Built by one person with a simple hope

I grew up in a big family on a small farm in the west of Ireland. Today I live in Zurich, Switzerland. Those two worlds are very different, but both have shaped how I think about people, belonging, responsibility, and the quiet ways we can either support or miss one another.

When I was 19, still living on the farm, I made up a short prayer:

“Please God, help me, to help those who cannot help themselves.”

I do not expect everyone to share my faith, or that way of expressing it. But the sentence stayed with me. It became a kind of personal compass: look for the people who may not be able to ask clearly, who may not know how to explain what they need, or who may appear fine while carrying something heavy.

KnowQR comes from that same place.

Part of the motivation came from two men in different countries who did not know each other. One lived remotely with his family. The other lived in a city, had a girlfriend, and enjoyed music festivals and being around people. From the outside, neither life was simple to read. Both were connected in some ways. Both were loved. And yet both died by suicide.

I do not pretend that an app could have saved them. Life is more complex than that. But their stories stayed with me because they raised a difficult question: what if more people had spaces where they were not only included, but truly known?

What if groups asked better questions? What if belonging was not just about activity, entertainment, image, or status, but also about reflection, honesty, support, and growth?

That is one of the reasons KnowQR exists.