Just next door...
When I was a kid I lived surrounded by poverty. Tweens who had survived on the streets since they were five lived under corrugated iron angled against the stucco walls defending five bedroom villas. When I got home from school I’d swipe a bottle of clean water from the fridge and swig gulp after gulp cause… gosh… a 2 hour ride home on an un-air-conditioned school bus in 115 degrees Fahrenheit is pretty tough. Corrugated iron. Steel sweep of bright yellow roof. You think this is going to be a story about terrible suffering, a la Sally Struthers. Or maybe how audacious hope and compassion turned some kids’ lives around. Nope – those are true, but are not this story. Just trying to say that today, those kids might be alive, maybe not… but their successors are still finding a way to survive. And most of them are smart and audacious. They’ve learned enough English to be charming to tourists. Enough acting to be irresistible to donors. Enough canniness to know when to take a risk and when to duck. Enough teamwork to know when to share bread and lentils and when to scatter and regroup after the danger’s over. They sell trinkets, cigarettes, their services as guides… or as sex workers. They never stop. Their energy for survival drives them to work, and work, and work. They, as much as your children, cousins, nieces, nephews, are the future of our species.
And I’ll tell you finally what I’m trying to explain: they embody many of the qualities I want to see in my leaders. They are most decidedly not the least of us.
Dividendo por Colombia knows that the way to nourish healthy neighborhoods now and in the future is to make sure the children of destitute families get a good education; they’ve gotten the department of education, businesses and parents group to join them in this effort. 
I learned last week that, thanks to the United Way in Edmonton, Canada, 90% of their 3rd graders are now prepared for 4th grade and beyond; used to be 30%. 
I learned today that the United Way of Central Indiana also recognizes the leadership potential in children: their teenagers give, volunteer and help make funding decisions.
Some day, there will be a United Way in Egypt, founded by Egyptians who share our hope and determination… and that’s why I’m here. Because what we’ve learned in Edmonton, and Indianapolis, and Bogota can be transformed into tools for visionaries everywhere working with their neighbors to build better lives. And besides… Cairo’s just the next neighborhood over.
