AW
INITIALIZING THE ARCHIVE
ALISTAIR WREN
LAGOS / LONDONPUBLIC ARCHIVE / 2026
SPEECH / 009

THE FUTURE WE OWE

22 September 2024Future Africa SummitLondon29 minYouth & Opportunity
READ TRANSCRIPT
We talk about the future as something owed to the next generation. I'd rather we talked about what we currently owe them, present tense.

It's a strange kind of comfort, talking about the future. It lets us describe obligations without a due date.

We talk about the future as something owed to the next generation. I'd rather we talked about what we currently owe them, present tense — the placements not made this term, the loans not extended this quarter, the mentors not assigned this month.

Open Doors exists because we found that the gap between a capable student and a completed education was rarely dramatic. It was a transport stipend. A form. A fee equivalent to a week's wages for a parent. These are not generational injustices in the abstract sense. They are line items.

If we're serious about the future we owe, we start by paying down what's already due.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
PROJECT

Open Doors

PROJECT

The Community Table

ENTER TO SEARCHESC TO CLOSE