#1: Bill Gates: His Opinion on the Economy, Education, Foreign Aid, Philanthropy and Steve Jobs.
by Chris Matyszczyk October 31, 2011 10:05 AM PDT
With the global economy currently experiencing a tough
financial slump, how much more responsibility can “Developed nations” shoulder
in the areas of foreign aid and sustainable development?
It’s high time “Developing nations” took stock of their
human/natural resources and make quality investments towards its future.
True, lasting change can only come from within.
Courtesy:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20127881-71/bill-gates-im-cool-with-steve-jobs-dissing-me/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=
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#2: MY FOUR LITTLE FRIENDS
"What lie behind us and what lie before us are tiny matters compared to what lie within us".
Ralph Waldo Emerson
From L to R: Daniel (9), Victor (9) and Favor (5)
I spent the last few weeks living in a slum in Lagos, Nigeria. While I was there, we had to fetch water from a tank because the pumping machine had broken. This tank is about four blocks away and we had to fetch the water in containers and pour them in bigger basins at "home". If you ask me, this is the most inefficient way to spend one's waking hours, but this is what millions of people across the globe are exposed to everyday.
It was indeed, very humbling to wake up to what I would term, "a village setting" and reconnect with the harsh realities that over a billion people, around the world, face everyday - an unnecessary lack of basic amenities.
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Notable Facts:
1. 3 billion of the world's people (one-half) live in 'poverty' (living on less than $2 per day).
2. 1.3 billion people live in 'absolute' or 'extreme poverty' (living on less than $1 per day).
3. More than 30 per cent of children in developing countries – about 600 million – live on less than US $1 a day. worldrevolution.org
4. Of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the globe, 70 percent are women. CARE, Women's Empowerment.
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I could focus this blog on the gross ineptitude and injustice of the Nigerian polity but I'll save the rant for another day. This piece is about a group of kids who knowingly or unknowingly, have decided to live and dream without holding back or missing a beat regardless of their present situation.
Samuel (11) (Left) and his friends
It was on one of those errands that I met a group of kids playing at the tank - Actually, they had been sent to fetch some water for one of the neighbors (Something they do to earn some change for food). My first encounter with them was very interesting.
One of them had mistakenly dropped their ten Naira - the equivalent of six cents - in the well and they were trying to use the fetching pail to retrieve it. I thought this was an improbable task and even if it was possible, it wouldn't be worth their effort. So I tried to convince them to forget the tenner by recounting the following story:
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'There was this little kid who had dropped his quarter in a hole in the side walk. A young man was passing by and found the puzzled little fellow trying to figure out his next best move. After taking a few seconds to objectively assess the situation, the young man thought it would be prudent to hand the kid another quarter. This he did and went on his way.
On his way back home, a few hours later, the young man was shocked to see the same kid at the same spot looking down the same hole. He asked why the kid was still there and got this reply, "I'm still trying to get my quarter. You see if it hadn't fallen in the ground I would have had 50 cents now".'
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After my tale, the kids looked on with huge So-what's-your-point?-stares slapped across their faces. I just smiled, handed them a brand new 50 Naira note and went away with my water.
Upon my return, I found the kids pulling out a ladder from the well. I ran up to them to tell them that ten Naira is not enough incentive to pollute the water that so many depend on, besides they could hurt themselves and the medical bills to be paid will be a whole lot more than just ten Naira. I asked if they had already put the ladder in and they replied with a resounding, No! Then they ran off.
Only while fetching some water for myself did I realize that the Irreplaceable Ten Naira was no longer there - The deed had already been done. I had a blast and each moment spent with them was a privilege. They bring true meaning to the phrase "living on a prayer" and they did it with effortless grace. It has been fun teaching, learning from, and sharing with these kids and their families. I believe it is important not to take their optimism and passion for granted.
Kids such as these are quoted as OVCs - Orphans and Vulnerable Children -International development agencies such as the UN, UNICEF, e.t.c. The truth is, they deserve much more than just a passing glance. The worst thing anyone can do is think that they are someone else's problem. I'll pen off with a quote from Abraham Lincoln that helps me keep events such as these in perspective: He said, "No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child".
References:
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#3: You Don't Give From The Top of Your Wallet But From The Bottom of Your Heart
More often than not, we postpone the help we can give others mainly because we believe we don't have enough for ourselves or we think we can render aid at some later time. I laughed when I heard this old Economics joke that says, "The marginal utility of money is constant". So if you're waiting to be 100% financially stable before you look to help others, you might be waiting a long time my friend. Indeed, the importance of effectively managing our budget cannot be over emphasized, but there is always something we can to do shed a positive light on those within our sphere of influence.
It helps if we understand our budget as a stream. If you dam up your stream, in an attempt to save all the water you possibly could for yourself, it becomes stagnant and ends up stinking. One the other hand, a river or stream that is left undamed has the opportunity of renewing itself, abrasing its bed and becoming bigger and stronger.
I'm not talking about karma or doing this just for show, but it helps to put this responsibility in perspective. Helping others in need teaches us empathy and helps us understand how others handle crisis and we never know when we would need this knowledge to save ourselves someday. Random acts of kindness really do go a long way to living a fulfilling life. The reverberations of such actions go on long after you could ever imagine.
One day, I was having coffee with a friend and a homeless woman approached us. She was carrying a child and she asked us for some change. I felt obligated to help her but my friend immediately chided me for "falling for" such a classic con. Saying, "These are professional beggars and no matter how much you give them today, they will be back tomorrow". Of course we are not all so naive to believe that those who are on the look out for unsuspecting, altruistic individuals do not exist. We went on to discuss this dilemma and I decided that I would rather help a "professional beggar" who was pretending, than ignore someone who was genuinely in need of help because I thought they were spoofing.
Some people believe that true altruism does not exist. The only reason someone will want to help another is for their own self interest. To feel good about themselves and get the compliments and fame they deserve. I respect their opinion and everyone has a blanket principle concerning how much of their resources they can give to others. Never the less, remember, there are two sides to the story. You're not being altruistic alone. The beneficiary of such actions has an entirely different perspective on how you've impacted their life. That intangible, "warm glow" feeling you've provided by supporting them and doing this act independent of future benefits is the essence of life.
Here are a couple of quotes that enlighten us on living a life of service:
- "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can". John Wesley
- "I shall pass through this life but once. Any good therefore that I can do, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it. For I shall never pass this way again". Etienne de Grellet
- "We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love". Mother Theresa
- "If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things". Albert Einstein
- "I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver". Maya Angelou
- "The giving of love is an education in itself". Eleanor Roosevelt
- "I don't think you ever stop giving. I really don't. I think it's an on-going process. And it's not just about being able to write a check. It's being able to touch somebody's life". Oprah Winfrey
- "When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived into my life, then I was prosperous". Wayne Dyer
- "Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving". Henry Ford
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#4: POVERTY
The following selection was published in America's Other Children: Public Schools Outside Suburbs, by George Henderson in 1971 by the University of Oklahoma Press. The author has requested that no biographical information about her be distributed. The essay is a personal account, addressed directly to the reader, about living in poverty.
You ask me what poverty is. Listen to me. Here I am, dirty, smelly, and with no "proper" underwear on and with the stench of my rotting teeth near you. I will tell you. Listen to me. Listen without pity. I cannot use your pity. Listen with understanding. Put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill-fitting shoes, and hear me.
Poverty is getting up every morning from a dirt- and illness-stained mattress. The sheets have long since been used for diapers. Poverty is living in a smell that never leaves. This is a smell of urine, sour milk, and spoiling food sometimes joined with the strong smell of long-cooked onions. Onions are cheap. If you have smelled this smell, you did not know how it came. It is the smell of the outdoor privy. It is the smell of young children who cannot walk the long dark way in the night. It is the smell of the mattresses where years of "accidents" have happened. It is the smell of the milk which has gone sour because the refrigerator long has not worked, and it costs money to get it fixed. It is the smell of rotting garbage. I could bury it, but where is the shovel? Shovels cost money.
Poverty is being tired. I have always been tired. They told me at the hospital when the last baby came that I had chronic anemia caused from poor diet, a bad case of worms, and that I needed a corrective operation. I listened politely - the poor are always polite. The poor always listen. They don't say that there is no money for iron pills, or better food, or worm medicine. The idea of an operation is frightening and costs so much that, if I had dared, I would have laughed. Who takes care of my children? Recovery from an operation takes a long time. I have three children. When I left them with "Granny" the last time I had a job, I came home to find the baby covered with fly specks, and a diaper that had not been changed since I left. When the dried diaper came off, bits of my baby's flesh came with it. My other child was playing with a sharp bit of broken glass, and my oldest was playing alone at the edge of a lake. I made twenty-two dollars a week, and a good nursery school costs twenty dollars a week for three children. I quit my job.
Poverty is dirt. You can say in your clean clothes coming from your clean house, "Anybody can be clean." Let me explain about housekeeping with no money. For breakfast I give my children grits with no oleo or cornbread without eggs and oleo. This does not use up many dishes. What dishes there are, I wash in cold water and with no soap. Even the cheapest soap has to be saved for the baby's diapers. Look at my hands, so cracked and red. Once I saved for two months to buy a jar of Vaseline for my hands and the baby's diaper rash. When I had saved enough, I went to buy it and the price had gone up two cents. The baby and I suffered on. I have to decide every day if I can bear to put my cracked sore hands into the cold water and strong soap. But you ask, why not hot water? Fuel costs money. If you have a wood fire it costs money. If you burn electricity, it costs money. Hot water is a luxury. I do not have luxuries. I know you will be surprised when I tell you how young I am. I look so much older. My back has been bent over the wash tubs every day for so long, I cannot remember when I ever did anything else. Every night I wash every stitch my school age child has on and just hope her clothes will be dry by morning.
Poverty is staying up all night on' cold nights to watch the fire knowing one spark on the newspaper covering the walls means your sleeping child dies in flames. In summer poverty is watching gnats and flies devour your baby's tears when he cries. The screens are torn and you pay so little rent you know they will never be fixed. Poverty means insects in your food, in your nose, in your eyes, and crawling over you when you sleep. Poverty is hoping it never rains because diapers won't dry when it rains and soon you are using newspapers. Poverty is seeing your children forever with runny noses. Paper handkerchiefs cost money and all your rags you need for other things. Even more costly are antihistamines. Poverty is cooking without food and cleaning without soap.
Poverty is asking for help. Have you ever had to ask for help, knowing 6 your children will suffer unless you get it? Think about asking for a loan from a relative, if this is the only way you can imagine asking for help. I will tell you how it feels. You find out where the office is that you are supposed to visit. You circle that block four or five times. Thinking of your children, you go in. Everyone is very busy. Finally, someone comes out and you tell her that you need help. That never is the person you need to see. You go see another person, and after spilling the whole shame of your poverty all over the desk between you, you find that this isn't the right office after all-you must repeat the whole process, and it never is any easier at the next place.
You have asked for help, and after all it has a cost. You are again told to wait. You are told why, but you don't really hear because of the red cloud of shame and the rising cloud of despair.
Poverty is remembering. It is remembering quitting school in junior high because "nice" children had been so cruel about my clothes and my smell. The attendance officer came. My mother told him I was pregnant. I wasn't, but she thought that I could get a job and help out. I had jobs off and on, but never long enough to learn anything. Mostly I remember being married. I was so young then. I am still young. For a time, we had all the things you have. There was a little house in another town, with hot water and everything. Then my husband lost his job. There was unemployment insurance for a while and what few jobs I could get. Soon, all our nice things were repossessed and we moved back here. I was pregnant then. This house didn't look so bad when we first moved in. Every week it gets worse. Nothing is ever fixed. We now had no money. There were a few odd jobs for my husband, but everything went for food then, as it does now. I don't know how we lived through three years and three babies, but we did. I'll tell you something, after the last baby I destroyed my marriage. It had been a good one, but could you keep on bringing children in this dirt? Did you ever think how much it costs for any kind of birth control? I knew my husband was leaving the day he left, but there were no goodbye between us. I hope he has been able to climb out of this mess somewhere. He never could hope with us to drag him down.
That's when I asked for help. When I got it, you know how much it was? It was, and is, seventy-eight dollars a month for the four of us; that is all I ever can get. Now you know why there is no soap, no needles and thread, no hot water, no aspirin, no worm medicine, no hand cream, no shampoo. None of these things forever and ever and ever. So that you can see clearly, I pay twenty dollars a month rent, and most of the rest goes for food. For grits and cornmeal, and rice and milk and beans. I try my best to use only the minimum electricity. If I use more, there is that much less for food.
Poverty is looking into a black future. Your children won't play with my boys. They will turn to other boys who steal to get what they want. I can already see them behind the bars of their prison instead of behind the bars of my poverty. Or they will turn to the freedom of alcohol or drugs, and find themselves enslaved. And my daughter? At best, there is for her a life like mine.
But you say to me, there are schools. Yes, there are schools. My children have no extra books, no magazines, no extra pencils, or crayons, or paper and most important of all, they do not have health. They have worms, they have infections, they have pink-eye all summer. They do not sleep well on the floor, or with me in my one bed. They do not suffer from hunger, my seventy-eight dollars keeps us alive, but they do suffer from malnutrition. Oh yes, I do remember what I was taught about health in school. It doesn't do much good.
In some places there is a surplus commodities program. Not here. The country said it cost too much. There is a school lunch program. But I have two children who will already be damaged by the time they get to school.
But, you say to me, there are health clinics. Yes, there are health clinics and they are in the towns. I live out here eight miles from town. I can walk that far (even if it is sixteen miles both ways), but can my little children? My neighbor will take me when he goes; but he expects to get paid, one way or another. I bet you know my neighbor. He is that large man who spends his time at the gas station, the barbershop, and the corner store complaining about the government spending money on the immoral mothers of illegitimate children.
Poverty is an acid that drips on pride until all pride is worn away. Poverty is a chisel that chips on honor until honor is worn away. Some of you say that you would do something in my situation, and maybe you would, for the first week or the first month, but for year after year after year?
Even the poor can dream. A dream of a time when there is money. Money for the right kinds of food, for worm medicine, for iron pills, for toothbrushes, for hand cream, for a hammer and nails and a bit of screening, for a shovel, for a bit of paint, for some sheeting, for needles and thread. Money to pay in money for a trip to town. And, oh, money for hot water and money for soap. A dream of when asking for help does not eat away the last bit of pride. When the office you visit is as nice as the offices of other governmental agencies, when there are enough workers to help you quickly, when workers do not quit in defeat and despair. When you have to tell your story to only one person, and that person can send you for other help and you don't have to prove your poverty over and over and over again.
I have come out of my despair to tell you this. Remember I did not come from another place or another time. Others like me are all around you. Look at us with an angry heart, anger that will help
Courtesy: https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/135/JGParker.html
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