Philanthrocapitalism_ How Giving Can Save the World - Matthew Bishop [58]
AMERICA IS BLESSED in having citizens whose roots are in every other nation. Many, perhaps most, of these citizens who have done well have given back not only to their local community but also to their home countries. When they join forces with others who share their heritage they can increase their impact dramatically. I had a chance to see such an effort get off the ground among Indian Americans in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that brought death and destruction to the western Indian province of Gujarat in 2001.
When I called then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to see if I could help, he said the government could rebuild the larger areas but needed support for reconstruction of hundreds of smaller villages. I knew that many Indian Americans were already contributing individually to their native land, usually by building hospitals, clinics, and schools and providing scholarships for worthy students. After the earthquake many others were eager to join in. Soon the American India Foundation was born, with a board of directors chaired by Rajat Gupta, senior partner of McKinsey and Company, and Victor Menezes, now retired senior vice chairman of Citigroup. The president is Lata Krishnan, an information technology entrepreneur from Northern California.
The AIF quickly raised more than $4 million for relief, reconstruction, and rehabilitation. In the relief phase, AIF worked through local and international NGOs to provide food, water, and shelter in hundreds of villages, along with 1,200 wheelchairs to permanently disabled victims. Then AIF funds rebuilt more than 1,350 homes, 180 work sheds for thousands of Gujarati artisans skilled in metal, wood, and fine clothing work, dozens of schools and classrooms, three hospitals, and a primary health center. The foundation also provided the funds to finish reconstruction of the embankment of Hamirsar Lake, in the city of Bhuj. The lake is the city’s main rainwater collection reservoir, and the damage to the embankment had caused severe flooding that affected 100,000 of the city’s residents. In the rehabilitation phase, AIF increased the availability of microcredit loans, training and skills development for women entrepreneurs, and support for people working on farms, in salt mines, and in poor urban areas.
The success in Gujarat convinced the AIF leaders to continue their work. They have now raised more than $37 million from thousands of donors, the vast majority of them Indian Americans. Their funds have been distributed to sixty Indian NGOs working on education, HIV/AIDS, and women’s empowerment. AIF’s League of Artisans helps develop business opportunities through improved production and marketing. The AIF Digital Equalizer Program has made information technology available to more than 200,000 students. And 140 AIF Indian-American Service Fellows have gone to India to serve for ten months with local NGOs.
I have told the AIF story at some length because America has immigrants from more than 180 other nations, many of them with needs similar to India’s. If groups of successful immigrants organized and acted in the same way, it would help an enormous number of people and show America’s best face to the world.
IN 2003, MAYA AMOILS, a high school student from Cincinnati, Ohio, demonstrated the potential young people have to create model gifts. Maya is a native of South Africa, and her aunt and uncle own a resort in the mountainous Drakensberg region. Through her aunt and uncle, Maya heard of the plight of the nearby village of Langkloof: its three thousand inhabitants have no running water or sewage system or medical care, and many children have been orphaned by AIDS. Maya and six of her friends established H.O.P.E.