Newyork,USA

On behalf of my team, I thank Global Minimum for giving me the opportunity to represent my team at the Social Good Summit 2014, a two-day conference examining the impact of technology and new media on social good initiatives around the world.

Mercy Sigey at the MakerCon conference

While in New York, I attended the Makercon conference where I spoke about our use of technology to curb poaching in Kenya. The use of internet and Arduino technology to make a prototype that would detect intruders in game parks and game reserves. I had the honor of meeting other exquisite innovators such as Koffi Sename Agbodjinou.

At the Social Good Summit, I had the honor of speaking alongside great people such as Melinda Gates, Alicia Keys, Micheal Dell, Pharell Williams to say but a few. This was a wonderful learning experience. The networks I created will not only help me improve our project but will also help me improve the environment around me. My chaperon, Elli Suzuki, was a great motivator and encourager.

The trip was wonderful but a trip is never complete without shopping and site seeing. It was amazing seeing the statue of liberty and visiting the timesquare. The trip is definitely one to always remember.

By Mercy Sigey

A Team

http://new.livestream.com/Mashable/English2014/videos/62870810

The journey

Every journey has ups and downs and as a team we had our own special kind of ups and downs. It is wonderful working with the girls because we understand each other on a personal level. Joyce, my partner in crime as I would refer to her, is the one person I did all sorts of crazy things with. Playing basketball enhanced our team work. Tracy, my school desk mate, is he the reason I am serious most of the time. She has always kept me on toes. I believe I hand in my assignments on time because she taught me the value of time.

As we worked on our motion sensor project, we had to learn how to manage our time. There were times we would say in the computer laboratory on end forgetting we had to eat lunch. I look back at this and would almost wonder how I did that because now food is on my priority list.

Exams never end, do they? Well it doesn’t end and with a project that demanded so much time we struggled to maintain our grades. There times I broke down because of a fail on a paper I would pass on the regular. That did not put me down because I saw a future where man and animals would live together in harmony.

Check out the a team's first medals from their first competition, Golden climate

For a while we were stuck with our idea, trying out for any platform that we could get. We Tried out for Golden Climate first before trying out for Innovate Kenya. Innovate Kenya has nurtured us to this point. One man cannot save the world alone. We didn’t work alone, we had such great mentors who motivated us to keep going. Akirachix helped inspire us to be bold in an industry dominated by men. Innovate Kenya took us out of the idea phase and we began putting idea into action. Ihub was a wonderful space to find motivation to work on a project that would save the wildlife in Kenya.

Girls and cat fights. Yes we did have those to. Its what makes us much closer as a team and keeps us going. Well, we have a whole lifetime ahead and the probability of another cat fight is very high but with each experience we learn our lessons and in the end we are a better lot than we were at the beginning.

That’s just us, three simple girls with a common love and passion.

By Mercy Sigey.