Often I spend time thinking of how I am going to combat the problems that even more often are present in my speech: how to fight poverty and – despite of the cliché - how to make the world a better place?

Thinking of that usually leads me to two conclusions. One: I probably won’t be able to heal the problem. Two: I care enough for these matters to let conclusion number one freeze my actions. However, there seems to be a gap in between the heart/brain’s realizations and action to promote the various social problems that I see throughout our world

At the moment we are about to enter the final month as Ford Fellows. When reflecting on the experience of the Ford Program, I realize that, besides the professional experience and more than acquiring knowledge, the entire experience served (and is serving) first, to reinforce some convictions put on hold before coming to DC and second, to bring me back to the roots where all this “helping those in need” started for me: my homeland Bolivia and the true learning experiences one has when one invests time in meeting and dealing with people.

It is not about professional lectures, not about networking, and not about a constructed short-term civic engagement. It is about the one personal form of engagement that exists within each of us and should kept always in our minds, but mostly in our hearts. Hopefully such passion is extended into our professional lives, because after all, it would make it easier to earn money.

I do not qualify though to be the example to save in heart and mind. This is the reason why my attempt to share with you all what I mean by innovative engagement will take place in the lovely small community of Chicaloma (Bolivia, of course) and it will tell the story of this quite particular young lady that happens to be my sister, Gina.

As a teen, on one of our several vacations to visit our grandmother in the small afro-descendent community of Chicaloma, Gina got involved in an enthusiastic chat with a group of female land workers taking a break from the hard journey from the harvests. The subject could not be more girlish: women’ shoes, yet the outcomes of that chat were not. The moment served as an opportunity for Gina to realize what kind of life those women experienced every day, dealing with the difficulties of the country life, having to take care of their children and land with nearly no money, and deprived from adequate supplies of their most basic of needs. Yet, they dreamed about Brazilian famous shoes.

She could not stop thinking about how to help those women and in her adolescent way of attempting to bring some joy to their lives, Gina saved money for an entire year to have the chance to see those seven women smiling, while opening the shoes boxes. Seven pairs of shoes were what her savings could get at that time. But, she had, at an early age (and here lies the example I am trying to share) determined what her life engagement would be: help improving life conditions for the people of Chicaloma.

Finding the way to do so is probably the point where most of us would freeze. Not Gina and for the next vacation, with help from the family she launched the first edition of “Campeonato Alejandro Clavijo;” (Alejandro Clavijo Championship) a soccer championship named after my grandfather, whom we never met. The idea was to develop sports-related activities for girls and boys from 7 to 14 years-old to take place periodically to give the children the opportunity to experience a social event in which they had active roles. The idea sprung from the realization that many of the children had never won an award for anything they had done. Typically, only the adults had their community championships and the only award a child could get was by being the best student in the school. Needless to say that nearly the totality of these children faced economic and social constraints and several among them were not enrolled in a school whatsoever.

Soccer was Gina’s favorite sport; it was what the kids liked and she felt her first actions should be targeted at teaching children something valuable, besides the evident fun. In her understanding, playing sports provided children with the opportunity to develop their fair play spirit and it was a way to stimulate them to give their best in an attempt of overcoming difficulties in the game. Eventually, they would learn the importance of applying this spirit in their everyday lives. Several awards were created in that sense, the Alejandro Clavijo Award being the most important, since it was given to the most dedicated and fair player of the championship.

In order to participate kids had to show commitment to their school activities. Those not yet in school got incentives (both the children and the parents) by receiving in their player-kits, also known as “bolsitas”, notebooks and school supplies, besides other gadgets. The logistics of the event relied (and still does) mainly on the family support, funding included, as the championship relied upon Gina’s personal savings and mom and dad’s help. In the very first edition, about seven years ago, with approximately 40 children the whole event was carried out basically by an aunt, two cousins, my mom, Gina and myself, with strong support from my grandmother in the kitchen, preparing the athletes meals. Yes, my family provided the kids with drinks during the day, when games took place in the local school’s open yard and sun can showering us with all its power; meals at the end of the competitions day.

In 2006, after two well-succeeded editions, Gina introduced what is now the trademark of the event: t-shirts especially designed (by her, with few of my tips and a great contribution of an Argentinean friend, who created the logo) for the athletes. In one of these great coincidences of life, back in our headquarters in Brazil she met a woman that happened to have a clothes factory that got touched by the initiative and accepted to produce the t-shirts at the minimum cost possible. During the days of the event nearly every child in town could be seen in a green “polera”; the color changes every tournament.

A second innovation, not very appreciated by the athletes (and their parents) was that at this time, no symbolic enrolment fees. An actual official enrolment fee was created. Past experiences had shown that people give more value and take things more seriously when they had to pay for it, even those with limited resources or rather, especially them. Of course it was a very accessible fee and plus, they knew well in advance the championship was scheduled so they could plan their savings (if there was a need) and make sure they could enroll. Logistics was basically the same, with the incorporation of some other relatives, perhaps stimulated by the fact that for that year t-shirts were also especially designed for family members, in a different color. This in fact, complicated the logistics of taking all this material (t-shirts and “bolsitas”) from Brazil’s HQ to Chicaloma.

At that point, one frustration persisted. No one had any idea of how to implement a goal born from the creation of the championship: link it with educational workshops with such themes as "How to brush your teeth correctly?" It was and still is hard to get dental care companies to provide material to implement the workshops, as most of them will only contribute to projects based in the country, in this case Brazil. On the other hand, most of these big companies do not have offices in Bolivia, where to go asking for donations, and no success was reached when trying to contact the near offices located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that are responsible for Bolivian region. Of course sponsors would be important for implementing several other ameliorations or up-grades to the “Campeonato”, but so far if this one need could be fulfilled, the initiative would enter another level of social outcomes.

In the last edition in January 2008 a special category was introduced as homage to our grandmother, who no longer could work from the kitchen. “Mamita, Mamita” (or Mommy, Mommy) is how Gina named it. The name, as she had to explain in the radio shows she participated, comes after a well-known song that celebrates birthdays and is widely broadcasted every morning by the main radio station in the valleys region where Chicaloma is located. Gina got known in the region. Very well-known I should say, especially among kids. Requests for interviewing her before, during, and after the event were very common, as well as requests from children of neighboring communities to compete at the Chicaloma championship. “Campeonato Alejandro Clavijo - 2008” had nearly 150 athletes, and this time friends were incorporated to the logistics team, especially to help with the arbitrage, as Gina and I were no longer capable of doing the arbitrage of all of the games. The only negative highlight was to see in the “Mamita, Mamita” category, how girls were becoming mothers at a young age. In that sense, I reinforce the advocacy for sponsors to make it possible to coordinate workshops to help address the issue, as well as disease prevention.

As you can imagine, this young woman decided a lot of fun and, yes work, into her life. She is currently planning next edition, as well as conducting other activities in Chicaloma and working. As the event is growing in numbers, fundraising becomes a key issue to the “Campi” as Gina likes to call it. Regardless of that, I hope I was capable to show my point, when talking about personal engagement.

I propose, then, that we change the name to social problems ownership. As Ford Fellows, more than monitoring the progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), I believe that all of us would be happy to meet in a few years to talk, among others, about this one social commitment that we dedicated our lives to. Our experience in DC shall play an important role in this commitment. I say it again: it is not only about the lectures, not only about the internships, not only about the classes and it not about what you shall write that will determine your accomplishments here in in DC. Washington D.C. has to be, if it is not already, about the one thing you discovered about yourself or that you confirmed about yourself. But besides that, I wish it could be about social contributions, at individual's level, for bettering the world.