"Benevolit"

Los Angeles Times
Amanda Jones

Here's an idea for a feel-good Christmas present-a "benevolit" book. That's what I'm calling this relatively new and increasingly popular genre of travel literature. These works are typically narratives of journeys that were so life changing as to inspire the author to return home and start a philanthropy dedicated to helping those who helped them on their adventures.

The meteoric success in the category is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, which, despite being of only average literary merit has spent over 145 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The book describes how in 1993 Mortensen, an ER nurse, was lost while climbing Pakistan's K2 and wandered, half dead, into a village. Despite their own poverty the villagers fed and nursed him. One day, Mortenson observed schoolchildren sitting under a tree scratching sums in the dirt with no tutelage. Mortenson returned to the States determined to raise money, build a school and hire a teacher. Now called the Central Asia Institute, Mortenson's single school blossomed into a movement that has built over 90 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, grants scholarships to girls and addresses public health problems.

But no one knew any of that until Three Cups of Tea, which came later, instantly turning Mortenson into a rock star of the non-profit world and a living, breathing example of how passion can be a journey of its own. The title immediately garnered book club fans, magazine articles and Oprah appearances, raising millions of dollars and subsequently the building of more schools.

Three Cups of Tea, Viking (2006)
www.threecupsoftea.com
www.ikat.org

Not all benevolit books have sold as many copies, but not because they are not worthy. John Wood's Leaving Microsoft to Change the World is an inspirational treatise to what most would love to do but don't have the guts-chucking the day job. In 1998, Wood was near the top of the heap as a Microsoft executive. Again, he took a trip alone with the resulting mountaintop epiphany, this time in Nepal. While trekking, he visited a school library with no books on the shelves. The tomes were so precious they were under padlock. He asked to see them and a teacher reverently displayed a Danielle Steele novel, Finnegan's Wake, a guidebook to Mongolia and a dog-eared book in Italian. With no disrespect to Joyce, its doubtful schoolchildren would clamor for literacy with these as their end goal.

Woods, who had long had a nagging despondency about his work, sent an email from Katmandu asking his friends to send used children's books, volunteering his parents' garage as the depository. 3,000 books arrived. His alarmed father suggested he do something about the pile. So was born Room to Read and subsequently the book. Leaving Microsoft is an amusing but informative account of how Woods departed the corporate world (stock options greasing the transition) and took the leap. Room to Read is now one of the fastest growing and most effective non-profits in the United States, having built 7,000 libraries in Asia and Africa, ?? schools, delivered ?? million books, and funded ?? girls' scholarships. In addition, recognizing that delivering books in English was well meaning but somewhat misguided, Wood hired local writers and illustrators and began to publish children's books in native languages.

Why did he decide to write a book about his odyssey? Partially because his mother suggested he do so and partially because he was tired of discontent strangers asking him to coffee to have the "What's it like?" and the "Is this all there is?" chat. Although he admits the book doesn't provide a step-by-step solution to dissatisfied workers seeking deeper meaning, it does "give them something to think about." And frankly it's a great read and thus has become a great fundraising tool. A single appearance on Oprah raised $1.2 million from viewers and recruited hundreds more volunteer fundraisers. Individual donations came flooding in, like the time Wood received a fax saying, "I read your book and want to wire you $300,000." Or the child that raised $250 through a bake sale to fund a scholarship for an Afghan girl to go to school. But it wasn't a cakewalk. It took stamina and a honed business mind to pull it off. Wood makes no bones about the emotional and fiscal vicissitudes of philanthropic life, although he says he wouldn't change a thing.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, HarperBusiness (2006)
www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com
www.roomtoread.org

No book makes these vicissitudes more obvious than Jacqueline Novogratz's The Blue Sweater (Rodale, 2009). The book starts with a serendipitous tale that seems more Twilight Zone than literary device. As a teenager in the 70s, Novogratz had a sweater she wore tirelessly until some tactless boy made a cruel joke, after which the sweater was dispatched to Goodwill. Fast-forward eleven years to a street in Rwanda when Novogratz saw a child wearing, yes, her sweater-confirmed by her name still penned on the label. As a young banker who had given up a career on Wall Street to try to make a difference, it seemed to her like an omen of interconnectedness. But the omen took its sweet time to come to pass.

Novogratz had failed mortifyingly to save the world on her first attempt in Africa. The Blue Sweater begins with this failure, which is refreshing coming from someone now so wildly successful. But it's a tale of refusal to give up, of years of dedication and whetting the skills to care carefully. After seeing heartbreaking waste and ineptitude in the aid economy, Novogratz founded Acumen Fund, a new breed of non-profit venture capital fund (how's that for an oxymoron). They take charitable donations and invest the money with entrepreneurs working on housing, water and health care innovations for the poorest nations.

In Novogratz's case, however, an idea for a book turned into Acumen Fund. "I actually started writing the book in 1996," she says. "I had worked with a group of Rwandan women establishing their country's first microfinance bank in the late 1980s. After the genocide of 1994, I returned to see what had happened to the women. You can imagine how shocked I was to discover that they had played every conceivable role in the genocide. One was murdered; one witnessed the killing of her family; one delivered twins in the midst of the horrors; one actually took part in planning the genocide and was known to have incited many to murder their neighbors.

I wanted to write these women's stories, to dive into the questions of what it means to be human, what enables us to bring about incredible good as well as incredible evil. By 2001, I decided that simply telling the stories was not enough to ensure 'never again.' And so I created Acumen Fund, a nonprofit venture capital fund that serves the poor.

The Blue Sweater, Rodale (2009)
www.thebluesweater.com
www.acumenfund.org

There are other travelers tales that have made an impact, some of them not even mentioning the philanthropies the traveler goes on to found. One of my favorites is Places In Between by Rory Stewart. Stewart is one of those mid-thirties people who make you wonder what on earth you've done with your own life. While at Oxford he was tutor to Princes William and Harry. Then, jumping over a few other achievements, he worked for the British government in Malaysia, Montenegro and in wartime Iraq. Today he is a human rights fellow at Harvard, an advisor to the Obama administration and was knighted by the Queen. And, his most recent development, he is poised to become a British Member of Parliament after winning a primary. To top it all, Brad Pitt's film company has bought the rights to his life story, with Orlando Bloom rumored to fill his shoes.

But perhaps his greatest accomplishment is not that he looks like Orlando Bloom (he doesn't), but that in 2000 he decided to walk, yes walk, across India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It took him two years to cover the 6,000-mile stroll. By the time he entered Afghanistan it was at war and the Taliban were fighting from villages, which is exactly where Stewart decided to venture-in winter.

The resulting book, which focuses on Afghanistan, is one of the best travel stories of the decade. But the brilliant and unpretentious Stewart never mentions that he later returned to live in Kabul to found Turquoise Mountain, a non-profit organization that has done staggering things in the old city, including clearing tons of garbage, working to build the first sewage plant, building a school, a clinic and literacy centers, restoring 60 historic buildings and opening a traditional crafts center which produces export quality jewelry, wood carving, calligraphy and silk. "The organization now employs 550 staff," Stewart says. "And over 100 men and women are now studying specific skills, bringing back the traditional crafts."

Stewart, who believes that nation building and troop surges will not work, feels that Turquoise Mountain "Is the right kind of aid, a form of development that responds to the Afghan sense of history and pride." Why Afghanistan? "Because when walking in Afghanistan I witnessed people with such innate dignity and generosity and one the most beautiful countries on earth."

The organization has brought millions of dollars into the country and engendered the right kind of loyalty from Afghans. And that's even without an Oprah appearance. Note to Oprah: Here's a man to watch. At the rate he's going, he might well be England's next Prime Minister.

The Places In Between, Harvest Books (2006)
www.rorystewartbooks.com
www.turquoisemountain.org