Social Justice: How Everyone Can Help Heal the World

Billions Rising: Empowering Self-Reliance Around the Globe – Book Review

Do you wish you could come up with a solution to help end poverty? Are you a social worker, social justice advocate or other thoughtful person wondering how you can help make this world a better place? If yes, the book Billions Rising: Empowering Self-Reliance Around the Globe written by Anita Casalina with Warren Whitlock and Heather Vale Goss, may be the answer you’ve been looking for!

Today, we have a guest reviewer, Amy Knitzer, LCSW, who will share with you her thoughts about this inspiring book that is all about making our world a better one, one idea at a time.

Guest Post by Amy Knitzer, LCSW

There is a feeling to this book that is awe-inspiring. This begins with its title: “Billions Rising: Empowering Self-Reliance Around the Globe.”
 Imagine billions of people around the world, gaining in skills and self-sufficiency, and over time, changing their circumstances and rising to a higher and greater quality of life.

Itʼs happening, says Casalina, and she shares with us about 50 vignettes, which form the heart of this unusual and inspiring book. The mission of both the co-authors and the Billions Rising Foundation is to shine a light on anyone and everyoneʼs efforts to empower others in our world.

They believe that when entrepreneurs direct their energies to specific issues, the impact will be felt worldwide. The more often entrepreneurs focus their attention in this positive way, the higher the quality of life for large swaths of the population.

How do you take the problems of the world, and the solutions that have emerged and form them into a book? The authors break this staggering task down into chapters on agriculture, water, technology, energy, economics and social media, for example, and share with us remarkable success stories.

A nine-year-old boy in Kenya was tasked with guarding his family’s livestock at night and keeping the animals safe from their predators i.e., lions.

He noticed that the lions were afraid of the torch he carried at night. They were afraid enough to steer clear of his Massai peopleʼs animals.

This insight lead him to invent a “moving light,” using batteries, blinkers from old motorcycles and other stray items that deterred the lions and saved the livestock, his familyʼs/villageʼs source of income.

Over time, 75 Kenyans asked him to install these “Lion Lights” light for them. The inventor is now in college studying engineering in his country.

Facts and stories sit side by side in this book. In the chapter on water, the authors note that small farms succeed or fail based on their access to this basic resource. Howard Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffet, is using the Arizona climate as a base for developing farming techniques that use very little water; these then are tried out in driest parts of African desert.

Hereʼs an amazing fact: women (throughout the world) spend 40 billion hours walking to get water for their families each year–hours that arenʼt spent getting an education or making money.

Fetching water becomes their job and sole focus. Casalina wonders how this quest limits the human potential of people and many countries.

One man learned that 80% of disease is caused by bad water. His mission became raising money to build wells with safe water, worldwide. His mission emerged when he learned that simple fact about the link between dirty water and disease.

There are stories about employing dogs to help soldiers cope with PTSD; local organizations building pre-natal homes for women who are on the verge of homelessness; Hug-it-Forward, which has young people stuff plastic bottles with non- perishable trash.

It takes 6,500 of these bottles–combined with mortar–to build one local school in Guatemala. Once you provide schools, young people have access to education. The common theme in all these stories – one person’s idea and follow through have led to revolutionary advances which the world is hungry for.

While the innovative ideas shared stem from individuals across a wide spectrum of professional and educational backgrounds, the social work values of helping, caring, recognizing cultural differences, working collaboratively, and wanting to make a difference in the world are at the heart of this excellent book.

However, the values have a timeliness and a modern slant. We have moved away from the social workers of 1900, who focused on giving charity and being kindly visitors to immigrants, for example.

The new paradigm in this book is on teaching a person to fish (various skills) so that he/she may fish on his/her own (be self-reliant). In this manner, you will have provided individuals with lasting help vs. only temporary assistance.

Much of the book is focused on women, including sub-chapters on micro-financing and fair trade so that women can borrow small amounts of money, learn trades, make money and teach others how to follow this model.

The underlying belief is that local efforts, one at a time, lift groups out of poverty, allowing new people to enter into trade, and all the benefits of globalization.

Another theme is that of self-reliance. We are urged to develop this in our own lives, each of us; with that in place we can tap into our concern for others and creatively think of problems that need tackling and get started solving these.

The notion is a modern one. The idea of throwing money at problems, through charity, is seen as less effective than working collaboratively with local people on specific issues and helping them brainstorm solutions that they then will be invested in.

Charity is seen as “top-down” helping, and often creates dependence in its wake. At the same time, it doesnʼt help people along, in terms of knowledge and skill-building, so the author recognizes the need for money coming from “hand-ups not hand-outs.”

The chapter on social media includes references to power flowing into peopleʼs hands, leading to change. An example: the recent Arab Spring and other revolts leading to changes in leadership.

Videos on crowd-funding sites, disaster relief, and curriculum for students are all available anywhere now, and can move people forward at great rates.

One personʼs knowledge can now be utilized by anyone, anywhere. We learn the stories of these innovators, one at a time.

On a different note, we read of a woman who set up a blog about “abuse at the hands of a narcissist.” She writes about how bad the relationship was, and how to recognize this dynamic, to help women escape from destructive relationships sooner and safer.

Many abused women have benefited from this blog. Every idea here, helpful.

On technology: Bill Clinton says that cell phones “are one of the most effective advancements in history to lift people out of poverty.” Other design breakthroughs– some coming from entries in science competitions–have lead to the re-invention of stoves in Guatemala.

The smoke from open cooking fires used to kill many children. Someone configured a “rocket stove,” some 30 years ago, which has helped children breathe easier and stay healthy.

Young bright people have created tools for farming that cut through parched soil many times quicker that conventional tools, so that huge amounts of crops can be planted in the time that few were planted.

Simple, layered straws have also been designed, which filter out most water-borne bacteria, protecting millions from cholera and e-choli.

This book takes us around the world and offers us statistics on problems and solutions emerging.

A chapter on energy reminds us that in Africa, 15% of the population has no electricity. In Southern Asia, the number is 40%. This, the author calls “energy poverty.”

There is no heat in affected areasʼ hospitals, no light to study by for young students, no refrigeration… ultimately no economic growth, or way to improve.

This book, to its credit, never stops at the level of overwhelming problems. It always presents efforts being made.

A United Nations group has embraced energy poverty as a cause and is calling for policies to effect change in countries lacking electricity.

An organization has sprung up, bringing solar power to poor villages in China, Tanzania and India, and in India alone, 125,000 solar home systems have been installed.

The book both reviews for us these trends toward self-reliance and progress and inspires us to take a stand and solve a problem of importance.

No one is too young, too old, too rich or poor, too educated or uneducated for the challenge.

Lastly, Why Should a Social Worker Read This Book?

There are several reasons this book makes for good reading for social workers, whether they are with many years of experience under their belt or new to the field. Similarly, it is a great resource for both clinical and macro-oriented social workers.

• This book presents story after story of successful ideas/follow through that have made a difference in the lives of a family, or village or larger area.

• That is what we set out to do as social workers.

• The ideas presented here are on a “macro” level.

• That level sometimes trumps the influence and help a social worker can offer a person via direct counseling, referrals and case management.

• This book is uplifting!

• Social workers, in the trenches, can stave off burn out if they hear more good stories.

• Social workers may wish to do international work.

• This book takes us around the world, giving us a sense of different settings, struggles and successes.

• Billions Rising introduces us to the problem-solving processes that preceded the technological, scientific, practical and other breakthroughs that make up the heart of this book.

• Perhaps our problem-solving processes can be aided by studying some vignettes.

• Finally, the world is moving toward cross-disciplinary approaches to problems of poverty.

• Social workers can join forces with scientists, micro-financers in Africa, tech wizards and educators in solving the problems of our world.

About the author: Amy Knitzer, LCSW is a social worker with many years of experience working with inner-city children and families. Currently, she is counseling and running support groups for elderly residents, as well as for survivors of suicide loss. In addition, she acts with the New Jersey Mental Health Players, a troupe that reenacts mental health issues for audiences and helps de-stigmatize mental illness.

What are your thoughts/reactions – Are you in agreement with the empowerment approach? Do you have an idea that you might now consider putting into action?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of the book mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. In addition, the link to this book is an “affiliate link.” Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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