User:Edward Ndopu/sandbox

= EDWARD NDOPU =

BACKGROUND
Edward "Eddie" Ndopu (born 1990) is a Namibian-South African human rights activist, humanitarian and entrepreneur. Eddie was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy at the age of two and given until the age of five to live. Today, at the age of 27, he is an outspoken advocate for the dignity and visibility of people with disabilities throughout the world. MTV recently described him as one of the most powerful disabled people on the planet.

Eddie is also the Founder and Executive Chairperson of Evolve Holdings, a global start-up with interests and expertise in data-driven insights, design, technology and insurance.

Eddie is the former Officer-in-Charge of Amnesty International's Africa Youth Engagement Program. Working in this role across the Johannesburg, Nairobi and Dakar Regional Offices, Eddie mobilised young people throughout Africa to take injustice personally and join the Amnesty International human rights movement.

Eddie is also a former Project Consultant for the World Economic Forum where he authored a special white paper on the role of business in addressing youth (un)employability to mitigate the global skills gap.

Eddie is the first-ever African living with a degenerative disability to graduate from the University of Oxford, where he obtained a Master's Degree in Public Policy and served as Student Body President at the Blavatnik School of Government. He also holds a Bachelor's Degree with High Distinction from Carleton University in Canada, and is a graduate of the inaugural class of the African Leadership Academy.

EDWARD NDOPU TRUST
Eddie lives with the knowledge that the older he gets the weaker his body becomes. If he is to continue playing a role in shaping the future of humanity and effecting change for the most disenfranchised segments of society, then he will need a structure in place that supports both his medical needs as well as his humanitarian and social entrepreneurial endeavours.

In recognition of the need for such a structure, Eddie has set up The Edward Ndopu Trust, a discretionary living trust that will function as the central coordinating body for his work and vision for the world. The Office of Edward Ndopu, which is housed within The Edward Ndopu Trust, will be charged with the responsibility of managing Eddie’s degenerative disability and overall well-being, enabling him to live longer and fulfill his duties as a global leader and human rights icon.

The work of The Edward Ndopu Trust
Eddie is a living manifestation of possibility. Drawing inspiration from his life, the work of The Edward Ndopu Trust is driven by a deep belief in the forces of possibility, and exists to catalyse a movement for greater possibility in the lives of disabled people and marginalised communities across the globe.

Eddie believes that the struggle for social justice and the pursuit of self-actualisation is one and the same. Society tends to think that empowerment or development in the context of the lives of marginalised communities means access to clean drinking water, basic literacy and not much else. Those things are important, especially because so many people across the globe still do not have the basic building blocks to a life of dignity. But what Eddie wants to make clear is that marginalised communities, notwithstanding the precarious conditions under which they live, are philosophers, scientists, artists and visionaries in their own right. That they are bigger and more expansive than the spaces they presently occupy. That they deserve more than just the basic building blocks. For Eddie, they deserve self-determination and self-actualisation in its fullness and in its entirety.

In line with Eddie’s philosophy on social justice, The Edward Ndopu Trust is uniquely positioned to advocate for the liberation of people with disabilities beyond compliance, with the understanding that people with disabilities are full human beings who need access to joy, intimacy and self-determination as much as they need access to elevators, bathrooms and social services.

By blurring the line between disability and possibility, The Edward Ndopu Trust seeks to inspire disabled and marginalised people to rise up and claim their place in the 21st century.

Taking Eddie’s message of boundless possibility to outer space
The Edward Ndopu Trust is currently setting in motion its first initiative, which is to support Eddie in his campaign to have the United Nations amend Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to reflect “Disability” in its description, and subsequently launch him into space, in keeping with his message of boundless possibility. People with disabilities and their place in history will be consolidated through the act of writing them into existence, in the form of the amendment, at the 2018 UN General Assembly gathering in September. Eddie then seeks to make history by launching into space and giving an impassioned speech to world leaders from space on the International Day for Persons with Disabilities 2018.

From the vantage point of The Edward Ndopu Trust, Eddie’s campaign to lobby member-states of the UN to amend Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights builds upon the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is aimed at sending a powerful message to people with disabilities everywhere that they, too, belong to history, that they, too, can  make history.

Eddie’s mission to space is about pushing the boundaries of possibility and garnering the world’s attention to underscore the importance of not just ensuring that the most marginalised segments of society don't get left behind in the run up to the Sustainable Development Goals, but that they are also able to achieve the extraordinary.

The Edward Ndopu Trust will thus function as the primary vehicle through which support will be mobilised for the campaign to amend Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and for Eddie to become the first Black, physically disabled person to launch into space.

This campaign will kickstart the work of The Edward Ndopu Trust.