The first TEDxFCCollege successfully completed
The first TEDxFCCollege event successfully ended on 3 December 2011. The event was organized by FCC’s International Affairs Society (IAS) and the theme this year was “The Unreasonable Folk: Social Changemakers of Pakistan”.
Although it was the first TEDxFCCollege event, there was an overwhelming response in registration. Live streaming facility was provided by Wi-tribe and the opportunity to order DVDs (http://bit.ly/s9SDQC) was made available to those whom TEDXFCCollege could not accommodate this year.
A lot of ideas, innovation and hard work went into setting up the stage for the event. Much support was received from faculty, students and administration to arrange the event and specially when making a video called “Change is Possible” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYRLYkw0rBI).
The guest speakers came from various small and large enterprises who believed in social change and had in their own way influenced the society. Dr Arfa Syeda (Academic, Historian and Ex Chairperson of National Commission on the status of women) spoke on how change could be made by every human being. Ms Sarah Belal (Founder of Justice Project Pakistan) challenged everyone to rethink how they want to be remembered in life. She chose to defend the prisoners facing the harshest punishment even though she grew up in a successful entrepreneurial family. Dr Amjad (Founder of Akhuwat) inspired people with the story of Akhuwat which started only with a capital of Rs 10,000. He gave up a promising career to start up this micro-financing company only for the poor. Ms Saba Gul (Founder of Bliss) talked about how a successful person must have both intelligence and compassion. Her organization, Bliss, is helping semi-skilled girls in Attock to provide them with a chance to learn and earn.
Dr Taimur Rahman (Political Activist, Academic and Band Leader of the music group, Laa) questioned the intolerance in religion, and encouraged the youth to think about revolution with his guitar performance. Mr Omair Bangesh (Founder of Dream Factory) inspired the audience by talking about how he spends one day every week with kids to help them develop a liking for learning. Ms Memoona Sajjad (Founder of VEFA) talked about her decision to give up her PhD plan in order to engage with the lowerclass of Pakistan with her venture Virtual Education for All, Pakistan. Mr Aneeq Cheema (Founder of Rabtt) revealed the perspective of how our identities can be morphed into something without our will and can still be gripping and moving.
The IAS members tried to make the event green and many attendees responded by bringing their own mug for the tea break instead of using paper cups. It was also a good networking opportunity as people who did not know each other got the chance to talk to each other and exchange opinions. Hence the event was more than just a series of talks for the attendees, and even for the speakers. It was a place where people who shared the concern of social change in Pakistan came together and were exposed to some possibilities of how they could work towards it.
IAS appreciated the support of all the people who supported the event and helped in making it a success. It was certainly a good opportunity to reach out to students and people who did not know what TED or TEDx events were and opened a world of new ideas to them. It is looking forward to another TEDxFCCollege soon.
