Vasudha Gupta, Class X D(After reading Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life)
Keeping in mind the immense growth in technology and the breaking of social stigmas, I would like Helen Keller to meet these five people, who I think would have a great influence on her.
1. Kevin P. Corcoran
He is the CEO and president of the Eye Bank Association of America which in 2016 provided 82,994 corneas for transplant, success rate being 95%. Helen would surely be inspired by how technology can help bring sight back to blind people and perhaps Helen would invest in this noble cause and feel happy how so many sight-challenged people are now being liberated of their disability.
2. William F. Austin
He is the owner, CEO and president of the Starkey Hearing Technologies which is the largest hearing-aid manufacturer. No matter how much success he achieves, he will always be remembered for his generosity and his vision: So the World May Hear. The foundation fits 100,000 hearing aids annually. Helen would be inspired and influenced by him as he used technology for fulfilling one of Helen’s dreams.
3. Malala Yousafzai
Malala lived in a society where girls’ education was not supported. At a very young age she became an activist for girls’ education resulting in even being shot by Taliban. It is only a spirited person that can truly understand the fiery spirit of others. Helen would be inspired by her and be led to believe that no matter what the odds be, struggle can make you rise. While Helen fought physical constraints Malala fought social barricades. After meeting Malala, Helen would feel grateful for the optimism shown by her own family and teachers in helping her overcoming her physical disabilities.
4. Hemant Gupta
He is the CEO of BSE Samman. The wealthy have always been approached for charity to social causes. Taking a step further, the central government of India made it mandatory for corporate houses to invest 2% of their profits to social causes. BSE Samman is a platform where these corporates can find genuine NGO’s doing good work. This helps to facilitate the movement of a lot of money to the needy effectively and easily. Helen would be influenced by the sheer magnitude and clear planning of such a platform for charity and would then move on to channel her charity through a better platform.
5. Bill Gates
While he is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft, he now focuses most of his time on philanthropy, running the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This foundation gives grants for initiatives and programs across the globe for agriculture development, emergency relief, global libraries, urban poverty, global health, education and the handicapped. Till now Bill Gates has donated $27 billion for these causes to many organizations including UNICEF. Helen would appreciate that Bill Gates was not just focusing on a particular problem faced by a sector, like she did primarily for the deaf and the blind, but he is trying to cover all the major problems across the globe across many sectors.
