Share your thoughts on The Blue Sweater with Jacqueline here

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Novogratz on February 14, 2010 at 3:19am

Thanks so much. The real awe is for those who have so little and overcome tremendous challenges without recognizing how much they are actually doing. so appreciate that you read the book J

Reina Govindarajan said:

Jacqueline,

Your booked rocked my world--it left me touched, moved, and inspired. I am in awe of all that you have accomplished and aspire to make a lasting impact on this world just as you have. Thank you for sharing your story.

Love and Light,
Reina

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Permalink Reply by Wei Wei Hsing on February 15, 2010 at 8:51am

Jacqueline has a new blog post about why she wrote The Blue Sweater up on Business Fights Poverty's online community, a professional network for those passionate about fighting poverty through good business. We hope you'll check it out!

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Permalink Reply by Fang Yuan on February 20, 2010 at 11:34am

Hi Jacqueline,


I was sincerely inspired by your personal memoir because it really showed how much one person can accomplish with the right dedication and strength of heart. I enjoyed that you were able to combine both compassion and intelligence in your pursuit of creating a better world for others.

I am also intrigued as to what drove you to become so selfless and how you think we can seek to improve ourselves in this respect. At least in my experience, the intelligence is usually there but oftentimes the compassion (at least on a grand scale such as yours) is lacking in many young professionals in this society. I would be so curious to hear why you think this may be so. I often wonder whether it's because, growing up in such a powerful country such as US, few young people here have ever been exposed to any of the everyday realities and daily humiliations of people in the bottom billion (or even people in developing countries that are seeing economic progress). What do we know about hunger? Or poverty? Or lack of clean water? Or being trapped in a civil war? (We're fighting two wars now and we don't even feel it!)

How would we ever understand these types of abstract statistics on world hunger, lack of proper sanitation, etc without having experienced what they actually mean? And how do you convince people who are so privileged to step down to experience the worst circumstances when they could just as well be flying to certain developing countries only to enjoy the beautiful beaches and great exchange rates? Of course one can argue that with privilege comes a responsibility to understand how the other side lives (not to mention that obviously it would be much harder for them to understand how we live) but how does that happen? How do you create and foster actual social awareness? How do you engender compassion on a larger scale? Why do some people feel so strongly for others when others feel so little? Is it ignorance or upbringing or a combination of a variety of other factors? And what can we do to change this?

Fang

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Novogratz on February 21, 2010 at 10:17am

I wish you could have known John. His legacy lives on not only through my work but through the work of everyone on the team at Acumen, for his ideas have so infused the way we do what we do. People too often think of legacy as having their names on buildings but much stronger is influencing younger people to carry the torch of how to live and how to serve. thanks Jacqueline

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Novogratz on February 21, 2010 at 10:24am

Hi Fang
Thanks for your thoughtful note. I think it is important not to think of this work as being done by selfless people, though. Indeed, I think that committing to something bigger than yourself actually creates the most meaningful life imaginable. This is the point that too many people miss. We measure success in terms of who makes the most money, but we're also learning that after a certain point, there is very little correlation between money and happiness. We need new measures of success - who creates the most joy for others, the most opportunity? Who shows up time and time again? Who is a good member of a community, a family, an organization and what does THIS mean? Who makes the most difference in society, big and small? It seems these should be the standards against we need to judge success.

As for how we better communicate what it means to live without sanitation, this is something I think about all the time. We need better ways of connecting those in the slums not as "Other" but as people who simply live in more challenging conditions. And we need to articulate those stories so that that those who are privileged can begin to imagine what it feels like to live on a couple of dollars a day without basic services....This is where our community could really help - with blog posts, videos, ideas for better ways to help all of us think of ourselves truly as one world, one tribe... -J

Fang Yuan said:

Hi Jacqueline,


I was sincerely inspired by your personal memoir because it really showed how much one person can accomplish with the right dedication and strength of heart. I enjoyed that you were able to combine both compassion and intelligence in your pursuit of creating a better world for others.

I am also intrigued as to what drove you to become so selfless and how you think we can seek to improve ourselves in this respect. At least in my experience, the intelligence is usually there but oftentimes the compassion (at least on a grand scale such as yours) is lacking in many young professionals in this society. I would be so curious to hear why you think this may be so. I often wonder whether it's because, growing up in such a powerful country such as US, few young people here have ever been exposed to any of the everyday realities and daily humiliations of people in the bottom billion (or even people in developing countries that are seeing economic progress). What do we know about hunger? Or poverty? Or lack of clean water? Or being trapped in a civil war? (We're fighting two wars now and we don't even feel it!)

How would we ever understand these types of abstract statistics on world hunger, lack of proper sanitation, etc without having experienced what they actually mean? And how do you convince people who are so privileged to step down to experience the worst circumstances when they could just as well be flying to certain developing countries only to enjoy the beautiful beaches and great exchange rates? Of course one can argue that with privilege comes a responsibility to understand how the other side lives (not to mention that obviously it would be much harder for them to understand how we live) but how does that happen? How do you create and foster actual social awareness? How do you engender compassion on a larger scale? Why do some people feel so strongly for others when others feel so little? Is it ignorance or upbringing or a combination of a variety of other factors? And what can we do to change this?

Fang

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Permalink Reply by Ekta Jhaveri on February 26, 2010 at 7:53pm

Jacqueline,

Your book is a bible for anyone who wants to work in the social sector. I loved your book. It's candid, refreshing and engaging. I loved the way you described the natural beauty in the African countries you worked. It helped to keep perspective and not get bogged down by some of the challenges you faced early on.

My hometown is Mumbai and I loved reading about the various investments that Acumen has made in India.

-Ekta

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Novogratz on February 27, 2010 at 9:04am

Thanks Ekta -- Mumbai is one of my favorite cities. Thanks for your kind words. I wish you all the very best - we really need all of to focus on what it takes in big and small ways to include everyone in our global conversation and global economy as well!

Ekta Jhaveri said:

Jacqueline,

Your book is a bible for anyone who wants to work in the social sector. I loved your book. It's candid, refreshing and engaging. I loved the way you described the natural beauty in the African countries you worked. It helped to keep perspective and not get bogged down by some of the challenges you faced early on.

My hometown is Mumbai and I loved reading about the various investments that Acumen has made in India.

-Ekta

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Permalink Reply by monika hardy on February 28, 2010 at 8:54am

The Blue Sweater and Jacqueline's continued modeling of a linchpin has been huge in helping to make change happen. Here's a snippet from a post - but the ideas I've learned from that modeling now permeate all that I do.

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Permalink Reply by Beth Deen on March 12, 2010 at 9:37am

Jacqueline, reading your book came at that perfect moment in time when it connected to a number of different threads in my life. I have been working in the field of education for over 30 years and have been pondering how do we teach our children to be leaders, starting at the elementary level. I have also wanted to write a series of non-fiction books for young children about people around the globe making a difference in our world. After reading your book more thoughts crystallized about this idea. I would like to work with you to write a series of books for elementary students. We could start with the people in your book. One could trace the malaria nets from the start of the factory to the arrival in a home. One could highlight the development of the kiosks in India,or the water delivery service. We could pick successful entrepenuers working with your funds and tell their stories in a way that children can connect to them, as well as including information about the country to expand the awareness of the children and the stregthen their concept of our global world. I believe the first step to making something happen is to put the idea out there so here is my first step.

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Novogratz on March 14, 2010 at 4:23pm

Hi Beth
Thanks for reading the book and we'd love to learn more. I'm wondering if you might talk first to Wei Wei Hsing to explore these ideas. Would you connect with her via the community site and let her know I thought it was a good idea. The two of you can think talk and brainstorm. Thanks! Jacqueline

Beth Deen said:

Jacqueline, reading your book came at that perfect moment in time when it connected to a number of different threads in my life. I have been working in the field of education for over 30 years and have been pondering how do we teach our children to be leaders, starting at the elementary level. I have also wanted to write a series of non-fiction books for young children about people around the globe making a difference in our world. After reading your book more thoughts crystallized about this idea. I would like to work with you to write a series of books for elementary students. We could start with the people in your book. One could trace the malaria nets from the start of the factory to the arrival in a home. One could highlight the development of the kiosks in India,or the water delivery service. We could pick successful entrepenuers working with your funds and tell their stories in a way that children can connect to them, as well as including information about the country to expand the awareness of the children and the stregthen their concept of our global world. I believe the first step to making something happen is to put the idea out there so here is my first step.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Vandiver on March 17, 2010 at 10:32pm

Jacqueline,

Your book was an inspiration to me and a huge motivating factor in my decision to actually do something meaningful with my life. I recently returned from Uganda, where I was encountered with unimaginable poverty. One of the main issues I saw were young girls and women missing five days of school or work each month during their period. They simply could not afford proper sanitary protection and were using unhealthy materials such as tree bark and pieces of newspaper to get by. While These materials do not adequately protect from leaks, they also lead to infection and can cause serious health risks.

When I returned home, I decided to do something about what I saw so I started Sister Hope, an organization dedicated to keeping girls in school everyday, even during their period. We send hygiene kits, which contain reusable menstrual pads, to girls and women in the developing world. Just yesterday I received an email from an individual in Uganda who desperately needed pads for a small group of university students. This group of young women are doing a fantastic job of surpassing the odds and getting a college education, yet they are missing classes during their period. One girl in particular has gotten very sick from using unhealthy materials, and doctors say she likely has cervical cancer at this point.

This is an urgent need and you have inspired me to do something about it, because menstruation shouldn't mean inequality. Thank you. I hope you can take a look at the website www.sishope.org. I'd love to hear what you think about our work.

Love,
Sarah Vandiver
Founder, Sister Hope
www.sishope.org
sarah@sishope.org

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Permalink Reply by Brittany Boroian on March 20, 2010 at 9:53am

Dear Jacqueline,

I've written to you before, right after I finished reading The Blue Sweater- but I'd like to write to you again, after having the amazing opportunity to volunteer with the Acumen Fund NY office for these past few months. I also had the opportunity to meet you briefly in February, and instead of talking about how much the Acumen Fund meant to me, my mind went blank and I blurted out something really embarrassing along the lines of 'It's like I'm meeting a celebrity!' So, I want to take the opportunity here to pretend that I'm actually meeting you again and saying what I wanted to say then.

I am in awe of everything you do. My family is growing sick of me talking about you and the Acumen Fund like a giddy five year old. This morning I forced my grandparents to watch you on TED- they came away very impressed, of course, and my grandmother is buying The Blue Sweater when she gets home. There are so many things that I want to say about how much the book has meant to me even four months after reading it- how much I identify with your experiences and all of the wonderful little gems and messages that I've found in the book- but most importantly, what I find that I appreciate the most is your feelings on equality: that if we are all truly equal, we must engage WITH people all over the developing world to do it themselves. I think this is your most important message. In a fit of inspiration today, I went on Amazon and ordered ten (yes, ten!) 'The Blue Sweater' books to pass on to family, friends, and fellow entrepreneurs who I know would be inspired by your message. I think that the best donation that I can give to the Acumen Fund is passing on the message to others.
Thanks so much for being such an inspiration to me and to so many other people! I am sincerely looking forward to seeing you speak at Unite for Sight, and to continue dedicating myself to the work that you're doing.

Much love and admiration,
Brittany

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