The Power of Cents

The success of The Power of 10 campaign reminds me about another fundraising campaign I was involved with over 2 years ago.

We raised about $100,000 over 2 months period for cyclone victims in Irrawaddy delta, Burma. The campaign is very labor intensive as we collect coins and small notes from passerby in a shopping mall. We obtained a permit to collect donations in the premise of a university and a shopping mall. I guess we are the only student group which has managed to obtain such a permit as S'pore is very strict with public soliciting of donations, and requires strict guidelines in auditing - especially so after a big charity scandal.

I still remember my logic that time to work on the campaign, instead of starting with a job and donating my salaries. The logic is to get people involved with the process of actually doing stuff - instead of complaining, or feeling helpless about the aftermath of the cyclone. Along this process, we learn about each other, bureaucracy, crisis management, and especially about ourselves. In addition to helping people in need, we built trust among ourselves and confidence in ourselves.

The most beautiful part I have observed throughout this process is The Power of Cents. People contributing cents - spare change for some, a big saving for others. We even collected old clothes and make sure these get delivered over air. One could ask about the efficiency of this - I agree too. However, the realization of the power of everyone contributing bits by bits to achieve a common goal via this campaign is simply invaluable.

Power of 10 made it

Following is the email sent out to donors who have contributed to the campaign. It is interesting to see first-hand about the power of social graph; the power of all of us. Other than the amount of money raised, I believe the real impact of the campaign is the amount of awareness raised about Cambodia education.

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Newsletter Main image

Reaching our goal!

Power of 10 Friends and Family 

Today we reached the $100,000 mark with our fundraising efforts since the launch of the Power of 10 campaign! Even more incredible is that we have a donor who has promised to match the total, allowing us to raise $200,000 for our educational programs! Amazing. Thank you for your support, energy, encouragement, and for believing in the work that PEPY does in Cambodia. 

We are really grateful for this support and now that we have this funding, the real work and the real impact can happen. We are excited to be able to work toward our 2011 educational goals now that we have the funding to make them possible. Thank you to all who helped us reach our goal, for spreading the word, and for making the Power of 10 the successful campaign that it was. 

Your support of this campaign, and your ongoing involvement with PEPY, means that we can continue to provide young Cambodian students with the tools they need to turn their dreams into a reality. 

Thank you for investing in the future, in education, and in the next generation of Cambodians.

Much love, 
The PEPY Team

Invest in education for Cambodia's future generations www.jointhepowerof10.org

 

MobileNewsHub outsourced

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I have tried outsourcing for the first time on Elance. The project amounts to 3 months of my living expenses here - so it is a costly decision.

The project is simplified into work just on J2ME phones which are widely used in rural areas in developing countries. If you wonder original specifications of the project, have a look here. It is further simplified into just support easy file transfer using OBEX FTP protocol via Bluetooth.

Simple description about project requirements are necessary as I am communicating with a remote development team based in Kenya, Africa. The team has been very responsive and hard-working; despite not meeting the initial timeline.

I am doing final testing and will reconcile with the team after holidays to finalize the very first alpha version. I will be releasing the source code then.

From that version on other major features such as auto-synching of folders/channels, and auto pairing of bluetooth devices need to be worked on. The final application would differ a lot from the initial concept but you get it. It is to make so easy for rich information to be dispersed using ordinary technology.

Join the power of 10!

On 10/10/2010, The Power of 10 (http://jointhepowerof10.org) is launched. It is aiming to raise $100,000 for education in Cambodia. The campaign uses Piryx (http://piryx.com) for donation processing.

The Power of 10 is a campaign aimed at raising funds and awareness about the work that PEPY is doing by creating a global network of informed, engaged, and active citizens. It is not only about highlighting how far your $10 can go, but how far-reaching YOUR impact can be. It’s about YOU, being a link in a long chain of people who want to invest and believe in Cambodia’s future.

I am just helping a bit with web stuffs. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

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Let the river flow

Let the river flow
cos' it is like love
flowing fast and serene
wide and narrow, and ever-flowing

Let the river flow
as it is the journey
of clouds on the land
becoming our blue sky

Let the (dammed) river flow
for freedom of travel
for freedom of life
for salmons to return home

Let the river flow
for it would meander beautifully
through rice fields in the delta
making our ocean less salty

Let the river flow... all for love...

surrender

there is this calling
to answer or not, it is all up to me

my brain is telling
i am jeopardizing my control, my helm

my heart is beating
once in a life time, now or never

others are saying
it is just so stupid, insanity!

but my feeling
no more under the control of my brain

i am enjoying
the freedom to pursue my pulses

and looking
forward to the journey ahead

yes, i am surrendering

(in remembrance of 20th October 2007 and 28th August 2010)

russian rabbit

not being racist but as to put things in context, i am writing the
following (note: my variation) based on a story shared by my brother

while Soviet Union was thriving, there was a garage full of carrots
a rabbit was assigned to guard the garage

the rabbit being a carrot-lover asked to be excused,
as it is afraid it might end up eating the carrots

the issue is then reported to Politburo
so that another person be assigned for the duty

but Politburo decided against reversing the initial decision
and told subordinates to implement measures so that the rabbit won't
end up eating carrots

then subordinates came up with an idea to put mouth mask on the rabbit
doing so another staff needs to be assign to put the mouth mask on the rabbit

hence, to ensure proper sign in and sign out
an inventory controller is assigned to log the daily data

doing so a supervisor is required to be assigned to assure proper operations
as the entire operations is big now, an operation manager must be assigned too

the poor rabbit tried its best to serve the interest of the society
however, as days go on, it becomes too stressing to stay away from its
favorite food that it eventually died

then Politburo is consulted again to assign a new staff in place of the rabbit

as assigned either dog or cat would result in firing of the 4 other staffs
Politburo humanely decided to find another rabbit for the position

-- end of story --

always there are such inefficiencies in large hierarchal organizations
also it is good to note how unhappy the rabbit was to be working in a
position he was the least suitable for

we all agree we need to change...

some would suggest that it would be hard to abruptly change the existing system
some would suggest otherwise...

how do you think we should change then?

So i pledge to write a book

Yep, on this special day, I have garnered enough courage to write my
first book to detail my experience and insights as frankly as I could.

My writing sucks. But I guess it is my style. I will try to reference
to other books to see how great authors put across their points.

So the title is "Confessions of an activist".

I believe in confession for establishing transparency; knowing each
other better to find real meanings and solutions. I do not really
believe in confession as a way to be forgiven.

But it is the first step necessary to make the next step.

At the same time, I would be developing a WordPress.org based
participatory book authoring system - which I would use to distribute
my book.

This system is much inspired by DjangoBook.com and
http://labs.oreilly.com/ofps.html

We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win Microsoft has to lose

I stumbled upon this in a movie titled "Pirates of Sillicon Valley".

This saying by Steve Jobs at 1997 MacWorld Expo has been my favorite quote ever since. I did a quick google search. Here you can see his speech and read a little bit of historical context. I would not elaborate as you can already read there. 

In this post, I will focus on winning the righteous way: acknowledging failure and increasing the size of cake.

Yes, it is our human nature to win over others sometimes fairly and most of the time unfairly. Most of the time, we tend to focus on encroaching into established territories; hence, ending up with fierce fights and wars. 

In my mother tongue, there is a saying: fishing where there are bubbles (hence, there are fish). This is the very reason that those who sold shovels to gold diggers made most of money. This is how whole US housing market and financial market collapsed. People would rush to "invest" through complex leveraging & hedging methods just to make money, just to win money. 

But there is no meaning in this winning. Simply because there is no value creation. Eventually, the bubble would burst. This cycle happens again and again.

What Steve Jobs did was very noble. 

He first admitted that he has lost in PC war. The very trend he started with his Macintosh well before Windows.

Secondly, he joined force with his "enemy" to share the cake; a strategy to keep Apple alive. And he never had second thought about fighting for a bigger share of that cake.

He led the innovation in mobile computing and mobile entertainment; creating values that we thought we would need but we didn't know how. This way, he increased the size of cake and took the fair share of this new and bigger cake.

So on May 26th 2010, Apple has overtaken Microsoft's market capitalization.

--- quoting SeekingAlpha's article
  • Since September 16, 1997, when Jobs returned as CEO and Apple shares traded at $5.49 per share, the stock has surged 4,346%and now trades at $244.11 per share. Over the last five years, Apple's stock has grown about 600% while Microsoft's managed a modest 5% growth. 
  1. Exxon Mobil: $287B
  2. Apple: $229B
  3. Microsoft $227B
  4. Walmart $190B

Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the share price times the number of outstanding shares. It is often used as a public metric of a company's overall net worth.

---

We don't need to fight to win a war. We just need to do what we are good at; creating values. And we will be rewarded. Everyone wins from bigger cakes.

We don't need to fight for oil. We just need to look into alternative sustainable source of energy.

Disclaimer: I am not an Apple fan boy. I have yet to own any product by Apple. However, Steve Jobs is someone I look up to and I learn from.