Day 5: Are we Curious enough? #UgBlogWeek

I used to wonder how things worked when I was a little girl of like six, and if it was possible to change the function of these things to something else. Like couldn’t a Radio broadcast a Tv station if one found the right frequency?

I remember bugging my Dad to see if it could work. So, him and my Uncle with the help of me (yes, thin me with all my questions) found UTV’s frequency on Radio. I was excited and my mother was happy that when UEB called its power back she could listen to her favorite TV programs on radio.

I also remember my first encounter with a car and its battery. I wanted to watch DIDI the comedian and Pingu, UEB had done what UMEME does now days and our family car was just parked in the compound. I asked Dad if there was away his car would power up the TV so I could watch my things. He said let’s try and see. My Dad never hesitated in my request. It’s like he was there waiting for where my ka mind would lead us.

These were our adventures and we enjoyed them. He showed me how to get a battery out of a car, hooked it up with Yellow, Red cables, oba there were green ones too and the TV was on. He answered all my bu questions of why does that cable go there and not there? But Dad that wire is broken, how do we fix it?

So when there was no UEB and I had homework, I would fix the table lamp on the spare battery he had got for my experiments.  He had even showed me how to make my own torch with Tiger head batteries and a small bulb.

Curiosity is the strong desire to learn without constraint and is the driving force behind new discoveries in not only technology and science, but across all fields.

I was not only curious about tech things but also about things like, the sewing machine in the house that helped me waste all my mother’s cloth material trying to make my baby sister dresses. Then one time I figured the side wheel could be used as a sterling wheel for our – me and my sister – house car. I built a cardboard car in the house, near the machine and used to drive my sister around nowhere.

Then came a time when the nowhere driving adventure was no longer exciting and I need to know how driving a real car felt. I got my baby sister in my Dad’s car. He had left the keys in and the engine was running. I put my small foot on the paddles and off went through the wall.  That scene traumatized me so much; I threw away my cardboard car. I think it still holds me captive up to now.

A lot happened in my childhood that was more out of being curious and finding different use of the already existing systems. I wanted to know and learn, understand and answer all the Ws and H at ago.

As children, anything sparks our curiosity. We seek to know, and we engage in the essential activity for finding out. We question. But do we continue to question when we grow older? Are we facilitated to let our imagination wonder and our curiosity to lead us?

Fast forward a few years ago, I was thinking about what my phone could do other than what it did, I needed to know how the battery sent power to the motherboard and how the screen translated the graphics and codes in to images. In doing this I was looking for another way to change my phone from its primary function of being a phone to something else – whatever else I could find. I killed it.

Considering I was not a techie then, not even an amateur one – Oh guys I didn’t study ICT or computer science, NO! (smh) the few things I know are self taught – I had to find a space where I could learn. Actually find answers to my questions of how websites worked, how applications came to life, how systems came to life and how computers functioned. Don’t tell me about Google, I needed practicals; I wanted to see how it all came to life and why? Really why would someone spend all that time coding?

Outbox Hub and Mara Foundation offered me this plus my boys at Dignited. They helped me learn through observing and participating, and then me practicing on my own. Now I can write and read some lines of code and translate them into what they stand for.

No, I can’t write a full program, its boring stuff but I can pitch in a few lines just for my own amusement. (Going off track…)

Being curious and being able to let it drive me has shown me things that many of us just consider normal. Like how does that Yaka meter work? What about that water meter? Ever wondered why while using Microsoft word you only use the plain white booklet yet you can change it to whatever color you want? See mine…

What about the many mineral water bottles in your houses? Ever wondered about the many DIY ideas surrounding them?

How about we try this now, how many words or letters are in this blog? What about the minutes you have spent on this blog? Okay, lets look at your thoughts as you read, how many were they? An’t you curious why you have had them? What about your surroundings, why do you have that book or pen, or why you are reading this on phone and not laptop or the other way round?

You see being curious opens you to your surrounding and yourself; you dig deep into yourself to understand. You ask and answer, then ask again and answer, the cycle continues until you are satisfied with your answers. Intellectual curiosity is a term used to describe this. You desire to invest time and energy into learning more about a person, place, thing or concept. I must confess that I personally have a huge intellectual curiosity, and as a result, I find myself constantly trying to figure things out and this goes on and on, I guess until my death.

Check out this site and see how curious people can be https://curiosity.com

Patricia Kahill

Patricia Kahill is a multipotentialite Christian entrepreneur, Content Marketing Coach and founder of the Content Marketing agency, Kahill Insights that helps business owners create engaging and interactive content items for digital platforms with a focus on returning a desired outcome. Patricia was the producer of SlamDunk Basketball Talk a show on House of Talent online TV, a former fellow at Harvest Institute for leadership and now an assessor there, and an alumnus of the YELP class of 2017. A member of the BNI Integrity chapter and African Women Entrepreneur Cooperative. She is driven by passion and curiosity, been taking every opportunity that has been given to her with an ambition of stamping her footprint on the world.