Make Poverty History One Trip at a Time
I had picked up the the Live8 concert DVDs at the airport in January, but only got a chance to go through them yesterday. I had them playing on background most of the day while I was in the office. Seeing the crowds of people getting together on that one day, 2 July 2005, to appeal to 8 world leaders to take a meaningful step towards eradicating world poverty by committing to cancel the debts of some of the world's poorest countries as well as providing AIDS medication and education to children. I wondered what's happened since then? So I clicked onto the one.org site (This is the US campaign site, part of the global effort. The global site is: whiteband.org and the UK site is makepovertyhistory.org. As campaign names go, I think my favourite is "Make Poverty History". It's a clear call to action.). It just so happens that they just launched the new "Click Spot" on MTV ((the spot can be seen on the site's homepage as well), just a few hours ago in fact. It's a simple, yet powerful ad. A celebrity snaps his or her fingers every three seconds to highlight the fact that another child has just died somewhere in the world of extreme poverty.
It was also interesting that my friend GS, who works in Kunming in China's Yunnan province for a UK-headquartered AIDS organization had wondered in his email to me: "I'm reading Laozi (in English) and wondering if his views on leadership can help the ego-centric NGOs in China." It got me thinking about leadership. We don't really need leadership when all we want is the status quo. We need leadership when we want to see things change, and the underlying assumption here is that they should change for the better. In my mind a leader must:
1. Have a clear vision of the outcome of change (i.e. eradicating poverty and AIDS deaths) and steps that need to be taken to accomplish this (i.e. cancel debt, provide free education, medication to those who cannot afford it)
2. Communicate clearly that vision and inspire people to take the necessary actions
3. Be humble enough to understand that there are many world views and many different interests at stake and see the issue from each person/party's perspective
4. Believe in the greatness within each person and not in his/her own individual greatness, because ultimately, if you convince people that they have the power to change the world, then they will change the world
5. Never give up. Always believe, always have passion and compassion.
Bono and Bill Gates are the two highest profile faces in this cause. But for each of them, there are thousands, even millions who are leaders in their own right and their work should be celebrated and supported. This is what inspired me to put together Goodwill. Every time a person travels elsewhere in the world is an opportunity to gain more understanding, an opportunity to reach out, an opportunity to creat change.
This was no more evident than on my visit to Kenya several years ago. I visited a school near Loisaba and a school in the Masai Mara. In the Masai Mara, which has benefitted from a lot more tourism than Loisaba, the school I visited was much more developed. There were even girls in the upper grades (even though they made up a small percentage of the class). The children received better medical attention, had better facilities, stayed in school longer. Tourists helped by bringing supplies, making donations after their visits and supporting tourism companies that created local employment and gave back to the community by building schools, providing fresh water to villages, providing medical attention. Of course, there is the issue that most of the owners of these lodges and camps and tour companies were foreigners (many Americans and British), which some lodges such as Loisaba address by helping the local community set up their own tourism operations (in their case, the Star Beds are operated by the local community). Real change can only happen when the poorest gain access to capital to empower them to realise their own dreams.
This is where microfinance comes in. It's not enough to educate the poor. They end up moving to urban centers seeking employment. Because supply of educated and skilled labour exceeds the rate of jobs created by the economy, false hope is created and there is a whole community of educated and disenchanted, disenfranchised people. There is nothing more dangerous or disruptive or wasteful to a society than a disenfranchised group of desperate youth. We should not teach people English just so they can look forward to serve American tourists at five-star resorts owned by multi-national companies. We should teach people English so that they can look forward to one day owning and operating their own bed & breakfast or even hotel chain, so that they can create websites to market their services to the global travel consumers.
America's strength is its ability to attract a talented pool of immigrants with the hope of citizenship, becoming American and living the American dream. For all of the US's inequities and imperfections, that dream still has a chance of becoming a reality for many. But any real chance to build stable democracies around the world has to be founded on creating economic opportunity for the people (not just those who govern and their cronies). This is where we as tourists can help change the world one person at a time -- each time we travel, we can ask someone how you can help the local community. Does the hotel we stay in do something great for the local community? Spread the word. Find out what kind of work grassroots organizations are doing and spread the word. Was the local guide or driver particularly helpful? Spread the word.
Informative links:
ashoka.org
gatesfoundation.org -- while I've never been a Microsoft fan, I do admire the work that the Gates' foundation does
schwabfound.org
skollfoundation.org
10-16 April 2006 Newsweek International Edition article on "Travelers Making a Difference"
It was also interesting that my friend GS, who works in Kunming in China's Yunnan province for a UK-headquartered AIDS organization had wondered in his email to me: "I'm reading Laozi (in English) and wondering if his views on leadership can help the ego-centric NGOs in China." It got me thinking about leadership. We don't really need leadership when all we want is the status quo. We need leadership when we want to see things change, and the underlying assumption here is that they should change for the better. In my mind a leader must:
1. Have a clear vision of the outcome of change (i.e. eradicating poverty and AIDS deaths) and steps that need to be taken to accomplish this (i.e. cancel debt, provide free education, medication to those who cannot afford it)
2. Communicate clearly that vision and inspire people to take the necessary actions
3. Be humble enough to understand that there are many world views and many different interests at stake and see the issue from each person/party's perspective
4. Believe in the greatness within each person and not in his/her own individual greatness, because ultimately, if you convince people that they have the power to change the world, then they will change the world
5. Never give up. Always believe, always have passion and compassion.
Bono and Bill Gates are the two highest profile faces in this cause. But for each of them, there are thousands, even millions who are leaders in their own right and their work should be celebrated and supported. This is what inspired me to put together Goodwill. Every time a person travels elsewhere in the world is an opportunity to gain more understanding, an opportunity to reach out, an opportunity to creat change.
This was no more evident than on my visit to Kenya several years ago. I visited a school near Loisaba and a school in the Masai Mara. In the Masai Mara, which has benefitted from a lot more tourism than Loisaba, the school I visited was much more developed. There were even girls in the upper grades (even though they made up a small percentage of the class). The children received better medical attention, had better facilities, stayed in school longer. Tourists helped by bringing supplies, making donations after their visits and supporting tourism companies that created local employment and gave back to the community by building schools, providing fresh water to villages, providing medical attention. Of course, there is the issue that most of the owners of these lodges and camps and tour companies were foreigners (many Americans and British), which some lodges such as Loisaba address by helping the local community set up their own tourism operations (in their case, the Star Beds are operated by the local community). Real change can only happen when the poorest gain access to capital to empower them to realise their own dreams.
This is where microfinance comes in. It's not enough to educate the poor. They end up moving to urban centers seeking employment. Because supply of educated and skilled labour exceeds the rate of jobs created by the economy, false hope is created and there is a whole community of educated and disenchanted, disenfranchised people. There is nothing more dangerous or disruptive or wasteful to a society than a disenfranchised group of desperate youth. We should not teach people English just so they can look forward to serve American tourists at five-star resorts owned by multi-national companies. We should teach people English so that they can look forward to one day owning and operating their own bed & breakfast or even hotel chain, so that they can create websites to market their services to the global travel consumers.
America's strength is its ability to attract a talented pool of immigrants with the hope of citizenship, becoming American and living the American dream. For all of the US's inequities and imperfections, that dream still has a chance of becoming a reality for many. But any real chance to build stable democracies around the world has to be founded on creating economic opportunity for the people (not just those who govern and their cronies). This is where we as tourists can help change the world one person at a time -- each time we travel, we can ask someone how you can help the local community. Does the hotel we stay in do something great for the local community? Spread the word. Find out what kind of work grassroots organizations are doing and spread the word. Was the local guide or driver particularly helpful? Spread the word.
Informative links:
ashoka.org
gatesfoundation.org -- while I've never been a Microsoft fan, I do admire the work that the Gates' foundation does
schwabfound.org
skollfoundation.org
10-16 April 2006 Newsweek International Edition article on "Travelers Making a Difference"
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