After 34 hours of traveling (plane, layovers, bus rides), I am finally here. It's nice to be away from the snow and see the warm sun again. As I am settling in, I'd like to share a few paragraphs from the latest TIME magazine that I was reading on the plane. It was written by Jeffrey Sachs, a famous economist that is currently trying end extreme poverty by 2025 (I need to become friends with this guy - he's got a bit more experience in this area than I do). It reminded me why I'm here in South Africa and settled my nerves a bit about the coming months and their importance. And since I don't have many updates for you yet, I'm going to let him do the talking:
"Great social transformations - the end of slavery, the women's and civil rights movements, the end of colonial rule, the birth of environmentalism-all began with public awareness and engagement. Our political leaders followed rather than led. It was scientists, engineers, churchgoers and young people who truly led the way. If as citizens we vote for war, then war it will be. If instead we support a global commitment to sustainable development, then our leaders will follow, and we will find a way to peace.
Each of us has a role to play and a chance for leadership. First, study the problems - in school, in reading, on the web. Second, when possible, travel. There is no substitue for seeing extreme poverty, or deforestation, or the destructive forces of nature in New Orleans, to understand our generation's real challenges. There is no substitute for meeting and engaging with people across cultures, religions and regions to realize that we are all in this together. Third, get your business, community, church or student group active in some aspect of sustainable development. Americans are promoting the control of malaria, the spread of solar power, the end of polio and the reversal of treatable blindness, to name just a few of today's inspiring examples of private leadership. Finally, demand our politicians honor our nation's global promises and commitments on climate change and the fight against hunger and poverty. If the public leads, politicians will surely follow.
Our generation's greatest challenges - in environment, demography, poverty, and global politics - are also our most exciting opportunity. Ours is the generation that can end extreme poverty, turn the tide agains climate change, and head off a massive, thoughtless and irreversible extinction of other species. Ours is the generation that can, and must, solve the unresolved conundrum of combining economic well-being with environmental sustainability. We will need science, technology and professionalism, but most of all we will need to subdue our fears and cynicism. John F. Kennedy reminded us that peace will come by recognizing our common wealth. 'If we can not end now our differences, as least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.'"
Well... I've got the travel part and the talking to people thing down... As for the rest; I'm working on it. Hopefully Dollars for Change can continue to pick up steam to help take care of the rest...
About Me
- Dollars for Change
- In the summer of 2006, I traveled to South Africa to teach kindergarten in the township of Kurland. I had always known I wanted to work in the field of international development, and this trip was meant to be a chance for me to get my feet wet. That October, it was reported that the US population had reached 300 million. I remember thinking what a difference it would make if every American donated just one dollar towards the fight against extreme poverty. It was that population milestone, along with years of frustration with the vast gap between extreme wealth and poverty, that Dollars For Change was born. On December 18th, 2006, Dollars For Change was incorporated as a non-profit organization and is now recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. What began as a social experiment has become my own life’s goal.