TED Community » Simon Joe Portal

About Me

I'm a student at Bath University studying Mechanical Engineering. I grew up in Portugal in the fresh air, and followed it to Central and Southern Africa where I discovered something of what it was to be alive. I pursued a career as a professional footballer, but soon realised that my mind was too eager, too fascinated by the world, its people and what goes around for football to be it. I took myself to Uganda with a phone number, an expected meeting and a rucksack, and spent five months between friends of friends' friends. I lived with a farmer up a hill, in a refugee camp in the North, in the slums of Kampala, in a tent in a hostel's gardens and with a friend. It was five months in the wilderness of the unknown which I loved. Being a practical guy with a curiosity for science and the benefit of interesting conversations in an environment I understood, I came back and applied to University. I spent four months thatching palm fronds and painting rooms at home before travelling to Zimbabwe off the back of a friend who grew up there. I worked for Environment Africa in Victoria Falls re-starting a program in schools teaching children about the value of sustainability by getting them involved in the environment that surrounded them and learning about sustainable practices. Four months with some of the most ambitious, inspiring people I had met between the township of Vic Falls and Harare which I won't forget. I'm now 22, and enjoying my degree. I was in India last summer with Engineers Without Borders working on a hands-on engineering course for rural schools in maharashtra (Vigyan Ashram), and will be spending a year with RWE Npower Renewables starting in August 2011. My every intention is to pursue a goal with rigour, and follow where my feet take me.