Leaving Microsoft To Change the World

I just finished this great book titled Leaving Microsoft to Change The World by John Wood. John was the Microsoft Business Development Director for the Greater China Region. In 1998, he went on a long overdue trekking trip in Nepal. There he met Pasupathi, a district school administrator in Nepal.

Pasupathi took him to one of the schools under his jurisdiction, and John was surprised by what he saw. One classroom, built for 30 pupils, was crammed with 70 people. The "library" was essentially was locked shed filled with not many books, most of them which were unsuitable for grade-school children. The pupils loved to learn, but the country was poor and did not have money to provide adequate resources for education.

John wondered what could he do to help. Then the headmaster said the words that would forever change his life:

"Perhaps, sir, you will someday come back with books."

When he went back, he started a book collection drive by mailing his friends. Soon, thousands of books arrived (beyond his wildest expectations) and he was able to make another trip to donate those books. From this one trip, more opportunities came to help improve the educational opportunities of children in Nepal.

After spending some time agonizing about his life direction and his place in the universe (as he puts it), John left Microsoft in 1999 and founded Room To Read. He went through a lot of difficult challenges, but each time he triumphed and helped improve the lives of thousands of children. Today, Room To Read has helped make a positive impact on more than 3 million people's lives in 9 countries. As of 2008, they have built  765 schools and over 7,000 libraries. They have donated and published close to 6 million copies of books. When the 2004 Asian tsunami hit tand destroyed hundreds of school, John used the opportunity provided by this catastrophe to set up Room To Read in Sri Lanka.

He and his team are making efforts that are truly changing the world. It is only through education can we break the shackles of poverty, intolerance and mistrust that is preventing us from creating a true Century of Humanity. Soka Gakkai International (SGI) President Daisaku Ikeda wrote, "It is my belief that education, in the broadest sense of the word, holds the key to meeting the challenges of global responsibility and fostering tolerance...To do this, education must be a personal, even spiritual encounter and interaction between human beings, between teacher and learner."

John Wood is my hero. What he is doing is truly demonstrating what one person can do to change the world.

Learn more about Room To Read at http://www.roomtoread.org/ .