Posted on by roulail

2020: The year of asking the “right” questions

We blinked and it is 2020….

The year that when I was a kid I was SURE we will commute with spaceships, eat pills instead of food and our houses will look like the Jetsons‘.

Instead, the newspapers present us with the possibility of a next world war, while the climate has turned back to us fighting to survive from the human race’s misuse – and well in South Africa we do not know if we will have electricity the next day (who am I kidding? …the next hour).

How did we end up here?

Last year, I spent some time with a wonderful economist and special mentor (he might have not even realised how he influenced my thinking) and the main lesson I took from our interactions is: in order to find solutions, we need to be sure we are asking the “right” questions.

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Right, not for our publication record or our PhD, not because we have access to the data, not because the politicians want to have the specific answers…

Right for the society, for a sustainable future, for an impact, and for our own growth and development of thought process and mindset.

Right to take us out of our predicaments as a human race into a better future.

2020, here we go then, the year of asking the right questions (and exploring the answers, of course!).

Looking forward to working with an inspiring team of four individuals that I am sure, will challenge our minds and make us think deeper and wider at the same time. Check our 2020 bloggers here. In January, they will further introduce themselves in their first blogs.

Posted on by roulail

The Fantastic Four of 2019

The year is coming to an end, slowly for some, too fast for others. Time to look back and reflect on what we did, and what we didn’t, on the opportunities we had, the ideas we turned into reality, and those that we postponed or abandoned, on the people we “gained” and those we “lost”, the things we said and the things we wish we shouldn’t have said.

But it was a year full of memories, lessons and personally, the blessing for working with an amazing team of young ladies for the SAYAS blog. I am not joking when I respond to people that commend us on the 2019 blogs that I did nothing… The ideas were flowing and the Fantastic Four needed a little direction from me at the beginning of the year and the rest is history.

I became excited towards the 20th of every month waiting for the new blogs to arrive and I felt so lucky and privileged that I was the first one to read through them.

Now it is time to move forward as a team of 2019, but before we do so, the Fantastic Four decides to go back to the future in order to look in the year that passed and provide a retrospection of their years while at the same time, expressing their aspirations and dreams on how the world will be in 2050. This week, you will read one every day and maybe the Fantastic Four will assist you with your reflections of the year that passed and inspire you for your new year’s resolutions.

Many wishes from me for the festive season and may you begin your new year with bigger dreams than before and strength to achieve them.

Roula

PS. We are busy evaluating all the applications for the 2020 SAYAS blog team and I must say I am super excited for what is coming…Stay tuned…