Here's my review that I just posted on Amazon of Jacqueline Novogratz' book, "The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World."
I can't stop thinking about this book. I encourage everyone to read it and think about it in the context of transforming our own country, which will help transform the world.
It's been very difficult for me to review Jacqueline Novogratz' excellent book, "The Blue Sweater." Every time I sit down to write about it, I don't feel like I have the words to do it justice. I've gone back and read it a second time, and I still find it hard to organize my thoughts well enough to convey how greatly I appreciate this work. It moved me to think and feel deeply; to ponder over what is essential to live and live joyfully despite economic upheavals, cultural diversity, and resource scarcity; and to consider in what ways I might myself care for my fellow brothers and sisters, love them, and learn from them.
So let me just dive in and do the best I can. First, the book reads like a novel. It is full of vivid imagery, color, sensitivity and compassion. It is also, like the author, pragmatic and sensible. I was struck by the complexities of poverty but also the incredible hope and promise of those who value every shred and moment of life--because they have to if they are to survive. I was amazed at how something as simple as a mosquito net could entirely transform a life and how people crushed by illness and tragedy manage to be so much more alive and gratefully engaged with the world than so many of us who are more privileged are.
I was brought face to face with my own emptiness in reading this book--not a bad thing--and also a stirring sense of what I might have to offer in this world. "The Blue Sweater" succeeded in shifting my focus, and rather profoundly so. I feel more hopeful for our world now because I'm thinking about what I, myself, need to do in the context of my family and community.
I only wish the book had photographs of the incredible people in Africa, India, and the Middle East whose stories the author shares with us. I found myself very interested in Novogratz' Acumen Fund activities and her ideas about combining philanthropy with market forces to help the poor build and sustain better lives. I was especially struck by the need to listen to the people one is trying to help and that no one solution is enough; it takes approaching problems in many different ways that all feed into each other if people are to build successful, sustainable communities that promote the health, well-being, and dignity of all citizens.
I could not help but wonder if the principles Novagratz has found to be successful could not be applied somehow to middle- and working-class people in the U.S. and other developed countries who are seeing their quality of life erode and yet do not have the skills to survive or even an awareness of ways they harm others. (This is an entirely different kind of poverty, but it is poverty nonetheless, an ignorance and learned helplessness that is ultimately destructive.) If some, like the retiring baby boomers, could be harnessed to help work to strengthen communities and build connections/collaborations with the poorest among us here, it could be a way of skill-building and also increasing awareness of the ways each of us impacts our world. Out of this training ground could come a subset of people with the generalist skills to work in other countries, either in their younger years as a career or in retirement.
I hope someone from the Acumen Fund and like-minded organizations will work closely with the Obama administration to develop models to help those Americans who would like to begin to help themselves and their communities, to the extent that they are able.
Finally, let me say that I was excited to realize the significance of Barack Obama's mother having worked with microfinancing (a major tool discussed in this book that I didn't understand before), because I know that means our new president has a sense of how much can be accomplished when those first small steps are facilitated and people are given hope that WE can transform our world. Time is money, too. If we can find ways to "microfinance" our time according to our interests without having to completely reinvent wheels (say, be able to download a well-developed model for starting a small community garden or a "fun"/safe neighbor's home-based afterschool skill-teaching workshop so latchkey kids have a place to go), together we could quickly make enormous progress. What's stopping me is age and not being quite sure how to begin so success is more likely.