July has been a whirlwind month, piggy backing on an even more hectic June. I got to spend some time in Kenya in June with the wonderful Ushahidi and ihub community, where we hosted several events to highlight our software projects. SwiftRiver amongst them. Before that it was DLD women in Munich (+ World Cup ofcourse!) I made great friends and learned the word ‘Bombastisch’ – Thank you Lukas.

From July 10th to the 16th I had the great fortune of spending time with the TEDGlobal 2010 fellows and attend the TEDGlobal 2010 and even spoke during the Senior fellows mini conference. It was a blast to say the least. I am still decompressing and reliving that week in my mind.

I wanted to share with you pictures of the TEDGlobal 2010 fellows, and to point you to their profiles in TED.com.
They are an amazing group of people who greatly inspired me during that week. From Adital’s ‘windlight’, David Gurman’s art installations, Teru Kuwayama’s photography, Roshini’s documentary… it goes on and on. I feel lucky to have met them and I hope you get to know more about their work in the coming months.

Moving Windmills: Back in 2007 at my first TED ever, I met a young man we had profiled on Afrigadget. William Kamkwamba.
I took this pic of him and Simon Mwacharo.

Fast forward 3 years later, after the book he co-wrote with Bryan Mealer topped Amazon’s recommended lists, he appeared on the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and now… his book is out on paperback. It is available on the Kindle store for you ipad toting hipsters.
Note:
- There is a whole new chapter in the back about his adventures post-book.
- He graduated from African Leadership Academy prep school in Johannesburg in June.
- He’s going to Dartmouth in the fall
- He just built and electrified a new school in his village with the help of NGO BuildOn.org
- He’s building his parents a new business, a maize (corn) mill that will permanently lift them out of poverty.
- His book has been chosen as the mandatory book for incoming freshman at several U.S. schools and he’s coming in mid-August to visit them.

Amazing.