This is taken from our spring 2015 issue. Subscribe here to have the autumn issue and following three delivered direct to your door.
While we like to think of the simple life as a beautiful thing that will bring us peace and bliss, there’s no denying the amazingness of technology. I’m certain I spend so much time on devices that I must be part robot by now, but I also have a very long list of the exhilarating and brilliant ‘real life’ moments it’s brought me. Two recent technology stories stood out as particularly uplifting to the Positive Life team.
Kenyan student Salima Visram is the inventive designer behind the ‘Soular Backpack’, school bags for kids that harness solar energy to allow them to power lights to study when it gets dark – without the dangers of kerosene lamps. “From the age of four, my parents ensured that my siblings and I understood the complexities of poverty, and that as I grew as an individual and learnt more about the world, I also needed to ensure that the people around me grew too. Every year since I was very young, I would collect the money I got for my birthday and sponsor an additional child’s lunch for the entire year at the Kikambala Primary School, until a feeding program was introduced.”
His aim was to raise $40,000 and he raised over $50,000! Ottawa tech fi rm eSight also did something incredible. They developed computerised glasses that allowed Kathy Beitz, a legally blind woman, to gaze at her newborn baby. The story spread qucikly around the world. Mums and Dads everywhere attest to how special and profound that moment you fi rst see your child can be, and we all seemed touched that technology could give someone this. eSight’s company founder Conrad Lewis has two legally blind sisters who have the same condition as Beitz and her sister.
indiegogo.com/projects/the-soular-backpack | esighteyewear.com
This is taken from our spring 2015 issue. Subscribe here to have the autumn issue and following three delivered direct to your door.
