Can a single snowball be the cause of an avalanche? Can a gust of wind cause a devastating hurricane? Can a tiny domino tile have a massive impact? In a world where people despair for the lack of significant investments for solving today’s problems, this lively and engaging compilation of fresh an original writings offers the possibility of another feasible approach, starting with just a pencil.

While most may be waiting for an earth-shattering intervention to save the lives of the poor and vulnerable in Africa, a prospect which in itself is hardly realistic, an army of young, determined and motivated albeit somewhat idealistic, young writers have set themselves the bold task to literally ‘change the world’, using only their pencils. But this is not merely a wide-eyed unrealistic drive: instead it is full of the conviction that while the little drops of water may seem insignificant when accumulated in sufficient quantities they can deal a devastating blow to the world’s intractable challenges.

It is a deceptively simple process, using the humble pencil, which anyone can easily get for 5 cents. Bring together a small band of fearlessly determined children, in that exceptional microcosm of a classroom, an indomitable and stubbornly optimistic Mr Kent, a novel idea of using the simple to solve the massive, that goliaths can be felled by little Davids, an idea like a single egg, an embryo, a snowball, a domino tile or a gust of wind … but which, with time, patience, courage, and motivation, finally results in an unprecedented wave of impact that circumnavigates the world.

From the hitherto reserved Colleen who had to search maps of Africa, to Nadege in Cameroon whose poor, dying father assured her she had a beautiful mind which should not be wasted, this collection presents a rich drama uniting a wide range of people with differing personalities but united in the belief that little is not little. The support provided to poor and vulnerable children in a remote African country has immeasurable and life-transforming consequences.

But the direction of causation and impact does not run one way: like an aboriginal boomerang which returns to its sender, the pencil project not only blesses Africa, but it comes back to reward the senders. Who would have known that the simple pencils sent to Africa would not only improve an orphan girl’s education, enabling her to graduate from one of the best US universities, but that her expertise in neurosurgery was just what was ‘coincidentally’ needed to save the life of Mr Kent in the US? The therapeutic value of such a project is clearly mutual.

It is in this sense that Orr and company should be commended, not merely for directing such a demanding project, but for having the courage to believe against all odds that a seemingly simple approach to aid can ‘change the world’.

For those involved in international development, the lessons contained in this modest volume constitute nothing less than a revolution. Imagine what would happen if children in the global North embrace these simple ideas and put them into practice: the Nadege’s of the global South will not only help to develop their own poor countries but come back and bring life into the Mr Kent’s and others in the rich countries.

S.D. BANGURA,
LONDON, UK.
NOV. 2017