ABOUT::Our Story
In February 2008, I read a book - The White Man's Burden, by NYU professor William Easterly.
He writes about two different kinds of people working to end the plight of those in our world suffering from extreme poverty:
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Planners |
Searchers |
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Planners announce good intentions but don't motivate anyone to carry them out |
Searchers find things that work and get some reward |
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Planners raise expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them |
Searchers accept responsibility for their actions |
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Planners apply global footprints |
Searchers adapt to local conditions |
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A Planner thinks he already has all the answers |
A Searcher admits he doesn't know the answers in advance |
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A Planner believes outsiders know enough to propose solutions |
A Searcher believes only insiders have enough knowledge to find solutions, and that most solutions must be homegrown |
He says, "You don't have to immediately eliminate world poverty, bring world peace, or save the environment. You just have to do whatever you discover works with your modest resources to make a difference in the lives of poor people" (Easterly, 3).
After reading Easterly's book, I was compelled to do something, anything, in order to help the world's poorest. All of a sudden I felt that the needs of the poor didn't have to be tackled by only Bill Gates, Bono, celebrities, or even the United Nations, The World Bank, and other major organizations. I wanted to be a Searcher.
I spoke with a few friends and we decided to fund the construction of a hand pump well for the people of Balogun Village in Osun State located in Southwest Nigeria. We were able to bring clean water to people who typically had to walk for miles in order to fetch unsafe water. After the successful implementation of this project (check out the pics), we got ambitious and began thinking of other ways we could help the world's poorest - and Poverty Stops Here was born.
Poverty Stops Here takes Professor Easterly's aforementioned quote to heart that we do not have to "immediately eliminate world poverty." We partner with villages, learn from them, and do whatever we can to assist with their major needs.
We're under no delusions: poverty has been around for a long time and will likely continue long after we leave this earth. But let's put aside the enormity of the issue and embrace the small. One mosquito net. One grain grinder. One well. We are capable of changing at least 1 life. And then another. And another, and another...
Please join us in this fight to help our brothers and sisters in the forgotten parts of our world. It's in our world that this is happening. Our world. If we don't do something about it, who will?
Efosa Ojomo
May 18 2009
Easterly, William. The White Man's Burden. New York, NY: The Penguin Group, 2006.
