@AC10.33
"Both of them are sitting on huge piles of cash which would make a huge difference.
Bill claims to give away his fortune yet he's still the worlds richest man."
That took a lot of thought and analysis didn't it. I guess as much as you put into your daily work.
Firstly, as point out on this thread he is not richest - Slim is supposed to be - and if you check out the other in the top ten - tell me how many of them are spending time and effort to get money to areas that can make a difference?
Sultan of Brunei, Saudi Royal family - compare and contrast? - they are of course surrounded with philanthropic actions.
Closer to home, what is your annual donation to actions that help others and do not return any value other than a feeling of moral well-being?
As a lot of the discussion on this thread has been about Africa I shall give my experience/view
I went to South Africa in the very early 70s to work at a mine (white coated engineer, not 2 miles down in the heat and dust, then working for an NGO before they were called that in the 80s and then a few years ago back to SA to as a very highly paid contractor something to do with cell phones. At each time I went 'bush' and had a great time in the red dust and meeting wonderful people who whatever their status were warm and welcoming. In a village deep in the savannah or in a township. And my overall PoV they are educated (not in a mid-western university way - in an appropriate local way) and they know how to conduct their lives (surprising innit, they been doing for 000's of years) and don't need some dumb fuck like me telling them what to do they just need in some cases the freedom to do what they need and in some cases help because the western world has come in and changed their circumstances - ie the malaria nets as they have moved to an unsuitable area.
As for cell phones and computers they do not need a white geek helping them, the take up is massive and organised locally by small firms using local distribution methods.
As you are all computer nerds, one of the best things you could do is find a local (in Africa) company and ship your used but newish computers out there where they are stripped down and rebuilt
Yes they do use Windows but let us say the licensing is floral - I guess Bill will know as he has travelled over there.
I send my company's 'excess stock' to a one man band in Alexandra township outside of Johannesburg (they are all just outside Johannesburg) where he is connecting all the tin huts.
The above is a massive generalization and so is wrong mostly – a bit like trying to sum up South America, Cancun to Terra del Fuego