TEDx who are they?

Rebranding Sudan with packaging indigenous products; empowering women from Barefoot college as solar technicians in villages in South Kordofan; demonstrating Sudanese music in classical guitar; presenting the research on genetic mapping of different tribes in Sudan; developing  technical gloves to transfer  the deaf sign language into a form of speech; forming a talent forum for spoken words and poetry; pioneering women’s education and crusading against Female Genital Mutilation(FMG); starting a company on media productions to uplift the image of Sudan; venturing newer media for  journalism and social media marketing; showcasing artistic innovations at the art and culture centre; presenting the idea of making text books for school children more colourful and interesting; talking of the benefits of gum Arabic as a prebiotic (food) for the probiotic (intestinal good bacteria); speaking on the relevance of Amani  Shaketo  even in today’s  Sudanese tradition and culture and talking about the medicinal  benefits of herbs for common ailments.

Where would you get to listen to live presentations on all above fourteen topics from different speakers under one roof on the same day and venue? That was the first time in Sudan and the event was called TEDx Khartoum.

TED.com is a global community and thanks to volunteer translators like Anwar Dafa Alla who has made it local with TEDx an independently held TED event in Khartoum. You have an idea worth sharing, TED.com is the forum. Innovative ideas worth sharing not only about Technology, Entertainment or Design (TED) but also about Business, Science, Arts, Culture and Global Issues.

 Anwar Dafa Alla was passionate about translating. He said “Translating is about sharing, about caring. Sharing is humane and beautiful”.  He took up translating and became the highest translator of TED talks in Arabic. He proved the world that he was not lazy. He also kept children in mind while translating to reveal the opportunity and possibility for the next generation. In the process he earned the title of the most prolific Arabic volunteer translator of TED Talks. He has translated more than 570 TED Talks and given subtitles in Arabic.

He was invited by TED California where he got connected with different people from the world who were passionate about sharing ideas.

He then dreamt of putting Sudan in the global map of TED. His dream was fulfilled on 30^th April at Spark City, Burri where TEDx was held. The event brought both old wise people together with young talented citizens of Sudan. The speakers were Khalid Mansoor, Gadoda Kadooda, Elfatih Hussain, Nasr Mohammed, Abdelkareem ElBadri, Mustafa Khogali, El Tayeb Ali Farah, Dr.Rashid Diab, Dr.Abdelrahman El Asha, Fadwa Sa’ad, Dr.Isam Siddig and Ahmed Moutasim.

The event was very well organized and had high tech multimedia presentations with live translations for foreigners and live stream webcast for those who could not attend. There were more than one thousand people who attended the event. The most noteworthy point in the event is that it was organized by volunteers who got together via Facebook under the clarion call of Anwar Dafa Alla. No wonder Anwar’s favourite quote is “Whatever you are doing, failure is an option, fear is not” by James Cameron TED Talk 2010.