Someone who inspires me - Hugh Evans - at the Australian Rotaract Conference, Melbourne (24-25 Sept 2011)

This weekend past, (24-25 September 2011) I had the privilege of attending my first National Rotaract Conference, and meeting a number of young and enthusiastic Rotaractors from all over the country. It was held in the beautiful City of Melbourne, at the Jasper Hotel.

One of the highlights of this trip for me, was listening to Hugh Evans. Co-founder and CEO of the Global Poverty Project and campaign; Hugh is a leader in a class of his own, and someone whose humility and simplicity left me both in awe, and completely inspired. Enough cannot be said about the amount of good work his ideas and actions have accomplished. 

Hugh went to a third world country when he was very only 12, and experienced something that was both simple and profound. While sleeping with others in a hut, and seeing the conditions in which they lived -  he came back determined to do something about it. 

He simply questioned that moment - Why did someone have to live through conditions that were so bad, when it was only by chance that they happened to be born on the other side of the world?

With only a strong will to do something about a circumstance he cared about so passionately, he managed to gather a group of like minded individuals and turn his idea into one of the worlds biggest and most well known campaigns. 

'Make Poverty History' is a campaign that has not only been now attached to popular culture but has provided the larger picture to people who would never have known otherwise. It has become the largest anti-poverty campaign this world has seen and what started as an idea in the mind of a young boy has now grown into a massive and ever-growing campaign with volunteers all over the world and a repertoire that demands attention. For his work, Hugh was recognised as Australian of the year in 2004 and since then has done so much more for the cause, including previously setting up the OAKTREE foundation and much more. 

During the course of this presentation, Hugh asked us key questions. Some of them were - how can we change the current situation? Why do these people live like they do? How and why does poverty exist? 

We discussed with him and between ourselves at times, the issues of dealing with a standard of living so low, that some conditions are actually hard to even imagine for us living in these beautiful surroundings. Can we realistically DO something about it?

These questions triggered in me that sense of looking beyond oneself - something he has done so well by asking and confronting the key question of - why do human beings on the other side of our world have to grapple with things that we, on this side take for granted?

Why must innocent children die? Why must the leaders who are supposed to take care and lead the nation give in to corruption and consequently create an aggravated state of dismay for their people?

Hugh is testimony that for the ones who misuse their power, we also have a massive number of people who are willing and able to change what we might conceive as inevitable state of reality.

Whilst he spoke to us, I had a real sense that every word was straight from the heart, and that this cause was not just not something he was rallying for the the people - but something that came from himself - totally self motivated with a genuine intention to make a change.

Indeed, the world is a better place because of such persons who choose to look beyond themselves and consider the other human being. I cannot help wondering what it would be like without them, the ones who believe in a better tomorrow for the rest of the world.

In my mind, they are the keepers of the sacredness of the human spirit, the ones that believe that a human life is precious and needs to be protected, nurtured, not trashed as though it is nothing. 

Why do they care? Simple because they choose to. Within themselves, they choose to see the unfairness and the injustice that exists in society and they then consequently choose to address the issues, ask the hard questions and then being the best leaders go into that space where few of us dare to venture. 

What a blessing, to have them imagine our world into a better tomorrow,

What a blessing, that they live their lives in search of and actively pursue that 'better tomorrow'. 

To be that kind of person - maybe the main call of our day and age? We can only strive to be. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z4E50IfeUjo