COLIN POWELL AND PAUL FARMER = MY TWO MENTORS

Within the last six months, my two most important mentors and role models passed away –??General Colin Powell on October 18, 2021, and Dr. Paul Farmer just a week ago. Losing Paul last Monday was a devastating shock, but as I mourned his no longer being with us, it??caused the grief of having lost Colin to be stirred up and rise to the top again! As I reflected on who they were, the millions of lives they both saved and protected, and the impact they had on me and so many others, it immediately became clear to me how similar they were in values, styles and how they treated other people.?

Of course, Colin pursued a career in the military with incredible accomplishments and Paul followed his heart to be a physician to all of the people in the world.

They both grew up in very humble environs.??

Colin Powell was the son of Jamaican immigrants and experienced a somewhat hard life in??the South Bronx.

Paul Farmer and his family of eight lived for a number of years in a renovated, repurposed school bus that had become a trailer in a trailer park in rural Florida. After that, the family lived on an old houseboat.?

Colin fell in love with the structure and organization of the military while he was in ROTC at The City College of New York.?

Paul’s parents made sure that the children read some of the best books, which in turn, encouraged him to be a much better student. He earned a scholarship to Duke University and then on to Harvard Medical School.

By the time both of them graduated high school, neither one completely knew what they wanted to do for their future. It seemed to unfold before them. The ability to "stay in the moment" and live life presently?also struck me as a common thread between Colin and Paul. Neither of them were thinking about their next promotion or professional elevation.

Colin told me that he was perfectly content being a Lieutenant and while he was in that position, he did not have a burning desire to become a Captain, a Colonel or a General. Paul stayed in the present also by remembering??some of the Haitian migrant farmers he met when his family picked fruit?alongside of them. He learned about the deplorable conditions in Haiti and immediately took action while still a medical student but never with the thought of becoming honored in the future, as he was,?by so many organizations and societies, including by the UN as a Special Advisor and Under-Secretary General.

Both Colin and Paul threw themselves into their work with a focus on being the best they could be in their professional roles. Neither one spent a great deal of time trying to build a network so that they could be moved ahead in their vocational pursuits. Colin fought and led in several?battlefields and countries. He was seriously injured a few times.?

Paul went deeply into Haiti and took on its challenges with TB and other infectious diseases. He then transferred those experiences and skills to nations like Rwanda,?Peru, Russia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, along with addressing inequities in the US, such as in the Navajo Nation.?

As I thought about the similarity of these two leaders and friends over the last several days, they both had an unusually deep passion to help their fellow man before helping themselves.

Paul’s main theme and objective was to prove that the finest healthcare in the world could be distributed equitably to all, irrespective of economic position or status.?He once famously said: “The idea that some lives matter less than others is the root of all that is wrong with the world.”

Colin cared for every member of the armed forces and always had time to listen to anyone who sought his attention- from a Private to a Four-Star General.?

As a full-time philanthropist and humanitarian since 1989, I had worked with inner-city children and others living in poverty, mostly in the United States. When General Powell toyed with the idea of running for the Presidency in 1996, with the help of his family, he decided not to do that. He said he wanted to devote much of his time to the plight of disadvantaged and minority children in our country. I sent him a note and said he could, in that category, “go to school on the mistakes I have made.” He very nicely then invited me to Alexandria, Virginia to meet with him in his office. I was, of course, already programmed to?like him and admire him based on all I had learned about him through various forms of media. He was so humble and down to earth. In fact,?when we had lunch, we dined on the exquisite fare from Wendy’s!?

We talked about our lives, families and goals. We really struck a common?area of passionate interest in the different way inner-city and impoverished children were probably never going to get on a path where they could be very well educated, and be economically and otherwise successful in their lives. We talked about our interest in mentoring. When I was the Founding Chairman of President Bush 41's Points of Light Foundation, we had?established an organization known as Mentor.Org. The purpose of Mentor was to build and construct a movement where any young person in the United States who wanted a mentor or coach would have one. One of the systemic problems facing these children has been the lack of somebody to guide and mentor them. Colin graciously agreed to join the board of Mentor.Org.

At about the same time, President Bush’s Points of Light Foundation and President Clinton‘s Corporation for National and Community Service were discussing a major summit, with all the living Presidents, to focus on voluntarism. and to honor the late governor George Romney?who had founded “Volunteer, the National Center.”?

Even though he was reluctant to jump into a leadership role, Colin was kind enough to agree to become the Chairman of the President's Summit for America’s Future. It took place in April 1997. Presidents Clinton and Bush were honorary co-chairmen and?they were joined by President Carter, President Ford, and?Mrs. Reagan for five days in Philadelphia. There was a great deal of media coverage of the Presidents and all of us painting on Germantown Avenue and doing other acts of community service. Many governors, mayors and business leaders also participated. A document signed by all of the Presidents was filed alongside of the Declaration of Independence in Independence Hall. The document called for 2 million young people to have mentors, a safe place, full education, economic skills and a chance for themselves to give back by the year 2000. The America’s Promise Alliance was then formed and General Powell became its Founding Chairman. He and I had such a great time working together in Alexandria, Virginia starting up America’s Promise. It is not competitive with any of the other organizations but rather is a place where everybody can join and collaborate for the benefit of our nation’s youth. America’s Promise has become an association of many other youth-serving organizations in our country.

Colin went on to be Secretary of State. After September 11, he told me that the best way to prevent terrorism in the future would be to “level the playing field“ in the world. Taking his words to heart,?the staff of our family foundation and I began to research how we could help??bring about the “leveling of the playing field". After many meetings and reading as much as we could on the subject, we determined that if the world could achieve the UN-sponsored “Millennium Development Goals” by December 31, 2015 – that accomplishment would go further than anything else we were able to uncover.??Bringing about those targets would indeed level the playing field and, hopefully, help to?prevent future acts of terroristic violence. Professor Jeffrey Sachs was the architect of much of what went into those goals. He and I met and we founded the Millennium Promise Alliance, whose objective was to maximize the achievement of the MDGs.?

In the process I met Dr. Paul Farmer, whose goal was also to “level the playing field“ in all aspects of health. I was so inspired by his commitment to health equity and his brilliant thinking of how to accomplish that. We became good friends in 2004 and have worked together?on a number of global health projects, from malaria to Covid.

Having witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of malaria on children in Africa, I next concentrated my work on trying to eliminate children’s deaths from malaria. At that time malaria was the number one killer of children under age 5 in sub-Saharan Africa with approximately 1.2 million children?dying each year.??I thought to myself, “what could be more inequitable than a child dying from a mosquito bite?”??I founded an entity, with Peter Chernin, called Malaria No More in 2006.??In 2008, Ban Ki-moon, the then-Secretary General of the United Nations, invited me to be the first?Secretary General's Special Envoy for Malaria. In that role,?I sought Colin Powell‘s and Paul Farmer’s advice since they had done so much with huge populations of people. Their experience and willingness to enlighten me were invaluable.?

Paul was working in Haiti at that time and he had become the Deputy UN Special Envoy to Haiti (President Clinton was the UN Special Envoy) in the wake of the devastating earthquake. I benefitted so much as a result of learning from Paul with respect to defeating the challenges of infectious diseases in the developing world. With his advice and guidance and the unrelenting work of many others, we were able to raise many billions of dollars, provide approximately 1.5 billion people with insecticide treated mosquito nets in sub-Saharan Africa and reduced deaths of children less than 5-years of age in Africa by 70%!?

I had joined the board of the Clinton Health Access initiative and served alongside of Paul for the last eight years. I then became the Ambassador to the World Health Organization for Global Strategy and Health Financing and continued to rely on significant input and advice from both Paul and Colin. It was such a pleasure to do so?because they were two of the nicest leaders I’ve ever met, always willing to give advice and support. Also, they both were extremely quick witted with great – and sharp – senses of humor.

When I first visited Paul’s hospital in Rwanda, I learned about “accompagnateurs.”??The French word means someone who would accompany another.??In global health, the accompagnateurs became community health workers and “mentors” to the people in impoverished rural villages.??They oversee preventing illness as well as, for example, making certain that patients take the correct HIV AIDS medication in a timely manner and many similar functions.?

Colin’s work with all of the members of the Armed Forces and his dedication to making sure that every young person could have a “mentor”, a caring adult to listen to him or her, brought about the lifting of millions of children out of poverty and into productive adulthood.

Both Paul and Colin saw firsthand the value of almost everyone having a “mentor” in their lives – to guide them, to help open doors, to oversee their mental and physical health and to let them know that they had a “partner for life.”??

The work of Mentor.org and America’s Promise has increased the number of mentors in our country from several hundred thousand 30 years ago to more than five million today!??Paul’s mentors, in the form of accompagnateurs and community health workers will soon number in the millions in Sub Saharan Africa!?

Paul and Colin were so alike. Both?would tell you the truth in a way that was intended not to offend or cause harm but to be clearly candid and blunt.??At the same time,?as a result of their incredible experience and their evolved way of treating people as equal humans, no matter what rank or status in life, I learned the meaning of dealing with all others from a true point of love.

Now I feel such a huge void because I can’t turn to either of them any longer to seek their wise counsel?and experience their unconditional love. I am already missing both of them greatly but I am so eternally grateful to have had them as friends, and especially, MENTORS!