The Pothole That Said It All
Before visiting my Mom’s family side in Caracas, Venezuela, I used to stop by this amazing bakery and ordered a delicious baguette. I would always order two, because on my way up, I’d always finish one. So fresh, soft, hot, crunchy, it was everything a piece of bread should be. Halfway through my drive, I’d stop by these tents that serve fresh, out of the mountain fruits and vegetables, right off the valley. Couldn’t go wrong with anything there, no pesticides, nothing sprayed on them, completely fresh.
And then there it was
After everything flowed so well in the morning, about 1km before arriving to the house, it stared me right in the face, the giant pothole. I don’t even know if pothole is the right word. Cracks everywhere, the ground lifted, a big (tire will tear) hole. For days and months that pothole was there. Complaints were made but no city officials came.
Then the people came
After a few months, I did my weekly routine, the baguette, the fruits, the vegetables. About 1km before arriving, expecting to see my pothole friend, it was gone, covered, solved. I couldn’t believe it, did someone from the municipality come and fix this? Are they actually listening to us? No.
The people came, but they came together. I later found a group of people that live in that area decided to buy their own supplies and fixed the pothole. Was it done perfectly? No. Did it last a long time? Absolutely not! But you know what? They said, screw it no one is coming, let’s get this fixed.
It just tells you how cities and communities should be seen at a local level, not just what is seen on the news, or who is running the country. We shouldn’t judge based on what we hear or what other’s say, we should make our conclusions if we experience it ourselves.
A platform that can help
That’s what I love about a strong community. Individuals who care about where they live, who believe in teamwork, who don’t rely on someone else to solve their problems. That’s what I want with our app, Strake.app. An app where collaboration, brainstorming and idea generation is automatic and can solve so many problems we all face everyday. It’s not just about digital solutions and buying products that people “need”, it’s about improving our quality of life, about economic inclusion, building sustainability and using the resources around us to make us and our area better.
It starts with one pothole
Take the time to meet those around you, see what they are good at, see what you can learn from them. It’s all about productivity and creating a goal that keeps us moving forward and keeps us sane. If you are frustrated about something, or have a cool idea that you need help with, reach out to others, reach out to us. We have a lot of experience in failures, ideas, improvements. We don’t charge and we don’t want anything in return, we just want to help in anyway we can, so people don’t face difficult decisions.
If you liked this blog and want to know more about my personal stories, please follow me, you can also check out my latest blog Once Upon A Time In Lebanon — my personal story | Medium talking about my experience in Lebanon. I appreciate it!
