"Well I AM essentially talking about opinion. Because really - that is all there is.
Even if everyone on the earth agrees on something does that make it a fact or does that just mean they share the same opinion?"
I Power
Scientific Research & Self-Development Activism
The Uncultured Project
Check out Shawn's Uncultured Project YouTube channel and website.
When it comes to anti-poverty campaigns, the most successful ones are usually the most star-studded (with the likes of Bono, Angelina Jolie, or Matt Damon). But, on YouTube, one soft-spoken non-celeb has created a one-man amateur anti-poverty campaign that dwarfs them all.
“The Uncultured Project” is the tongue-in-cheek name for the informal YouTube-based campaign started by Shawn Ahmed - a 27 year old Canadian and former Notre Dame University graduate student and scholarship recipient. Inspired by a speech by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, author of the book The End of Poverty, Shawn decided to leave grad school, liquidate his life savings, and go to Bangladesh (and most recently Kenya) to help the poorest of the poor.
With no formal plan, training, experience, or real budget, Shawn has been helping combat malaria through bed net distributions, providing disaster relief after Cyclone Sidr and monsoon flooded, and has helped rural families and children through scholarships, school supplies, and even materials for home reconstruction. He chronicles his journey through video blogs on YouTube which, to date, have been seen an unprecedented one million times.
Part of his appeal on YouTube comes from Shawn’s unique approach. Instead of making the typical impersonal guilt-inducing videos designed to get people to donate, Shawn’s amateur videos tend to be positive, upbeat, and personal. Shawn calls his approach “Changing the Conversation about Global Poverty”. It’s an approach that has given even the most well funded and star-studded anti-poverty campaign a run for their money.
For example, the ONE Campaign, the multi-million dollar anti-poverty campaign backed by celebs such as Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and Bono, have produced over a hundred videos in the past two years which have been seen 2.2 million times. In half the time, and with a quarter of the videos, Shawn’s “Uncultured Project” has been seen more than half as many times as the ONE Campaign. And, in terms of YouTube subscribers (individuals who have signed up to notified right away when a new video is released), The Uncultured Project is the most popular anti-poverty campaign on YouTube – surpassing even Bono and Matt Damon by more than a thousand subscribers.
The YouTube Community, in addition to providing moral support and advice through the ups and downs of this project, have rallied together to donate tens of thousands of dollars to this project. Money of which Shawn does not use to pay for his living, travel, or equipment expenses, but rather directly spends to support local families, charities, as well as multinational organizations such as Save the Children USA. To date, hundreds of donations have come in from 20 different countries from around the world - from Israel to Iceland and from France to the Faroes Island.
Although currently not a sustainable project, when asked how long Shawn will keep doing this, he replied: "for as long as I am able”.
This is a report from the I Power Crew, a group of activists and founders of the I Power community. We discovered Shawn's YouTube channel on YouTube and were astounded by how this legendary project had not yet been picked up by big mainstream media, so we decided to do a press release and Digg item for it.
For media inquiries, e-mail Shawn at project@uncultured.com.
Comment
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Comment by Kamil Foreński on January 25, 2011 at 5:30am -
Awesome !!
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Comment by Crystal Dearth-lorton on January 5, 2011 at 12:26am -
If only we all were wired like Shawn... I will pass this on to all my friends and family members to enjoy and think about what they can do for their community. I know it has given me hope that I can fulfill my dreams of helping others.
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Comment by lutz gaudenz on December 11, 2010 at 12:30am -
COOL =) love this project!
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Comment by tracher999 on December 3, 2010 at 5:19pm -
nice to see that some people can help other people it not happens to many keep it up
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Comment by HeSaid on January 13, 2010 at 7:37pm -
After seeing Dean s reference, and many of Shawn's videos, I sent a CHALLENGE out to my Alma Mater, the Pennsylvania State University, seeking a leader there to lead all Penn State rs in joining Shawn and showing some Penn State Penache! Penn State has the LARGEST world wide alumni group of any U.S. university.
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Comment by Deunta Blakemore on December 20, 2009 at 11:49pm -
digging
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Comment by Karen Weaver on September 29, 2009 at 9:33pm -
Wow that's amazing, someone people just know how to do the right things!!
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Comment by ross carlson on September 4, 2009 at 8:22pm -
alex, dont set examples by saying u are setting an example,. just cuz someone says they digg doesnt mean they didnt donate, or can
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Comment by ross carlson on September 4, 2009 at 8:21pm
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w2go bro
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Comment by Sarah on July 29, 2009 at 2:28am -
I love this.
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Comment by Stephanie Pick on July 20, 2009 at 1:25am -
This is remarkable. Good work
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Comment by mons10 on July 17, 2009 at 5:49am -
omg so awsome
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Comment by Cato Albertsen on July 12, 2009 at 4:25pm -
Hey shawn! I love your work, as a the nerdfighter i can say you really never forget to be AWESOME!
Everyone should do like you and try to change the world:)
DFTBA man!
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Comment by Jonas Ingstrup on July 8, 2009 at 12:15pm -
Very awesome! You must have a giant heart to be able to pull something off like this!
THUMPS UP!
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Comment by john on July 7, 2009 at 10:47am -
actually that’s probably the end of 2012— and the apocalypse won't happen turns out I have the calander infront of me it’ll be the thirteenth everyone, this may save you from a suicide cult if your so inclined to follow one.
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Comment by john on July 7, 2009 at 10:44am
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Yes that was in a way a joke… if it work’s in getting doomsayers to give their stuff away well it will help the poor… only problem is that they would technically be poor them selves then…………
so I don't actually support it that much but giving away most of your wealth if you have lot’s of money into long term development aid by charities like Plan and Oxfam is a great idea.
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Comment by john on July 7, 2009 at 10:42am
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Me using fear to get people to donate to good causes
for all those who believe 2012 doom says you have less then 2000 day’s left to live.
1263 to be more precice so if the apoalyps will happen I would shouldgest to give all your money to charities look on the uncultured page to find good charities relating to poverty and donate all your money, and other possessions,
before your time is up so you will go to heaven.
well honestly, I don't have a church so I’m not going to trick any non followers into doing that but hey……,
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Comment by Michael Teo on June 24, 2009 at 3:27am -
coooooool
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Comment by Max on June 23, 2009 at 6:50pm -
just awsome!
Great :)
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Comment by Nav Prabhat singh on June 23, 2009 at 4:25pm -
Gr8 work shown....hope u guys wnt stop here......
godblss them all
Forum
Being right 4 Replies
Started by Tim Young in Off-Topic. Last reply by Tim Young 1 hour ago.
dealing with trolls 9 Replies
Started by Bart Skraeling in Off-Topic. Last reply by SparTom007 - Tom 3 hours ago.
Capitalism and profit 48 Replies
Started by Tim Young in Off-Topic. Last reply by SparTom007 - Tom 3 hours ago.
Latest Activity
Tim Young replied to Tim Young's discussion Being right"Yes I agree open-mindedness is of paramount importance. Even if you think you know all there is to know about something it pays to stay open minded about the possibility of new information on that subject coming to light."
SparTom007 - Tom replied to Bart Skraeling's discussion dealing with trolls"I got my first troll on my last youtube video (on the front page of ipower :D) and I have no idea what the point was to their comment but it was obvious trolling xD So far, I just saw it as "wow, someone was that bothered about something I did…"
SparTom007 - Tom replied to Tim Young's discussion Capitalism and profit"Resource based economy.
Google it"
SparTom007 - Tom replied to Tim Young's discussion Being right"It depends what you're talking about really. If someone has an opinion, I won't tell them they're wrong, I'll tell them I disagree and the reasons why. Sometimes people take you telling them something against their opinion as you…"
Xavier replied to Tim Young's discussion Being right"There are always pro's and con's in actions/theory's/whatever. Something can be considered 'right' for a certain group of people, while another group of people would yell 'wrong'.
It's all about being…"
Bart Skraeling replied to Bart Skraeling's discussion dealing with trolls"great to hear, but the last time i met a troll it was a a regular racist-troll, just flingin shit around, hoping someone would get mad, it was very obvious, but since it was on the forum of a newspaper that is mainly visited by normal human beings…"
Andreas Hågan replied to Bart Skraeling's discussion dealing with trolls"Im a troll myself and all your ideas to beat us is futile. It will not work. The truth is most of us turn to stone when exposed to sunlight. The stronger ones like myself have almost no weakeness. And the few things that can beat us I will not…"
Tim Young posted a discussionBeing right
In a sense I want to blow up the words “right” and “wrong”. I want to banish them from my vocabulary.More specifically I do not ever wish to BE right.And I do not ever want to say to someone else “you are WRONG”. What is the purpose of being or proving oneself to be, right? And what is the purpose of proving someone else is wrong?Apart from some sort of ego based sense of satisfaction what is the purpose of these things? Can anyone give me an answer to this question? If someone says something…See More
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