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Bright Lights, No City
So far in the book they have not convinced too many people to
get involved with their battery scheme. I really enjoy that they have
not discussed how the batteries actually work yet. I looked it up on
Google just because I was dying to know. I think that is an
interesting writing technique, to leave your audience guessing.
The entire point of the book really is not about batteries, I
think it is more about charity. There is only one line in the book
explaining how much money Whit actually has. He and his partner sold
Cranium to Hasbro toys for $75 million in 1990. He is a millionaire
many times over but has not offered a single penny to the people of
Africa. He truly believes in his endeavor to offer a step up instead
of a handout. It is a radical idea, and one that is not catching on
very quickly. Whit is married with children but spends a great deal of
his time in Africa in tiny little villages trying to sell the idea of
renting his rechargeable batteries for a dollar. It seems like an
insane idea. I have no idea where this book is going but I like being
along for the ride. When it is all said and done he better not be a
snake oil salesman or I will be incredibly disappointed. This section
of the book talks about a man making micro-loans in India and in parts
of Africa for native people to start their own small businesses. You
get a few more details of what it is like living daily in
Ghana. There is no electricity in town. There are no telephones
anywhere in town. There are very few businesses and people generally
barter for what they need. Max Alexander makes some really interesting
points about poverty, saying that the people are not really poor in
this part of Africa. He describes being poor as a relative idea. The
small villages are kept clean and tidy and everyone seems to have some
sort of responsibility during the day. He said there were no children
with big tummies starving to death in the streets or anything like
that here so there really was not true poverty in this area. Both
brothers seem to have other businesses going in other parts of the
world and are very busy. You think they would be too busy to go to
these tiny meetings under mango trees to try to personally sell their
battery idea to local villagers 20 villagers at a time. Whit simply
cannot let Ghana go and he continues to try and sell his batteries
village by tiny village. The section of the book is about other
people's experiences in Third World countries with capitalism instead
of charity.
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