Being the son of a social worker and a nurse, I’ve been raised with a strong ’save the world’ mentality. My trip around-the-world has presented me with a pretty unique opportunity to take a snapshot of the state of the world across a wide geographic area during a microscopic slice of time (microscopic in a ‘in the history of civilization’ sense). From touring squatters towns in India to living in mud huts in Africa, I’ve been able to be a humble witness to the lives of the “bottom billion” (composing of about 50 of the world’s poorest nations, called by some the new ‘3rd world’).

Though these people are certainly poorer then you and I (since you are reading this on the internet, I know you that is true), they are not any less happy or any less human. Their difficult life situations arise because the cards they were dealt at the dawn of their lives were just as arbitrary as the ones that allowed you and I to find ourselves in the top billion—a hand that put them in situations that don’t allow them access to things that we take for granted: stable governments, jobs, the internet, a roof, clean water, hope. But, in my travels, I’ve learned that the answer to their problems is not as simple as moving the wealth from here to there by writing a check to the UN.

In talking to those I’ve met in sprawling, snarling third world metropolises to struggling rural communities, I’ve learned that the solutions that can bring the bottom billion up is not what we typically think of when we’re asked to ‘help the poor.’ All people in all cultures, regardless of income, have an internal sense of pride and shame, and most would much rather earn their living them take a hand out. Certainly there are situations where such charity is needed (e.g. the recent cyclone in Myanmar, the eathquake in China, the floods in Iowa), but for viable and sustainable solutions in non-crisis situations, my travels have taught me that there are basically two routes: 1) education and 2) plugging people into the global economy.

The key is to educate people and give them opportunities to participate in the global exchange, because most people don’t want a hand out, they are simply looking for a hand up.

I have been exploring these two avenues (education and entrepreneurism) in depth as I travel and will be sharing some of my discoveries here in the coming months. My next post will share the story about my visit to a great project in Yunan China that is teaching Tibetan villagers to make China’s first gourmet cheese from Yak’s milk.

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