“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
Too many people still think continued progress in reducing poverty around the world is unlikely, but they haven’t been paying attention. The number of people living on less than $1.25 a day—the internationally accepted measure that defines extreme poverty—was cut nearly in half between 1990 and 2010, with the greatest progress in China and India, where more than one-third of the world’s population, 2.5 billion people, live.
I may not live long enough to see the day when extreme poverty is cut even more dramatically in the world’s poorest countries, but I might. I believe my four daughters and my seven grandchildren will. Regardless, I’ll continue to fight poverty, primarily through my work with the American Himalayan Foundation and the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and other interesting projects that come our way. Who knows what ideas next year’s Blum Center students will cook up.
And we will continue to encourage people to reach across those borders and invisible walls that too often stymie progress that could and should be happening. Whether it’s a refusal to collaborate, or worse a refusal to acknowledge the intelligence, ability, and capacity of those living in poverty, the barriers have to come down. That’s worth fighting for.
It’s in all of our best interests to continue the fight against poverty in developing economies. As Alex Dehgan, former chief scientist at USAID and a creator of USAID’s Global Development Lab, has pointed out, the biggest opportunities and challenges we face as a country and as a planet are tied to the developing world. By 2050, fifty-one developed countries will lose population. “With that decline and the aging of those populations, the importance of those developed nations will shrink,” he explained. “On the other hand, the majority of the largest nine countries in population today will continue to grow. This is where the economic development will be.”
And this is where the imperatives for fighting against poverty today are most pronounced. I can’t not fight. President Clinton framed the basic challenge well in his 2014 speech at the US Naval Academy: “We have to be concerned when half the world’s people are still living on barely two dollars a day, when a billion people go to bed hungry every night, and when one in five deaths occur from AIDS, TB, malaria, and infections related to dirty water.”1 Knowing what I know and having access to the resources I have, how could I possibly decide to sit back and do nothing more?
I am now in my ninth decade and will continue to press ahead as long as I am able. My calendar is overflowing, and I’m still curious. My purpose now is to help guide and support in every possible way the extraordinary people in government, the private sector, and NGOs who continue to make progress against extreme poverty.
I have been guided all my life by inspirational people—each humble yet strongly dedicated to their particular cause. People like Sir Edmund Hillary, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jimmy Carter, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. Their vision, struggles, and achievements captured my imagination and have long fueled my desire to do something, whatever I could. What do the people I admire most have in common? Empathy and altruism, and the ability to get things done. I have endeavored to apply these ideals in deciding how to devote my time, energy, and resources. And I have found that embracing these values has led to a rewarding, fulfilling life. Trust me.
I hope you will find similar influences, possibly from some of the people I’ve written about. If you’re a mountain climber, trekker, or passionate traveler, maybe you’ll be inspired by Sir Edmund Hillary to help some of the local communities in which you spend time. If you work with children, maybe you’ll be inspired by Dr. Aruna Uprety, who is protecting thousands of girls every year from the horrors of the sex slave trade. If you’re an artist, maybe you’ll be inspired by Luigi Fieni, who has spent every summer since 1998 in LoMontang restoring ancient Tibetan Buddhist art, and helping revive a community and culture. If you’re in finance or private equity, maybe you’ll be inspired by Dr. Raj Shah and the work of Latitude Capital Partners to raise capital to fund hydro and solar projects for clean energy in India and Africa. If you’re in education, maybe you’ll be inspired by the many students and faculty of the University of California system and the Blum Center who are harnessing innovation and new technologies to address major problems in poverty and income inequality.
Or maybe you’ll be inspired by a few of my own stories.
Let me leave you with a question: What path will you take? It isn’t a challenge. It isn’t a demand. But each one of us has a role to play in resolving the great challenges of the day—whether it’s within an organization you’re already a part of, in your local community, in your career, in your philanthropy, even in how you invest or spend your money. It all matters, and every contribution that helps push us in the right direction makes a difference.
So if you have the time some Saturday afternoon, put your accident of geography to good use. We invite you to find an area among all the places we’ve discussed in these pages that interests you, and join in. If you continue this work for the rest of your life, you’ll be glad you did. I’m certainly glad I have. It has given my life purpose and meaning, and it will do the same for yours.