Two generous Stanford Alums shared their stories about grappling with tough questions around poverty, faith and service. Hopefully, their experiences will prove thought provoking as you prepare for the forum, and for your life.
Stories from Stanford Alums
David Klaus
David grew up in Michigan. His mother, who was a doctor, took him to Peru to live for a year during high school. She wanted to give him the chance to practice his Spanish and experience life outside of what she described as "cloistered America." In Peru, David discovered an entirely different world. "It really messed me up," he says, "I kept thinking and thinking about it." He gained a strong sense that fighting poverty must be his calling. At the time he was very interested in math and science as well as theater and at the end of high school he attended a Christian conference called Urbana, during which he felt called to study engineering. That fall, he started his engineering degree at Northwestern University where he also continued to act in plays.
"All four years of college were this fruitless search for me," he says, "I kept trying to put things together. But I couldn't." Just before graduating, he was pressured into applying for some fellowships. He found one that he felt sure would unite his conflicting interests and give them meaning. That fellowship was called "Engineering for Sustainable Development." But although he was accepted into the program, he was not given any money to complete it. Heartbroken, he started thinking about going to Stanford because they had unexpectedly offered him five quarters of time to figure out what he wanted to study. In a moment of crisis, he took a long run around lake Michigan. By the end of the run, he had decided to go to Stanford. "If I'm going to tread water," he reasoned, "I may as well as do it at Stanford, in good weather."
The first year of graduate school was miserable. None of his studies felt applied enough. But, in his second year, he took a class on design for the developing world. Over the course of the class, things started to fall into place. He saw his love of math, science, and designing things unite with his love of theater and understanding deeper human needs. He quit the PhD program and started studying product design. As a part of one of his classes, he worked with a company called Proximity Designs, a non-profit in Myanmar that designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells irrigation tools to rural farmers. "They are so industrious," he says of his customers, "but they often have no access to the tools they need to compete."
Today, David feels fulfilled and challenged by his daily work. He loves designing things, and he's always been profoundly bothered by the fact that almost all of the cool products designed in the world are exclusively for the rich. He does find a weird tension in his living situation, however. "I came to this country to help the poorest of the poor," he says, "and yet I am living as one of the richest of the rich because there are only certain places foreigners can live."
An Interview with Matt Lee
1. What exactly is the work you are doing right now?
Right now, my work is focused on improving sanitation and hygiene at the household level with a market-based approach. In essence, I'm a toilet salesman (I sell other products like hand-washing stations too, but you get the gist). However, because my organization believes that we can only empower those in poverty to lift themselves out, a lot of my work focuses on developing the staff that I work with as well.
2. How did you get into the work you are doing?
I got into this work through a class called "Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability", or EDEA, at Stanford. I had gotten the opportunity to test out the product we developed in the EDEA class at Nuru's project area in Kenya, and it was there that I got to meet the Nuru staff. While there, I was very excited by their mission and thought, "Gee, I think I'll donate to them when I get back to the states". However, one of the staff asked if I was interested in the Water and Sanitation position, because they thought that I was a good fit for the position. I told them that I would think about it, because it was really exciting to me, but I knew that my wife would never go for it. Of course, as God would have it, Jen, my wife, was more excited than me about this possible opportunity. We had not planned on development work as possible careers, but felt God calling us towards this opportunity. So, despite our previous plans for life, I applied
for the position and we were able to serve God's people here in Kenya.
3. Could you articulate why it is you do what you do?
If you mean why I was attracted to Nuru's mission, I think it was the fact that the success of the organization rests in the hands of the Kenyans. Although we give them advice and help, in the end, we think it is up to the leadership of our Kenyan staff to lead the community out of poverty, not us.
4. What do you wish Stanford students knew? What are the most important things you have learned since you graduated?
Hmmm, well, I won't speak for all Stanford students, but I can speak to the things that Jen (my wife) and I have learned. One of the biggest things God has shown us is His heart for people in poverty. I think Jen and I always knew in our head that there are people living on less than a dollar a day, who don't have proper sanitation, and who walk hours to fetch water, but until we saw it here, and befriended people who are in poverty, we didn't see the problem of extreme poverty from God's perspective. I mean, we'll never fully see it from His perspective, but we feel like He is beginning to open our hearts. Another thing is, God doesn't seem to like to reveal all His plan. He seems to like letting us know just enough for the next step.
David grew up in Michigan. His mother, who was a doctor, took him to Peru to live for a year during high school. She wanted to give him the chance to practice his Spanish and experience life outside of what she described as "cloistered America." In Peru, David discovered an entirely different world. "It really messed me up," he says, "I kept thinking and thinking about it." He gained a strong sense that fighting poverty must be his calling. At the time he was very interested in math and science as well as theater and at the end of high school he attended a Christian conference called Urbana, during which he felt called to study engineering. That fall, he started his engineering degree at Northwestern University where he also continued to act in plays.
"All four years of college were this fruitless search for me," he says, "I kept trying to put things together. But I couldn't." Just before graduating, he was pressured into applying for some fellowships. He found one that he felt sure would unite his conflicting interests and give them meaning. That fellowship was called "Engineering for Sustainable Development." But although he was accepted into the program, he was not given any money to complete it. Heartbroken, he started thinking about going to Stanford because they had unexpectedly offered him five quarters of time to figure out what he wanted to study. In a moment of crisis, he took a long run around lake Michigan. By the end of the run, he had decided to go to Stanford. "If I'm going to tread water," he reasoned, "I may as well as do it at Stanford, in good weather."
The first year of graduate school was miserable. None of his studies felt applied enough. But, in his second year, he took a class on design for the developing world. Over the course of the class, things started to fall into place. He saw his love of math, science, and designing things unite with his love of theater and understanding deeper human needs. He quit the PhD program and started studying product design. As a part of one of his classes, he worked with a company called Proximity Designs, a non-profit in Myanmar that designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells irrigation tools to rural farmers. "They are so industrious," he says of his customers, "but they often have no access to the tools they need to compete."
Today, David feels fulfilled and challenged by his daily work. He loves designing things, and he's always been profoundly bothered by the fact that almost all of the cool products designed in the world are exclusively for the rich. He does find a weird tension in his living situation, however. "I came to this country to help the poorest of the poor," he says, "and yet I am living as one of the richest of the rich because there are only certain places foreigners can live."
An Interview with Matt Lee
1. What exactly is the work you are doing right now?
Right now, my work is focused on improving sanitation and hygiene at the household level with a market-based approach. In essence, I'm a toilet salesman (I sell other products like hand-washing stations too, but you get the gist). However, because my organization believes that we can only empower those in poverty to lift themselves out, a lot of my work focuses on developing the staff that I work with as well.
2. How did you get into the work you are doing?
I got into this work through a class called "Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability", or EDEA, at Stanford. I had gotten the opportunity to test out the product we developed in the EDEA class at Nuru's project area in Kenya, and it was there that I got to meet the Nuru staff. While there, I was very excited by their mission and thought, "Gee, I think I'll donate to them when I get back to the states". However, one of the staff asked if I was interested in the Water and Sanitation position, because they thought that I was a good fit for the position. I told them that I would think about it, because it was really exciting to me, but I knew that my wife would never go for it. Of course, as God would have it, Jen, my wife, was more excited than me about this possible opportunity. We had not planned on development work as possible careers, but felt God calling us towards this opportunity. So, despite our previous plans for life, I applied
for the position and we were able to serve God's people here in Kenya.
3. Could you articulate why it is you do what you do?
If you mean why I was attracted to Nuru's mission, I think it was the fact that the success of the organization rests in the hands of the Kenyans. Although we give them advice and help, in the end, we think it is up to the leadership of our Kenyan staff to lead the community out of poverty, not us.
4. What do you wish Stanford students knew? What are the most important things you have learned since you graduated?
Hmmm, well, I won't speak for all Stanford students, but I can speak to the things that Jen (my wife) and I have learned. One of the biggest things God has shown us is His heart for people in poverty. I think Jen and I always knew in our head that there are people living on less than a dollar a day, who don't have proper sanitation, and who walk hours to fetch water, but until we saw it here, and befriended people who are in poverty, we didn't see the problem of extreme poverty from God's perspective. I mean, we'll never fully see it from His perspective, but we feel like He is beginning to open our hearts. Another thing is, God doesn't seem to like to reveal all His plan. He seems to like letting us know just enough for the next step.