Better

It is Friday, and once again, I have found it fitting that we share some thoughts. You may wonder what happened to the resolution to write every week this year, considering the fact that you did not receive a piece last week. To be fair, no rule was broken. As Friday passed last week, I was sitting on two articles, neither of which felt suitable for your consumption. Once I remove the violence and improve on the delivery, they may see the light of day, but for now, they will have to remain in the vault of my hard drive. So there you are. The rule of writing was not broken.

On Wednesday, I spent some hours following an event called Samsung Unpacked 2024. The company was announcing the gadgets they are releasing this year, including the Galaxy S24 series of phones. If you are not into tech, you probably do not care about this event. The phone you have will probably satisfy you as long as it can make calls, send messages, and perform internet-related functions. For some of us, knowing the latest tech trends seems to have graduated from a hobby to something more, so we watch these trends closely.

After Samsung’s event, I went to YouTube to see what reviewers were saying about the gadgets. Another fact most of you may know is that tech companies usually send their merchandise to reviewers before the official release. These reviewers will then make videos, giving an “honest opinion” on how the devices perform. Being me, I took an interest in the comment sections for those reviews where I noticed that some people were complaining that the updates made to the new phones are not significant enough for an upgrade. That got me thinking about the evolution of phones.

Growing up around Mbulumbuzi, the first phone I remember was the public coin-operated landline based at the hospital. As cell phones of the Nokia 3310 or 2610 caliber came in, only one Mr. Nkhoma had one in the whole area. Things changed around a time when Airtel (then Celtel) and TNM introduced cheap, locked-to-network ZTE and Tiago phones, which were selling at around K3000. What followed was a transition to smartphones, and things have continued to progress as phones have gotten smarter and smarter.

As of today, most people in the middle class have a smartphone of sorts and are able to connect to the internet. I have managed to convince my mum, who is not the most tech-savvy person in the world, to maintain decent internet connectivity and to pick up my unnecessary video calls at times. All that is testament to how things have gotten better on the communication gadgets front. On the global stage, the way to think about this is to compare the abilities of a gadget from 15 years ago and those of the most recent. When you think of it that way, you will notice that there has been a big jump in technology. However, this progress was so gradual that we couldn’t notice it much between the years. How did we move from having our girls snatched by the guy rocking a Nokia N90 to the point where the Samsung A90 is considered old?

When you think about this example, you will discover the significance of taking baby steps towards the right direction. Being in the business of health research, I have learnt to appreciate how research contributes to progress in healthcare even when the results are not expected. The many small innovations in healthcare have improved the lives of people and reduced mortality in the world, and it is because people are constantly looking for ways of making the delivery better. You could say the same about many fields.

When I look at how many things seem to be progressing in many fields across the globe, I wonder why we have continued to do things the old way as a country. When I see pictures of long queues of people at Immigration and Road Traffic offices, I am left wondering if we could not introduce some civilized booking system that could only allow a certain number of people to show up with the assurance that they will be assisted. Most of our systems are still paper-based, and our economy does not take advantage of e-services like internet banking and point of sale services. We still move with wads of cash, which is a system even our neighboring countries have made significant progress in moving on from. You could add your own examples from education, transportation, agriculture, information, and any other field, but the idea remains that tiri kutali.

This lack of progress is in many ways not just limited to the state machinery or corporate world. At an individual level, there are many things that most of us could do to improve our outcomes in life. This could be a change of habits, getting more knowledge and skills, adjusting our social and professional circles, and many other seemingly obvious things. For some reason, most of us do not find the motivation to make ourselves better. When I looked at the news yesterday, I was disturbed to note that there are some people who are refusing to take advantage of an agricultural intervention, just so that they can continue to benefit from aid in times of hunger. While I realize the story may have a catch to it, the fact that it is believable worries me. We are a people that refuse to do better for the pettiest of reasons.

Sometimes we find ourselves refusing to elevate our status because we do not understand the significance of what our betterment could be. On the other hand, we need to sit down and imagine what life could be like if some people did not envision a better life for themselves or humanity. Some have argued that they cannot pursue financial prosperity because they are content with what they have, forgetting that if they were to push further they could also help others live better. The idea is just that managing every aspect of your life better is more advantageous to you and all the people around you. In everything that we do, be it career, family, spirituality, academics, finances, and social connections, we need to strive to do better. I strongly believe that there is a better way of doing anything and everything, and if something is important, we need to constantly think of ways of doing it better.

You may wonder as to how we can do things better. Sometimes it just starts with the search for knowledge and the expansion of our horizons. This could be knowledge on things in our field or our general interests. Whatever field you are in is evolving. Make an effort to keep up to speed with the current trends by reading articles and looking at other sources of the latest information. If you happen to belong to a religious denomination, take an effort to deepen your faith by taking an initiative to look at your religious literature. Talk to your leaders outside of normal service hours. Pray more. That helps you to live your spiritual experiences better. If it is within your means, further your education or pursue opportunities to that end, for even in rejection you learn more. Whatever you do, just try to ask yourself if it can be done better. In most cases, you will realize that it can be and that it is within your means to push the envelope.

Last week I stumbled upon an article about a farmer who harvested about 320 bags of maize from an acre of land in Virginia, US. That math did not make sense to me, so I had to go and look at how exactly he did it. It was after looking at the bits and pieces of information that I realized that as a country we have not done much to innovate our food security. When I look at the trends in my field and what impact people have been able to achieve, I am challenged to do more. I would like to invite you to this kind of thinking. Look at everything around you and ask yourself how it could be better. Take action on it, and see your life and this country transform for the better! Seek knowledge for making things better.

To me, better is not just a word. Better is an idea; a concept that we all need to constantly reflect on.

Have a better weekend and the rest of the year.