.

This is the first installment of the series.

Problem Statement: How do you get accurate AIDS/HIV related information to every Nigerian with a cell phone?

Background: Nigeria recently launched their first toll-free line to help disseminate AIDS related information. The line is only available through 1 of the 3 carriers – AirTel. The other two carriers – Etisalat and MTN – are not on-board yet. It is estimated that 4.1% of Nigerians are infected with HIV and 70,000 children are born every year with HIV. 24% of the young people are thought to have accurate information about AIDS. Since the idea of a National AIDS/HIV center was first floated, it took 3 years to get this toll-free number running on 1 carrier.

Things to think about:

·         How do you even get all the mobile carriers to agree to provide access to a toll-free number?

·         How do you design phone response system that can be used by people with minimal education?

·         How do you uphold the privacy of the callers, especially since there is documented discrimination against those with HIV?

So, how would you solve this problem?

Deep Dive: Citizenship Principle #1

Few weeks ago, I outlined citizenship principles that I believe will define our generation and maybe even future generations. I heard lots of great feedback on that post and many people asked me to provide deeper analysis of how I came up with each principle. So, over the next few weeks I will take go deeper into each principle and why I think that principle is important.

Let’s start at the top – principle #1:

Upholding basic values and common sense.

I have had the great fortune of traveling to many places around the world, especially in the last couple of years. During those travels, I have been able to meet some amazing social leaders, especially young ones. While they are separated by thousands of miles, they all seem to have some common attributes. One of those attributes is that they are driven by the desire to uphold basic rights for their community. They are steadfast in their approach and have made a lot of sacrifices over many years to ensure that these basic rights and needs were met. When I asked them what drives them and what keeps them going for such a long time, they all gave the same answer and it went something like this:

“Every life is important and they deserve an equal shot at success. I am trying to ensure they get every opportunity that you and I get. This is the right thing to do.”

What they were trying to tell me is that they were trying to just even the playing field and ensure that everyone is getting a fair shot at a good life. Hearing this repeatedly made me realize that to these people this is as obvious as breathing air.

So, it seemed to me that was a good place to start when creating a list of principles – we can agree that there is a minimum set of rights and living conditions that everyone deserves and these should not be up for debate.

I was born in 1978... what about you?

Why are we infatuated with birth year? So many cultures place significance of when you are born. Couples in China try to time their babies to land on a good year. Most of us are fascinated by zodiac signs of one form another.

In 99% of the cases we do it because it makes us feel good and gives us hope that good things are coming in the near future. It is our attempt of trying make sense of the word “luck”, although by definition the word represents no-control. But, what if, we could find hope somewhere else.

I believe history is a great source for inspiration. We always say phrases like “hindsight is 20/20” or “history is a great teacher” or “learn from the past”, but, do we actively follow it. So, I decided to take on the exercises of finding out what happened in the year I was born.

Like every year, 1978 had its share of the good and bad. Overall though, the year had some really interesting events that I spoke a lot to me. So, here is what happened in 1978 that hit a note with me:

1.  Let start off on a lighter note. Saturday Night Fever came out in 1978 and as a DJ, I believe it is still one of the best movie soundtracks ever. The storyline itself was very uplifting as well.
2. At the One Love Peace concert, Bob Marley brings together two opposing leaders, thereby ending the bloody civil war of Jamaica. This forever cements Marley’s connection to Peace and Love.
3. This was the year of 3 Popes. After the death of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I becomes the Pope but dies only after 33 days – one of the shortest papacies. After that, Pope John Paul II becomes the Pope and goes on to have the 2^nd longest papacy in history.
4. Sweden is the first country to ban aerosol sprays that are thought to damage the environment. Now they are banned everywhere.
5. Worldwide unemployment rises for the first time in decades and this marks a series of events that led to the global economic slowdown of early 1980s.
6. In China, the 3^rd Plenium of the 11^th National Congress is held. This was where Deng Xiaoping famously reversed Mao-era policies sparking China’s ascend to a world superpower.
7. Egypt and Israel sign Camp David accord, providing the first case of a peace agreement in Middle East. Peace in the Middle East continues to elude us today and probably one of most important issues to me personally.

So, does all this mean anything? Probably not… it could all be coincidental. It would be a bit naive to claim that all of this pointed to the kind of life I was going to live. That seems too much of a stretch. 

But, I learned a lot about the context of the world where I was born into and just knowing that information made this a worthwhile exercise. 

Have you ever thought about the year you were born and what was happening at that time? If so, I would love to hear about it.

One last note about 1978, this picture was taken in 1978:

Source:

This was the first official picture of Microsoft Corp. J

What is citizenship? My take on this complex topic...

I have been thinking for few days about the meaning of citizenship. In this earlier blog post I wrote about the events that led me to think about this topic.

As humans have progressed, the basic rules of citizenship has evolved. Let’s look at one example – the US Bill of Rights. It was introduced because the founders of this country believed the constitution did not give essential rights to the public and as a result, they created the Bill of Rights to make those modifications. Then, subsequently in future years, even the Bill of Rights got modified when those “inalienable” rights were extended to ALL US citizens. This one document stands proof of what can happen when citizens acknowledges the limitations of existing norms, rules, and laws and work together to update these regulations, thereby establishing a more just and equitable society.

I believe citizenship is more than just passports, visa, or other formal immigration documents. Citizenship is more than voting. Citizenship, I believe, is about a set of behaviors that define a person and the commitment of the person to stick to those behaviors. We might think that there are different levels of citizenship (e.g. someone who gives back more to their community could be deemed to have a higher level of citizenship), but, we must agree that a minimum level of citizenship should be expected of everyone!

Citizenship principles we follow today need to be revisited. The world is more connected today than it has ever been before, yet we see severe polarizations in opinion around the world. Average living standard has gone up, yet, more people are dying of hunger than ever before. Our future generations will look back at our time as one of those pivotal moments of history. I am sure we will redefine citizenship to better reflect the challenges of our time.

I wish our leaders would set aside their differences, come together, and lead us to this new era. I am sure if they sit down sincerely they will be able to lay out a vision of citizenship that will inspire the best of us. I am no world leader or luminary. But, I believe in acting more than talking. So, in the interest of moving the discussion along, I humbly propose some simple rules that could guide our citizenship:

1. Upholding basic values and common sense. A certain set of principles and values need to be accepted as true and universal. Principles like everyone has a right to education, or no one should die of hunger, or no one should be robbed of their childhood are common sense principles and as such, should not be subject to interpretation.  Complimentary to these principles, we must uphold a core group of values like integrity, justice, peace, and equality.
2. Changing lives is the highest success and gratification. When you change someone’s life, you in effect change your own life and that is one of the most rewarding experiences in life.
3. Believing if one suffers, we all suffer. The strength of a community is derived from the collective strength of every member in the community. History shows us many  communities who have overcome very difficult circumstances because they banded together to face their challenges.
4. Respecting others and treating self as a student. This really builds from the previous rule – a harmonious community requires respecting everyone’s opinion. We can have a civil discourse, but should not resort to name-calling, insults, lies, and other sensationalism activities to gain more attention.
5. Being persistent and never giving up. The world has many problems and it is going to take great deal of persistence and hard work to resolve even one of these issues. Giving up is not an option.
6. Committing to either do the work or support the do-ers. Great ideas are just words until they are implemented. Communities should identify the change-makers and do everything possible to support their endeavors. Resources should be aligned to maximize the impact of these change-makers.
7. Owning one’s choices. We make choices all the time and it is some of our choices will be right while others will be inevitably wrong. However, we should strive to own up to our decisions.
8. Being vulnerable. Living up to all of the above traits is very difficult and requires a lot of humility. Anyone who tries will inevitably must face rumors, lies, broken promises, ridiculing, and continuous frustration. But, they are driven by a purpose that makes sense only to them and they are fearless in their approach.

I am not saying that I have always abided by these principles. In fact, I am sure I haven’t. But that is in the past – I can’t change it or make it better. However, I can try to learn and improve. So, going forward, I will do my best to uphold these principles and I hope my friends – you – will help keep me in check, if I were to stray from these rules.

I would love to hear what citizenship means to you. If you haen't ever thought about it, I encourage you to do so. Would love to hear what you think about it!

What is citizenship? My thoughts after a busy weekend...

Lessons of International Mother Language Day

Today is the International Mothers Language Day. How many people know that? Of those people, how many people know the history of this day? My guess is that in both of those cases, the number would be really small number… with the exception of those in Bangladesh.

The 150 million people of Bangladesh know this day very well. 60 years ago today, in what was then East Pakistan, 4 university students were shot dead while demanding that Bangla be also recognized as a state language. This was the first documented case in human history of people sacrificing their lives for the sole purpose of defending a language.

Let’s look back at what transpired in Bangladesh 60 years ago…

In 1947, British holdings in the Indian subcontinent were divided into four countries – India, Burma (present day Myanmar), Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka), and Pakistan. Bengali-speaking people of East Pakistan made up 44 million of Pakistan’s 69 million people. In 1947, the central government located in Karachi (West Pakistan) adopted a resolution to make Urdu the only state language. Bangla was removed as a subject from schools and attempts started to remove the language from any official dealings in East and West Pakistan. Series of protests took place in East Pakistan and they were met with complete disregard from the central government of West Pakistan. Opposition started in East Pakistan as early as December 1947. More protests broke out in East Pakistan in March 1948. On 19^th March, 1948, then Governor General of Pakistan (Muhammad Ali Jinnah) came to Dhaka (capital of East Pakistan) and declared publicly that "Urdu, and only Urdu" embodied the spirit of Muslim nations and would remain as the state language.

Then, in 1950, the central government of Pakistan suggested writing Bangla using the Arabic script to resolve the language issue and that spurred another round of demonstration in East Pakistan. On 4^th of February 1952, the Central Language Action Committee was formed on the campus of Dhaka University. The committee protested the proposal to write Bangla in Arabic script and called for general strike and protests on 21^st February. As preparations began, the central government imposed curfew on the city of Dhaka and made all gatherings illegal. At 9 AM, in the morning of 21^st February 1952, students of Dhaka University started gathering, despite the government ban. Police tried to disburse the crowd with tear gas and when that failed, police opened fire on the students killing few students including Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat and Abdul Jabbar.

As news of the deaths spread, protests sparked up through out the province of East Pakistan in the next few hours. More people were killed. On 22^nd February, the police fired on the funeral procession for one of those who died the previous day in Dhaka. That shooting alone killed few people, including a nine-year old boy named Ohiullah. Protests and violence continued over the next few years as the central government continue to push “Urdu-only” policies and made attempts to subvert Bangla. Every year on 21^st February the situation would become more tense.

Finally, in 1956, Bangla was recognized as the official state language alongside Urdu. In 2008, the UN officially recognized 21^st February as the International Mother Language Day.

Today, like they have done the past 60 years, millions of Bangladeshis will come to the Shaheed Minar in Dhaka to pay homage to their language and those who died for it. They will paint the streets, wear the Bangla letters as face paint, recite poems, sing songs and take part of skits – all in Bangla. It is a public holiday in Bangladesh and is celebrated with as much fanfare as the country’s Independence Day. Following in the footsteps of the university students in 1952, the students of Dhaka University, especially those in the department of fine arts and Bangla, will organize the events for the day. What started out as a fight for a language has now turned into the largest celebration of language in the world.

Wade Davis, my friend and mentor, says “Language isn't just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules; it's a flash of the human spirit, the vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world.” Today, languages are dying from many causes. In many cases, an old person dies  carrying with him or her the last known knowledge of that language. But, in many other cases, humans are forcibly killing languages as a way to marginalize/control other ethnicities. There are people in the world who are not allowed to practice their language and as a Bangladeshi, that is very disheartening.

We should recognize that when a language dies, we all lose. When a language dies, a piece of humanity goes with it and it can never be recovered. If we are to make this day be more than just a glorified day on a calendar, we ought to make it very difficult for a language to die. We should become more knowledgeable about cultures who are on the brink of extinction and support those who are working hard to preserve those cultures and languages.

That’s the best way to remember those who gave their lives to save a language 60 years ago!

Click here to download:

oledata.mso (356 KB)

Click here to download:

image005.emz (329 KB)

The story of Estancia Christina

I love good stories, and I really love good folk stories. My love with
folks stories go a long way back. One of the first stories I remember
hearing is my father telling me about his grandfather, who was lost at sea
and given up for dead, but found his way back home after 7 years. Then,
there were stories told by others about our other ancestors and their
adventures.

Good folk stories have a way of telling you a lot about society. It tells
about people's cultures, their interactions with the land around them, and
how the actions of previous generations led to the behaviors of the
current generation. Good folk stories are as much educational as
entertainment.

When I travel one of the things I really enjoy is hearing stories of the
land. Unfortunately, there weren't that many stories in our recent trip to
South America. But, I did hear about Estancia Christina. The story is
about a man's desire to secure a prosperous future for his family led him
to journey across the Atlantic, build their own little farm that does
quite well, and then, have a tragic ending not only for his immediate
family but also related kins. The story of Estancia Christina also sheds
light into the policies of Argentina as it goes from newborn nation to one
of the richest in the world to turbulent times under military rule.

I encourage you to check out the story of Estancia Christina. You can
search for it online, but here is a good place to start:
http://www.estanciacristina.com/english/historia.html

My Role Models

This is the 2nd part of my series on role models. In my last post I talked about how to pick role models. Today, I will share my role models. As I mentioned in the previous post, I believe in picking role models based on the qualities that one wants to achieve. I have few role models and below are 3 of them. For each role model, I list the quality that they represent to me.

1.       My father (Integrity) I have always admired my father’s commitment to integrity. Growing up, I saw first hand how he adhered to honesty while working in one of the most corrupt places in the world – the Bangladeshi government. I have a long way to go before I can reach that caliber. I am sure I have lied in the past and I am sure they had very bad effects. But, I look up to my father as a role model and hope that eventually I can reach that level of integrity.

2.       Nelson Mandela (Compassion) Nelson Mandela is well known around the world for many things. However to me the most important aspect of his character is that even when he became the President of South Africa and had all the power, he still didn’t wish for vengeance against those who did him wrong for decadesin the past. Instead he led by example and extended hand of cooperation to those same people. I don’t have that much compassion. But, everyday, I try to increase my capacity for compassion. Maybe one day I will have a a small fraction of the compassion Mr. Mandela has.

3.       Wade Davis (Meaningful Curiousity) Wade is an Explorer-in-Residence for National Geographic and I am lucky to be able to count him as one of my mentors. Wade has spent close to 3 decaded exploring the world. He started out by spending over 3 years immersed in the jungles of South America exploring different plants and the roles they have in the lives of the locals. Since then, he has expanded his scholarly work to study different cultures, languages, and people. Wade is a great example of a person who grew his passion for travel and exploration over decades and was able to share his findings with others. I love traveling and learning about new cultures. While I have been able to travel a lot over the past few years, I have not figured out a way of making it a more structured, immersive, and meaningful experience where I can get a deep understanding of the people and their traditions. Hopefully, I will be able to pick up some tricks from Wade and become much better at understanding different cultures and people.

So, there you go – 3 examples of my role models and explanation of what makes them good role models for me.

How to pick a Role Model

Every new year, I try to set myself up with some resolutions to guide me for the year. While creating these resolutions, I invariably think about my role models and try to imagine how they would handle my life. In this 2 part series, I will share how to pick good role models (this post) and explain my role models (next post).

Here are my recommendations on the things you should look for when selecting a role model:

1.       You want the role model to consistently demonstrate a specific quality. So, pick a quality that you like about them, and not a specific accomplishment or action. For example, pick a role model who consistently demonstrates integrity instead of a person who showed honesty in a critical situation.

2.       Know as much background information as you can about that person. This will give you context on why they made certain choices in their life. It is not necessary for your role model to have the same background as you, but rather they exhibit the decision making skill that you would like to emulate yourself.

3.       Following from the above, it is not necessary for your role model to be someone you personally know. With the help of Internet, you can find life history about almost every famous and no-so-famous people.  So, you can still get the background information about the role model even if you don’t know them personally.

4.       Pick multiple role models. Humans are not perfect and so, an individual is good at few things and not so good at others. It is likely that you won’t find 1 role model to cover all the qualities you seek for yourself. So, indulge and pick as many as you need. I recommend 1 role model for each major quality that you would like to pursue.

The most important thing to remember is that you want to be like your role models, not be them.

The impact of Olympics on your city

Over the past 4 years, I have had a chance to witness how Olympics are handled by different countries. I have seen the buildup to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, then over the past couple of years I have visited London couple of times and seen how their preparations are going for next year’s Olympics. Finally, last week I was able to see how Rio is getting an early start to its preparation for the 2016 Olympics.

Based on my experiences with these 3 cities, here are some observations:

1.       The PR value of the Olympics to a city and the entire country is huge. Not only do you get a huge influx of tourists who are interested in visiting an “Olympic City”, but the city gets to create major sponsorship and advertisement deals with big multi-national companies. I remember this being very true for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. I was living in Japan at that time and I clearly remember how everyone was saying that South Korea had arrived as a significant member of the international community.

2.       Now imagine the PR value if you have 8-10 years to plan for the Olympics. A host can extract a lot of value starting from the day the Olympics are awarded to that host.

3.       Olympics is a great catalyst for the entire country to rally around a sinle goal. In a world where most countries are torn apart by internal political conflicts, an event like the Olympics could provide a great burst of nationalism which will continue long after the Olympics are over.

4.       Related to the previous observation, Olympics gives the host an opportunity to significantly upgrade existing infrastructure or add new infrastructure. The facelift that East London is getting for 2012 Olympics is amazing. This used to be one of the most rundown parts of London, but next year’s Olympics has been the reason for the significant upgrades in that part of the city. Of course, Beijing’s over-the-top preparations for 2008 Olympics (a new airport terminal that is bigger than 99.9% of the world’s airports, new hotels, new roads, massive stadiums, etc.) was the best example of the host pulling out all the stops with new infrastructure.

5.       But, it is not all perfect. In a rush to extract maximum value, often times the organizers cut corners. My few days in Rio provided an example of this. The pacification process was initiated to create a better image of the Rio slums before the Olympics. What is pacification? Well it is the process of sending police forces into the favelas to eradicate problems like gang violence, drugs, prostitution, etc. Of the 1,000 known favelas in Rio, only 17 have been “pacified” thus far. However, it is not clear that the “pacification” process will work long term. Brazilian police are notorious for being corrupt. It is impossible to think that they will have enough forces to be present at every favela at the same time. So, when the police leaves a favela, how will they guarantee that the favela will not revert back to the pre-pacification days?

I had a chance to visit Complexo do Alemao and I felt relatively safe. I did see the military police walking aroud the favela. A quick show of force is not a long-term solution. It needs to coupled with a more holistic approach of providing sustainable and affordable healthcare, education, sanitation and other services to the favela inhabitants.

There have been extensive research done on the impact of Olympics on a city and on a country. These were some of my observations based on my first-hand experience with 3 of the latest Olympics.