Global Voices: The Bridge of Multiple Perspectives

This post has been translated into English by Elisa Thiago. The original post can be found here.

I have always been a boy with a restless heart. The silence of great little stories which I could observe in my everyday life died away and unfortunately remained restricted in the memory of those who had experienced it or in the spirit of story-telling of the lucky ones who had access to the so-called information, a recurrent phenomenon in Africa.

But why did those great little stories had to die alone? As I read the newspaper, two things became clear to me: firstly, the world and my surroundings, everything, could be summed up as chaos, an authentic misfortune, and I felt I could be the next target (that famous “cultura do medo” [culture of fear] so often mentioned by Mia Couto) or, otherwise, that the world was a marvel (however, given my social status, I could not enjoy its laurels). Nevertheless, I have always been a restless boy, a dreamer; there are those who say that I am ill because of my dreams, but as I suppose there are no hospitals that can heal such sweet illness, the only “illness” which woes me, which allows me to live with twinkles in my eyes at every sunrise; then I keep feeding my desire of making all the dreams come true.

I don't recall, exactly, the date I joined Global Voices, but that feeling of enchantment remains alive inside me, as though it is always the first time.

Joining Global Voices unleashed inside me a mix of emotions, so many local stories that could gain a voice, so many imposed silences that became the cry of all, but what about my country? Stories were very few about the small and nearly unknown island in the center of the world (São Tomé and Príncipe), the world was not aware of the victories, the failures, the love-affairs, the children's dreams, people didn't know about the ingredients that gave wings to the symphony shared by my people at each awakening.

And thus, moved by the willingness of letting know these stories, these silenced cries from my country, I was led to join the path of this Global Voices family. This family represents to me, nowadays, another perspective on what happens in the world, the bridge between facts and their characters, whether straightforward or not.

I interpret the meaning of Global Voices and state about it in the many informal chats and circumstances, when I am asked what it is. I have made comparisons between Global Voices and the events held by TEDx. Similarly to TEDx, Global Voices is a stage where stories acquire prominence, so that in various circumstances those who are seen as “others” become “We”! TEDx and Global Voices have indeed many similarities, and it must be the reason I have identified myself so promptly with the project of Global Voices, at the same time that to be able to organize TEDxSãoTomé used to be a simple target of a dreamy child!

mario

At Global Voices we all live out from the thirst of letting the world know the stories that became silenced or were forced to silence. We approach the details which are unknown to the majority, the only difference (so I believe) is that, down at the bottom, we do not tell anything at all, but are like a stage upon which those who truly tell stories become the true actors. We are several boys and girls with restless hearts, trying to build a world of free information, whose sharing shall be global, without any restrictions. Congratulations, Global Voices, we keep on aiming at a world where our smiles are alive, just like the dreams are alive for our souls!

1 comment

Cancel this reply

Join the conversation -> Mohamed ElGohary

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.