TEDX AminuKanoWay – Across the Horizon

In our continuous quest for mentoring and obtaining Sadaqa Jariya (Flowing Charity which lasts even after demise ) through Ilmun Yuntafa’ Bih (Knowledge That Someone Benefits From), we were recently involved in another youth event – TEDx AminuKanoWay which held at Kano’s Ado Bayero Mall Saturday, September 28. The 12 speakers and performers dazzled collectively and individually, while the Organising Team was able to outperform the formidable challenges that stared them in the faces before, and especially during, the event.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to ‘ideas worth spreading.’ Originally a 4-day conference on Technology, Entertainment, and Design, it is now a global stage for the world’s leading thinkers and doers to create an environment of sharing and igniting curiosity. TEDx (i.e. TED with a tiny ‘x’) is a local, self-organized event ‘in the spirit of ideas worth sharing’ that brings people together to share a TED-like experience.

The TEDx AminuKanoWay Team, led by Curator Misbahu Hamza with Maryam Abbas, Imam Zubair, Maryam Muhammad, Bello Sadiq, Badamasi Aliyu, Muhammad Garba, Ahmad Sagagi, Ahmad Sardauna, Muhammad Hashim, Abubakar Umar, Bello Sagir, Abdulhamid Maje, Fatima Balarabe, Naseeba Babale and others too numerous to mention, delivered a worthy event that can stand in any international arena. And the Team was immensely assisted by a mother they discovered at Ado Bayero Mall – Hajiya Rabi Tudunwada. They got the TEDx AminuKanoWay license with that name in recognition of Kano’s greatest politician, Mallam Aminu Kano. The event’s subtitle was ‘Across the Horizon.’

One of the speakers at TEDx AminuKanoWay, Usman Gezawa, is a wheelchair-bound student of Computer Science at Bayero University, Kano (BUK). His being physically bound is compensated by Allah giving him an almost impeccable brain, mind and acumen, for he is said to have a perfect 5.0 CGPA on a 5.0 Scale (CGPA means ‘Cumulative Grade Point Average, university lingo for someone headed for a First Class or, as is called in secondary and high schools – ‘a perfect A’ student).

Usman, aptly nicknamed ‘Brain on a Wheelchair’ or ‘Kano’s Stephen Hawkins’ by his friends and associates, has been wheelchair-bound from childhood, but that had not stopped him topping his class from early in his life many years ago – and still topping mates at university – and it has not prevented him from advancing towards his dreams and making positive impact on the lives around him.

His story, narrated in his presentation ‘Ability in Disability’, is one of the outstanding lessons that we all learnt at this event as, speaking from his wheelchair, he narrated the story of his condition and how God compensated him with a superior understanding and comprehension of things from the mundane to the complex, and how he could do with only his hands what many of us can hardly do with our whole bodies. Usman’s speech was touching and electrifying and drew not only a standing ovation but tears from the eyes of most the audience.

Apart from Gezawa, other exceptional speakers that appeared on the TEDx AminuKanoWay stage included Nuru Lemu , Juwairiyya Badamasuiy, Aisha Yakubu, Sa’ada Aliyu, Habiba Ali, Ramadan Yusuf, Emdee Tiamiyu, Fatima Salihu, Maryam Habib, Atika Kamfa and Bushkiddo the Performer, while the topics included ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’, ‘Gender Issues, Equality or Equity?’, ‘The World in Crisis Versus Humanity’, ‘Sustainable Energy’, etc., plus a couple of speeches in Hausa such as ‘Matsalolin Aure a Kasar Hausa.’

An immediate success story recorded at this TEDx event was that a philanthropist has picked interest in two of the speakers – they are offering a scholarship to Usman Gezawa and support to Aisha Yakubu on her volunteering work, especially on education and borehole drilling in rural areas. The event was an opportunity to bring together diverse people and ideas under one roof to discuss social challenges especially of our Arewa, proffer solutions and opportunities from diverse angles.

They were not mere theoretical talks; each individual speaker had something to show that had made an impact and touched lives in their respective communities. The organisers were very conscious of gender balance, a majority of the speakers were female – as are the majority of the issues Arewa must tackle. These female speakers came from diverse fields with brilliant stories, and their speeches showed there are great ideas from our mothers. It was, for example, refreshing to learn that women are increasingly penetrating the hitherto male-dominated worlds of STEM and IT-related fields, as well as individual activism in environment and volunteerism.

TEDx AminuKanoWay showed the spirit of our time and youth dedication and commitment, focusing largely on how a mix of digital technology, concerted effort, volunteerism and other interventions can combine to tackle social and community challenges. It was a great experience for the audience to have listened to these speakers to discuss their work and ideas, and how they relate to local challenges while suggesting ways forward.

What made the event a success was not only the community support but the cohesion and can-do spirit of the organisers. It was a symbolic expression of the evolving character and dynamism of our society in refashioning and redefining who we are in relation to our Zeigst .

This page has, alhamdu lilLah, so far this year featured several youth-organised innovative activities – from BUK student club ENACTUS (which was in London to showcase Brycoal, an innovative energy-saving fuel); to a workshop on ‘Women in STEM’ (or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) where issues militating against girls’ participation in these fields were discussed, thrashed and solutions proffered.

We also recently featured EDUFEST Arewa 2019 where innovations through education were discussed and lessons learnt; and today we are starring Usman Gezawa and others at TEDX ‘Across the Horizon’ (actually the second Kano TEDx as associates of the same team convened the first one named BabaDambaffaStreet in December 2017, at Mambayya House of Aminu Kano. And then there is a soon-to-be featured Minds-In-The-Making TEEN Conference 2019.

All in all, the youths seem to be getting hold of their lives, and are lazy no more!