ETH Arauca: Emerson's Legacy and the Hope for Change in Vulnerable Communities Throu... | Devcon SEA

[Music] everyone well there is not a better person to tell this story than the protagonist so let's go ERS since I was a child I've always loved a good story I'm passionate about technology and those alternate worlds where you can dream Without Limits where anything is possible my name is Martinez and this is my story I was born in a remote town in Colombia called saravena a smart place with about 50,000 inhabitants for many it's a place known only for violence Dro trafficking and illegal armed groups commonly as gas here young people like me grow up surrounded by obstacles with an uncertain future ranked by France 34 as one of the most dangerous cities in the world but he didn't see this as a problem he took it as an opportunity although I was an extroverted teenager I found it hard to connect with people one Ordinary Day in 2012 a neighbor came came to my mother's house asking if she knew someone who could help with this business from that day on my life changed it was an internet cafe and I would spend more than 12 and 12 hour a day there even though the job was only for 8 hours it was incredible what one of these machines could do within the walls of that small internet cafe he discovered a word much larger than what my eyes had seen before it wasn't just a place to serve customers and process phone topups it was a gateway to knowledge and experiences that seemed out of reaching my reality he grew up and decided to study computer science and from there my life gained a purpose of direct was born from incredible experiences I had the chance to attend at various National and international andal events in the country there are met many people from different parts of the world who also a Tech Community is focused on providing free education and promoting the values of Technology all B was to to my friends and classmates and say let's make this happen in our region [Music] and thank God it's happening what started as the dream of someone who travel to many events listen to a lot but didn't see that information in his own region as now become a reality with the help of my peers we are now providing this information for free and we are proud to call ourselves at aroka not just because we like it but because we are part of a national network in Colombia which has six nodes we are proud to be one of the me aroka we are young people mostly current or former students of Sena who dreamed of making an impact in our region of svena through technology education because we believe it adds value to [Music] society we are a group of people who want to talk about digital Finance digital art programming and of course artificial intelligence we take our work seriously and with great enthusiasm we in to expand showing Atara to as many people as possible focusing on young people the schools in our municipality and neighboring municipalities open that doors to us allowing us to reach 500 young people with courses and talks on blockchain programming de and a we firmly believe that a sector called technology and a community called ethereum have the power to bridge the gap of poverty in our region and bring about the new opportunities we desperately need everything was going well until one day the violence of my town caught up with me I was abducted against my will and held captive for 34 days during which I was deprived of my freedom I was never able to fully redeem uh this time the motor of ass social leader and former candidate for the municipal Council of s aroka is in the news this is Emerson Davi Silva who was keep napped on February 23rd by arm groups on the road in this department and who in recent days was found dead now my purpose no longer lies in my hands it lies in the hands of all those I trust and all those who believe that ethereum has the power to change the world and this is not the end is only the beginning [Music] so Emerson's Legacy is clear creating free access education and ethereum as a way of real hope and change in vulnerable communities but the real question is are all we committed to this Mission or in this type of cases should we just take a role as a victim I didn't hear you should we all be committed to this Mission or do you want to take just a victim Ro a role regarding this case perfect great just being committed with this mission of creating we are creating opportunities where before there weren't any so we have some challenges that are obvious on this type of cases but if we do this more we will create opportunities in these vulnerable communities there are some challenges that we will overcome this is very like strong history but this reality of Colombia in many parts of the world like this is the numbers since last death death con has been like more than 400 uh people and leaders social leaders in Colombia that have dead one of those was our friend Emerson Silva and this is the current situation in the world like we see that this is like kind of reality that we are living or War currently there is so much people like dying without sense if you can say that and the propose of this talk is get aware that this is happening and we are finding the light through ethereum so the most important thing is like we feel that H Emerson is here with us that is the reason why we call it to him like with an AI because their mission in Colombia in even for the W he was a very kind guy and we want to like keep their dreams like keep going forward with for for for him like our strategy is very simple to keep going their dream is like we would like to create an input with educational programs backet by protocols and created mentors if there is any Mentor like if want to join to do to to this Mission we are very glad to to receive it English courses Tech infrastructure institutions and organizations very Alliant to the mission that is the one most important things that we would like to get an input to get an out good output like keep improving and more more and better job opportunities for bable regions in Colombia and the world like how we will get it like currently we are raising funds using a platform called give it or give it like if you see before and these phones is Like These funds will be like distributed in that way like er to get support for the family Emerson to create like the mission on Colombia from free education of high techs and then education for Lam and this places that with vulnerabilities very some vulnerabilities and a maintenance and operations like it's a 10% it's like we have to get a way that just 5K will make a lot of impact by through one year like more than 60 families in this kind of regions that are very small less than 50,000 if you can say like of of people so that is one of the objectives and here is like to encorage you if you see this QR in some part it's like you can support the legacy of Emerson through give it give it as a donation platform very noted like very known by all the economies inside to to sustain all the public goods so and like yeah if you see the QR like over there you can go there and from Colombia we bring like some like craft things made by indigenous people and by hand you can see like you can watch like all these uh crafts in in front of desk and if you are interested there's there is no price on them they just whenever that is your support to the Emerson Legacy and history it will be well well receiv it for from eth Colombia and from Emerson too I really feel that he's on the stage it was a dream for for for for him like to be in these kind of places so yeah so I I really really really appreciate it like that if you listen to this history of Emerson and the mean the main reason that we are doing this is like we want to make Aon the home of future young Generations because that is one of the part of the dream and of Emerson so thank you to all thank you thank you thank you for the talk and everything that you are doing to preserve the the memory okay so we are wrapping up uh presentations on stage four for today or better say for the Devcon now is the closing ceremony you can either go there or you can stay here there will be live um it will be streamed live here right if there's no room in the in the main stage so thank you all again for being here and um see you next Devon bye