Shawn distributed donated mosquito nets in Bangladesh to families who could not afford one.

Inspired by the book, The End of Poverty, and a meeting with its author Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Shawn Ahmed of Toronto left his graduate studies at Notre Dame, cashed out his savings and took off for Bangladesh. Some might think he was crazy, but Shawn says, "I don't want to be a part of the generation that passes the buck — I want to be a part of the generation that solves the problem."

In Bangladesh Shawn, 28, saw the work Save the Children USA is doing. He says, "I was very fortunate to cross paths with Save the Children — even though it was under very unfortunate circumstances. Cyclone Sidr had just hit and millions of people were displaced and thousands were dead. This is where I first got to see Save the Children in action." Shawn was so moved he decided to create an awareness video urging people to donate to Save the Children. Shawn's videos became the most popular YouTube clips mentioning Cyclone Sidr, you can join the more than 300,000 people who have watched them and view them here.

Shawn with Nick Downie of Save the Children International Alliance.

Realizing that YouTube and social networking can be powerful tools for raising awareness, Shawn vlogged and wrote about challenging poverty on YouTube; his blog, The Uncultured Project, and his Twitter feed.

He began raising funds online from his followers using a PayPal account, and after documenting the work of Save the Children USA in Bangladesh he let his online community democratically vote on a project to fund. The chosen project is a water purifier called a pond sand filter in Barguna District, and with the help of Save the Children's expertise it is nearly completed. The beauty of this filtering system is that it is free to maintain, it requires no energy source other than the arm-power of the person pumping water into a container for drinking — view Shawn's video of the filter.

Shawn's online message focuses on solutions to global poverty, and in April this year he earned recognition for his efforts from the Webby Awards, becoming an Official Honoree for Outstanding Work in Experimental Online Film.

What You Can Do

Join Shawn's and Save the Children's online communities, share our videos, blog posts and tweets and help spread the word.

Some of Shawn's Webby-honored Work

The Uncultured Project YouTube Channel

Video: Challenge Poverty with Save the Children

Video: Cyclone Sidr: Helping Kids with Save the Children

Video: Cyclone Sidr: The Hard Lessons

Shawn on Facebook

Shawn's Project Photos on Flickr

Last Updated May 2009