Not long ago the New York Times ran a front-page article about child labor as seen through the eyes of a six-year-old African indentured servant. He lives far from his family and is roused from a dirt floor to work long, hard hours, dragging a heavy wooden oar nearly his own weight and paddling and bailing out the leaky fishing boat of his master, who deals out beatings but little food. I thought about every six-year-old I knew when, out of earshot of his master, the little boy whispered to the reporter, "I don't like it here."
What was equally powerful was the response to the article, as readers wrote to the Times and expressed their frustration that the article didn't tell them what they could do to help. Wrote one reader who wept over the article, "There are moments when there is value in simply feeling the deep pain of another's situation. But in an age when most of us…already feel powerless about what happens in the world, a little bit of guidance toward action-anything to hang on to-would have been both kind and potentially helpful for all." Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a Difference is a book for all of us who know that there is poverty and suffering in our world and who want to know what we can do to help. This isn't a book to convince you to care about global poverty-we trust that you already do. This is a book for those of us who have felt hopeless or helpless-a book to show what each of us can do to make a difference.
Our Day to End Poverty invites us to look at every day and begin thinking about poverty in new and creative ways. Inspired by the landmark bestseller 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, this book offers scores of practical, doable (although not always simple) actions anyone can take to help eliminate poverty.
Each chapter helps connect our daily experiences to those of people around the world. Most of us begin our day by eating breakfast-so the first chapter focuses on addressing world hunger. We might then take the kids to school-what can we do to help make education available to all? In the afternoon we tackle our e-mail correspondence or text-message our friends-how can we ensure access to appropriate technology that can become a route out of poverty? In the evening we brush our teeth and fill a glass with water-what can we do so that everyone has access to clean water?
In the year 2000, world leaders met and committed to eight United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals to end poverty in our lifetime and to cut extreme hunger and poverty in half by 2015, along with other key progress on poverty-related problems. The twenty-four chapters in this book show how each of us can contribute to these ambitious but achievable goals to improve the lives of people around the world.
These chapters look at a range of poverty-related issues both in the United States and worldwide, balancing what we can do at home and what we can do farther away. This isn't an either/or, us-and-them problem. This is about all of us because we are all in this together. We live together on one planet, and what affects our brothers and sisters in one region affects us all.
You can read this book straight through, as though we're spending one long day together, starting in the morning and ending at night. Or start with a topic you care deeply about, whether it's hunger, education, or health care. Maybe you'll just pick up the book and flip it open to see what difference you could make that day. It is written so that each chapter can stand alone, chock-full of actions you can take to learn more, contribute, serve, and make changes in the way you live.
You may already be wondering, Am I supposed to be taking an action every hour of every day? How could I possibly do all these actions? I'm overwhelmed! Don't worry; you aren't expected to do something every hour or even every day. That's why there are so many choices: so you can choose what is right for you and your life.
You can do some of these actions on your own, or you can team up with other people. It's up to you. One action today may lead to other actions tomorrow. This is a step-by-step process. Who knows where it will lead?
In the words of Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, "If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time."
Will we? Nelson Mandela, referring to the UN Millennium Development Goals, said, "Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation."
If we rise to the challenge, working together, one day six-year-olds across our globe may declare aloud, "I like it here."
Acknowledgments
Publishing a book is an inherently collaborative effort. Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a Difference has been especially so. Although I (Shannon) was the writer, the book was conceived by Jeff Keenan and Joy Anderson, who is the president and founder of Criterion Ventures; it was enriched by Karen Speerstra's writing, editing, and publishing experience and strengthened by the insights and recommendations of Jackie VanderBrug, Criterion's managing director.
Joy and Jackie were invaluable members of the book team; it would not exist without them. Their experience in managing dynamic team processes, their network of cool people doing important work, and their big vision and probing insights were integral to the book's development. Sarah Ruberti, Criterion Ventures' traffic manager, assumed the monumental task of sending draft chapters to dozens of reviewers and returning their responses to me. We owe much to her diligence and organizational skills.
On a personal note, I offer my deepest thanks to my husband, Sam Daley-Harris, for his own inspiring work to end poverty and his insights, support, and contacts, which strengthened this book immeasurably. I'm grateful for support from Eliot, Patti, and Jad Daley and Serena Schorr. Deep thanks to Marian Wright Edelman for her work to end child poverty in our rich nation and the opportunity to serve with her in that mission for nearly twenty years. I appreciate the input from Macky Alston, Linda Gerard, Lisey Good, Jen Klein, Liz McCloskey, and Alison and Campbell Stevenson. My thanks also to Elizabeth, Paul, Gabriel, and others at Port City Java, whose warm welcome and iced coffee sustained me throughout more than a year of writing!
Jeff expresses grateful appreciation to his family for their incredible patience and support throughout the time it took to bring this book to completion. Thanks to John Sage, Nancy Lewis, and Te Davis and to the 2006 Criterion Convergence attendees for their reviews of early drafts. Thanks also to Maria Finch and Victor Meiusi for their input on the structure of the book and its chapters. For their input on the title, cover, and/or book structure, thanks to Jacque Mahan, Leslie Piacitelli, Julia Dowd, and Debi, Meghan, Edith, and Jerry Keenan. Erick Goss and Suparna Bhasin provided valuable publishing guidance, and personal thanks go to James Dailey for his chapter review. Finally, thanks to the many friends who took the time to read a chapter or two and offer feedback from a reader's perspective.
Karen extends her appreciation to Barry Childs for providing information on Africa Bridge and its work on fighting AIDS and supporting AIDS orphans. And thanks go to Ellen Frost, Penny and Joe Hauser, Carol Frenier, Judy Walke, Jan Field, Julia Blackbourn, and Joel and John Speerstra for feedback on title choices and organizational issues.
We would not have had the audacity to tackle such an enormous subject without knowing that there were many wise, experienced, and insightful people to whom we could turn to review and improve each chapter. For generously giving their time for thoughtful review, sharing their unique and important perspectives and experiences, and most especially for the work that they are doing day in and day out to end poverty, we offer our deepest appreciation. To be sure, any errors and omissions that remain are our responsibility.
See Table
We had hoped to find a publisher who would take a collaborative approach to our book, and Berrett-Koehler has far exceeded our expectations. We appreciate Steve Piersanti's enthusiastic response to the concept when Joy first described it to him. Jeevan Sivasubramaniam has provided steady oversight, and Ken Lupoff headed up an outstanding team.
Elizabeth von Radics's skilled and thorough editing greatly strengthened the book, and we appreciate Gary Palmatier s terrific design.
Finally we thank and acknowledge all of the heroes, named and unnamed, who work every day for the end of poverty in their own lives, our communities, and the world. We thank our world leaders who had the foresight to create the UN Millennium Development Goals and everyone who shares this vision. We hope that the work of all of our hands, hearts, and minds joined around our globe will one day soon bring about the end of poverty.
