Talk It Thru with Rui Pedro Silva

Do you know Candace Lightner?

One of the most influential activists in the history of the United States.

Known by being the founder of the "Mothers Against Drunk Driving", an organization created after she lost her daughter, hit by someone driving under the influence of alcohol.

MADD has changed so many lives, and saved thousands of lives, by educating people on the problematic of driving while being on the influence of alcohol, but as well, by working with lawmakers to change the rules of the game, and with that also change more and more lives

She has not stopped after MADD. After leaving MADD, Candace has worked with so many organizations all over the world, and she is now running an organization "We Save Lives", that is still focusing on Drunk Driving, but it doesn't stop there. 3 D's: Drunk, Distracted and Drugged Driving is the cause.

How many times do we hear "that virus is just killing older people" or "at that age what would you expect?" Loneliness is an issue no matter what age. Everyone deserves dignity and happy life at all stages of their lives. We connected with Singapore to talk with Marieke, a Dutch woman that took the typical Dutch cycling culture to Singapore. She did more than that though,  she understood that connecting the generations and getting people to spend time together while going for a bicycle ride, it is simply priceless and can easily give years of life back as she explained. Cycling Without Age is more than just going out for a tour with someone "carrying you". It is about making sure the elderly people understand how much we respect them, how much we can learn with them, and belong to a world that is more and more disconnected. This podcast is dedicated to all people that suffer from loneliness anywhere in this world, as that shouldn't ever happen to anyone. 

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#elderly #socialinclusion #aging #cycling #socialawareness #healthylife #experience #sharing #knwowledge #wisdom #socialresponsibility

You may not think about it, but there are plenty of people without access to proper education. It may sound crazy that these days we have those issues, but it is still quite a big issue. Today we talked to Abhik Bhattacherji from "Teach for India," an organization placing young people in schools that have a lack of teachers. These "fellows" as they are called, teach in those locations for a period of 2 years giving children a proper access to a education. Like so many other "Teach for Countries" all over the world, the one in India is simply bringing help to those areas that struggle with a lack of teachers, creating a stronger foundation to a better education for children for the first time.  Stay tuned and learn that education is not available to everyone and how you can help solve that problem

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Not every day we meet someone so young pausing a potential successful career after a successful journey in her education, to make something entirely different. Avani is such an inspiration. Few months ago, she started Project Sparsh, which is a project trying to raise awareness to what is good or bad touch, educating schools, children and parents that child abuse is out there, and we can't ignore it. Proper education on that, is a very strong measure to prevent it to happen. More than 80% of the cases do come from people close to the children, and that also means we need to learn the meaning of it. Avani opened up her own story, which is something we would love you to listen, because it explains a lot of her motivations for this project.

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Veganism is something we all believe is positively contributing to a better world, supporting animal protection, and overall environment protection. Today we talked with Susan, who is a Home Cook, and the conversation was super funny and interesting. We learned that vegetables can taste much better if cook right. We talked about Susan's channel on Instagram, but we also talked about her views about the impact that we can have in the world, if we all start going more vegan. She was not extreme though, and as she mentioned, we can all start with small steps, and get used to that.  Listen to the whole conversation and maybe start thinking on how can you also help the planet. Let's #TalkItThru together!

"Domestic Violence has no face" That may sound like a cliché, but it is just a fact.  Today, we talked with Neisha about her story, and how did she survive a 5y relationship that not just affected her physically, but psychologically. She walked us through the painful journey of realization that she was in a serious situation, and she needed to do something. It has been an absolutely fantastic conversation, where we talked not "just" about how did she survive, but also how did she create the GROW Foundation, who is helping other survivors. The word is survivor, and not victim. It may sound a detail, but it is not. Has she says, we all know someone that is being affected by Domestic Violence, we just don't identify it easily. We encourage you to listen to this conversation, and learn something, so you can either identify your own story, or help others identifying it. Let's #TalkItThru Together

Today we visited Nigeria, and the Bakog Foundation. Emmanuel Ikoro, directly from a location where an outreach was being prepared, walked us through the amazing work done by this foundation. They try to fight poverty in marginalized areas, by bringing food, clothing and hygiene products to those areas. This group is built out of volunteers who are there just to help and make people's life better. We talked about the rough conditions in Nigeria, how much the system doesn't really help to make things better, and how hard is to keep going without big support. Check it out and get inspired by this.  Let's Talk It Thru together!

After having this conversation with Preetham, we are even more sure that India can fly really high. Preetham, together with his volunteers, has created a quite interesting concept to support children through special programs, that aim to provide tools and skills for them to be successful in a sustainable manner. There is not better or worse way to help, but when you aim for sustainability, it makes it more powerful for their future. Mindful meditation, team work, arts or creativity, are some of the examples of programs that Fly Higher India is pushing to the unprivileged children in India. They cover more than 30 cities these days, and hopefully they will keep growing. A great pleasure to share their story.

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We have talked with a lot of people that went through quite traumatic experiences, and Michael is definitely on of them, with quite an impressive story. From psychological violence, abuse, drug addiction, Michael went through a lot, but that did not define who he wanted to be. His "mirror moment" at the age of 28, is the turning page. He decided to take the control of his life back, and today is a successful person, who is also helping others, not through therapy, but through working step by step to get those people to the place they want to be. Reverse engineering some of the problems and starting to change the narrative. What an inspiring story.

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How a simple act can make such a difference? Well, that is exactly what Tomas just explained to us during a fantastic conversation. Today we talked about cleaning up the beaches and the oceans, but not necessarily with very big initiatives, but rather with a very simple and old fashion process: With your own hands Tomas just explained to us where did this project @givesealifeahand start, and just gave as an overwhelming class on environmental protection and preventive behaviors. If you care about environment, you MUST listen to this. You can give a hand, and it is so simple.

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The first part of an extraordinary conversation with Chris.  We talked about Chris's career, his passion about photography, but we also talked about Apartheid or the fact that we have likely been helping the racial discrimination, by institutionalizing racism. Chris opened up his views about the world, his experiences in several African countries, but as well, how much he changed through this process and what does that mean for his life and future. Listening to this podcast is not just an inspiration but, as well, a deep learning about human beings and human behaviours

Let's Talk It Thru together!

The second part of an extraordinary conversation with Chris.  We talked about Chris's career, his passion about photography, but we also talked about Apartheid or the fact that we have likely been helping the racial discrimination, by institutionalizing racism. Chris opened up his views about the world, his experiences in several African countries, but as well, how much he changed through this process and what does that mean for his life and future. Listening to this podcast is not just an inspiration but, as well, a deep learning about human beings and human behaviours 

Let's Talk It Thru together!

Today we talked with Agne about her time in the rural Uganda, during her career-break. Interesting conversation about something that we usually know as volunteering, but that she clearly describes as experteering, as she believes she brought expertise in a specific area, rather than just come and make work in random areas, without real knowledge on that. We debated a lot of things regarding sustainability of the local businesses supported by NGOs.  Not least important, we talked about her experience of living in rural Uganda for 2 months, and what differences she faced on her day-to-day experiences.

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What a great time we just had with Rose over a podcast.  Rose just walked us through the process of coming up with the idea to the "Question Box". She also shared the experiences and learnings that she and her partner took out of this project, that are still helping them today during projects they get involved. Rose collaborates with United Nations, Food Bank or Unicef, bringing all her knowledge and experience and helping introducing technologies as Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence or Big Data. We also discussed some sociological aspects of the technology impact over the next 10 years, and what her views on that.

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We just spent a fantastic 30 minutes talking with Hugo about the Raqueta Por Um Sorriso project, or in English, Racket for a Smile. What an experience to learn how did Hugo start, and to get to know the stories behind the time he drove to Bissau, or the award in Barcelona for his project. This project brings tennis rackets to marginalized schools, and with that, helps children to practise sports from a young age.

Stay tuned and let's Talk It Thru together