The amazing couple that wrote "Half the Sky" is back! If you haven't heard me talk about "Half the Sky" and what a great book it is, and how anyone involved or caring about women and children around the world should READ it, then you haven't been around me enough. This was my favorite book of 2013.
They have now written "A Path Appears." This couple makes normally dense reading fun by having facts and statistics about poverty, problems, and possible solutions woven through stories of real people doing real things. While "Half the Sky" focused on women's issues around the world (rape, birth, equality, education...), "A Path Appears" is more about charities: how to give and do it well. They state often that, "Talent is universal, but opportunity is not." So this book is ways to give opportunities.
"Let's remember that the difference between being surrounded by a loving family or being homeless on the street is determined not just by our own level of virtue or self-discipline but also by an inextricable mix of luck, brain chemistry, child rearing, genetics, and outside help. Let's recognize that success in life is a reflection not only of enterprise and willpower but also of chance and early upbringing, and that compassion isn't a sign of weakness but a mark of civilization."
Caid will tell you not to get me started, but seriously...can you say that Bill Gates (or any rich rich person), walking into work, truly works HARDER or LONGER to deserve the thousands he makes an hour--compared to my friends in Brazil who put in a 12 hour day in the sugar cane field and make a dollar an hour?
Don't tell me he deserves it because he worked harder or is smarter: 50% of that was set just because he won the family lottery of being born in the Gates home rather than in a third world country. 30% more of that is from the education and love and care and investment of those around him his whole life. Okay--I'll give you up to 20% of the reason he is successful is because he made wise, hard, good choices. MAYBE 20%. But you can't convince me that this means he deserves his income and my friend in the sugar cane deserves his.
"Not one of the fifty biggest donations to charity in 2012 in the United States went to an organization that principally serves the poor at home or abroad. Of all the money donated in America, only about one-third goes to the needy." (It goes on to explain most of donations are to the arts or top universities not serving the bottom half of income population--the rich giving money to themselves.)
"The 85 wealthiest people in the world have approximately the same net worth as the bottom 3.5 billion." How can this be okay, my capitalist friends? The book is not a downer...it shares about many people, in the richest percentile, including the Gates, who are pledging to live off less and give more.
"The number of children dying before the age of 5 has almost halved since 1990. In 1980, half the population lived in extreme poverty ($1.25 a day). That share is now down to 20%. By 2030, almost every boy and girl in the world will go to primary school and learn to read. For all of human history until 1950, a majority of adults were illiterate."
"Treat making a gift (donation) as seriously as you would making a big purchase, like a new sofa. Be careful about making blind donations. To be generous does not mean being gullible or a pushover." They had lots of facts about charities...and how unfortunately, many are simply not efficient or worth it.
"One basic question is whether to focus on problems in the poorest countries or in neighborhoods closer to home. We believe both are reasonable options. We push back at the idea that we should "solve our own problems first" before tackling global challenges. The needs abroad are unquestionably greater. Your donation also goes much further abroad, and if all lives have equal value, then it is certainly cheaper to save a child's life or educate a student in Uganda than in New York."
They give many stories of awesome charity groups in the USA and abroad doing great things. Charity:Water is highlighted, which was neat since I had a great chat with a friend about this, and personally have a crush on their non-profit, trying to copy all I can. Over all, helping kids with basic food and health issues is cheap (twenty cents to a couple thousand dollars to literally SAVE a life), especially in a third world country where it is getting supplies/care to them that we in the USA take for granted.
What is expensive is education. Once basic food and health issues are covered, education is normally the next focus, as it should be: but it is much harder to measure (once you get past basic reading and math), and extends much deeper into the life and culture of the people: meaning you are often up against generationally set ideas--whether this is against female circumcision, equality, cooking/cleanliness habits, gender roles, violence, alcoholism...the list is endless. "It takes a life to reach a life." And that is expensive.
It was noted preventative care is always cheaper and more efficient than trying to "fix someone" once they are "broken." Their suggestion was investing in a nurse visitation program to unwed, younger mothers, as studies proved their children had less birth problems (from drug/alcohol abuse) and better early care leading to a higher graduation rate. Their premise is that the care you receive the first 2 years (and while pregnant) of life will pretty much determine if you graduate high school and can become a "productive member of society."
In the USA, Head-start and other preschool programs did not make a notable difference in children, and neither did them coming from a one or two parent home: if they were making above poverty level income. But they were the two most defining aspects for success or failure in poor homes: preschool helped give what the parent(s) were not able to, and having two parents in poverty homes cut the chance of abuse by around 80%.
After pre-school, most government intervention plans in the USA cost upwards of $2,000 per year per student. And that was considered a reasonable plan. Here was their take on a good question:
"Does it make sense to visit a literacy project in India to see it for yourself when the money spent on travel could send dozens of Indian children to school for a year? Our answer is yes, as long as the money comes from your entertainment budget and not your giving budget."
I really enjoyed this book, and feel it is an important read for anyone in the non-profit world. It asks hard questions about giving good and efficient care and opportunity--instead of just trying to fix things. It has the facts and statistics we need to know. It also highlights many good things happening in the world, and tells their story; and stories are what we remember once we close the book.
And of course they have a website. Those in Christian ministry need to have a knowledge and perspective on what is going on in secular charity, and this book gives it. But I did like "Half the Sky" better, even if just because the facts shocked me into action.
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