Sultan Akif

Transcript

oh my now you know I don't have a career in see what I do in technology I did at least 17 years Microsoft IBM running around the world stealing the day but I found myself in the Sahara Desert in a soul-searching trip lying on my back looking at the Stars and thinking what if I died without giving my dreams are shot what if I never find out if my life who do you make other lies if I could make a difference in this world I resigned after that trip I walked away not running away from anything but just walking towards something better and boy oh

boy did I walk I walked 1,200 kilometers across Southeast Asia and Vietnam in Thailand I thought girls who were the first ever to go to college people welcomed in their space it changed my life I came back I'm not standing in front of you as a CEO of one of the largest youth empowerment events and that journey was so transformative that a lot my friends wanted me to write a book about it so typical fashion off shooting for the stars I said let's go up to Mount Everest and let's walk on a solo trip of 30 days so I booked my plane I landed in

Kathmandu little did I know something had been set in motion that was way bigger than me I found kids that were playing soccer with water bottles because they didn't have a ball I said the rock can wait there is an average to be built right here I cannot leave this place before I check in the box so my friend's library in a week was born when I came to Nepal I'm the underground had nothing to do it when I went to Nepal I didn't know anybody and one week later 350 people were crying as we opened our first library then we walked to the edge

of the road system went on a 20-day track day six found another village we built our second library there we had put books in the box of quino's since July were built in the deep in the Amazon jungle we've built in Mexico two weeks from now on I'm heading out we lose about two more libraries it is my mission to build a hundred libraries with my own hands and with the support of local people and there's a story I share in these libraries with the kids now some of them don't have shoes there we're talking people that are wonderful but they need help and I

tell him about the story of the boy in the bookshop a boy from a good family fell on some hard times had to drop out of school did all his studies privately ended up with really good grades ended up in a good university but life was tough he only had fifty dollars to spend in the month and he spent thirty of them in the housing for $20 which is not enough to eat so just to make a little bit more money you would cycle an hour and a half every to teach and to to to make some extra money and in that process was a

bookshop and he would stop and he could escape his reality he could look at colorful books he could see the mountains he could touch and feel the cultures he could taste the aroma of the food from the world yet having an empty belly and feeling the hunger I look in the eyes of those kids and then you know they came our time I tell them that every single one of those dreams of that boy came true he went to 70 countries of this planet he did a lot of things that he loved to do and I look at those kids and I get down to

their level and I say when you because I know what life has ahead of them when you are doubting yourselves my friends take it from a boy get the book shop who had nothing who's now the man who builds libraries around the world my story is my journey and I know how ordinary I am if I can do it anybody can do it my life shook a month ago I was building my library and I got the call it's the call you don't wanna hear my dad was diagnosed with the last page of cancer I spend the last one month 12 hours a day in

the end of my palliative care unit in Brockton hospital I've seen 8 to 10 people pass away including the roommate of my father and at the end of the day I look at that experience it inspired me to just continue spreading the message of living with purpose of following your dreams of persevering as long as you and I can do it is not over it is not over and we keep fighting for what we believe in so with that I'll leave you with something that I comes from my heart do what you love to it well don't waste this moment there are boys and bookshops

waiting for you to connect with your purpose just just don't leave them hanging will change your life and do what you love I'll never stand in front of a crowd I'm gonna do just that my message to you my friends my friends up there my crew yes whoo this lot of yours

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.