The Blue Sweater 2

The second part of Jacqueline’s book continues her journey in Rwanda and finding out about the women from the bakery. Jacqueline goes through many trials with getting robbed, finding out her friends had been killed, and learning that people aren’t always who she thought they were. People like Agnes and Prudence helped Jacqueline see that humans are not perfect or consistent, and the Rwandan Genocide taught her a lot about human nature. Through the many loans given to women, she learned that solving poverty isn’t just about giving money, but each situation requires different solutions. She realizes that we can be more helpful if we see everyone as a single unit, and base our poverty eradicating strategies on promoting human dignity. Jacqueline creates the Acumen Fund and attempts to support institutions rather than projects. The Acumen Fund has done some amazing things, and what I find most interesting is how Jacqueline discovers that the best way to solve poverty is not with sympathy, but with moral leadership that comes up with solutions from the point of view of the poor, rather than imposing grand ideas onto societies that work differently from what we might be used to.

Jacqueline’s experiences reminded me of my time working in a children’s hospital in Cambodia. I saw so many things I never even imagined were possible. We saw villages built on stilts on a river, and people with no money who traveled for weeks to get to the hospital. I wanted so badly to help everyone that it was really hard to realize there was no way that I could everyone I saw. And I knew that my few weeks with them, and any money or knowledge we could give them wouldn't last very long. But I also realized a lot of the things that Jacqueline discovered. Sympathy and charity weren’t going to help these people in the long run. They needed a system that could sustain them and manage the issues constantly, not being dependent on monetary donations. What was really important was not only the Western doctors who visited the hospital for a few weeks to help with patients, but the Cambodian doctors going to Europe to study from better doctors, so that they could come back and apply what they learned to best help their own people. Only the Cambodians truly knew what would help the poor and sick the most, and even though the money was important in starting these hospitals and programs, what was most beneficial was training the Cambodian people to take care of their own when the charity wasn’t always there supporting them. Education was key to getting those in poverty to move into better situations.