Mili Lechleiter's blog

There are many ways in which one can do good in the world. A career is one of them. I chose to dedicate my career to help eliminate poverty because of my upbringing. My parents exposed me since my early years to the extreme inequalities of my country. One of my earliest memories is that of my parents taking me to serve breakfast to low-income children around Christmas time. As a child I don’t think I was aware of what my parents were doing. Now I think these experiences were one of the greatest gifts my parents could have given me. They definitively shaped the decisions I made in life especially regarding my career.

My parents tried to show me poverty, but living in Lima you had to be blind not to realize how unjust my society was and still is. As a child it always felt wrong to see children my age selling candy or cleaning cars' windshields as my parents were driving me to school. At that young age I considered the reality of some children having to work while I had the opportunity to go to school unacceptable, and today I still do.

One good thing about an unacceptable reality is that there are many ways in which we can change it, or at least try. One can feel guilty about the circumstances in which you are born into: what we call privilege. From my perspective, I decided from an early age not to feel guilty about that privilege but instead use it to try to change that unacceptable reality. Using my academic knowledge and professional experience to reduce inequalities and poverty is a decision that comes from a sense of duty, it is my most basic human responsibility.

My parents worked hard to put me through the best education they could afford. They believed education was the one tool that will allow me to provide for myself and protect me from poverty. My parents were completely right; higher levels of education are linked with better health outcomes, less violence, more economic prosperity and therefore less poverty, and environmental sustainability. Education is the most profitable investment one can make in terms of time and resources. To me this is reason enough to dedicate all my efforts to help ensure education opportunities to the 260 million children that are currently not in school. At my current non-profit job, this means researching and analyzing education financing policies to ensure they are equitable and truly reach the most marginalized children.