WEconomy

WECONOMY

Foreword

By Sheryl Sandberg

It was my first day on the ground in India. The year was 1992 and I had graduated from college a few months before. I was working as a research assistant at the World Bank and this was my first chance to leave the air-conditioned Washington, D.C., headquarters and see what development work actually was like in the field.

I remember the heat hitting me as my colleague Dr. Salim Habayeb and I walked out of the airport. We headed toward our cab and before we made it to the door, a small boy came up to us, grabbed my leg, lifted up his shirt to show the burn marks covering his chest, and then held out his hand to beg for money. After freezing for a minute in shock, I started to reach for my purse. Salim, who had worked in public health for many years, kindly put his hand over mine and said a firm “no.” He explained that someone had likely burned this boy to enable him to beg more effectively, and if I gave him money, they would do it again. We got into the cab and drove away, tears pouring down my face.

Over the next few weeks as Salim and our colleague Maria Donoso Clark and I traveled throughout India working on a program to treat leprosy, I had many such learning moments. I met patients who had been cast out of their homes and families due to their disease. I saw acts of despair, acts of kindness, and acts of greatness—all in an environment that nothing in my childhood in Miami could have prepared me for. Most importantly, I saw how dedicated ...