A Shop in Soweto Township. Image credit: Nick Gripton
This is a much-used quote attributed to the late Henry Miller from his book The Air-Conditioned Nightmare.
I don’t know exactly why it’s quoted so often. I’ll need to read the book. But just imagine for a moment a world without Coca-Cola. Or, if that’s too much of a stretch for you, imagine Africa without Coca-Cola. Now hold that image for a moment and imagine someone coming up with the idea that every village in Africa should have Coca-Cola. Most people would think that this was a crazy idea. The majority would dismiss the notion as silly while a minority would challenge the idea with comments like:
- Do you know how much a glass bottle of Coca-Cola weighs? Who is going to carry it there?
- Do you know how much it costs to make a Coca-Cola bottle? The bottle would have to be returnable. How on earth are you going to get the bottle back?
- Coca-Cola is a beverage. People will drink it. How are you going to guarantee quality and ensure they don’t get sick?
- Who would want to buy a brown fizzy drink?
- And so on. Add your own challenges.
This is the thought process I go through when, very occasionally, I wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat wondering if we can make the ColaLife concept work. I reassure myself that if it can be done with Coca-Cola it can be done with an anti-diarrhoea kit especially if those involved in Coca-Cola distribution are helping us.
Hello simon and jane
You both have such an amazing idea, such profound enthusiasm, strength, direction and with the right people backing the colalife concept, I’m already hearing more people talking about the aid pod. You have made ripples. Everyday I am reading and researching. You are inspiring. Soon there will be a wave and that’s when things will come together. In history that is what has and all that ever will.
Thankyou once again
I’m reading…,xx