Melinda and I do an annual letter for the foundation
and this year we took a question that Warren asked us
about the progress in the ten years since he made his amazing gift.
So I asked Bill and Melinda to write a letter.
I just asked them to think back over the ten years.
What worked out better than expected, what problems did they encounter.
I find it very useful.
One thing that Warren’s very generous about is that he wants us to take risks.
And so he’s not saying you had to meet some certain outcome or I’ll be super disappointed.
However, for us the fact that we’re giving away his money
it actually makes Melinda and I even work harder.
And we really want to have Warren be very, very proud of
what we’re able to achieve because of his unbelievable generosity.
When I made the gift, I subscribe to the idea that all lives are of equal value.
What they believe. And it’s consistent with what I believe
and fortunately we have a fair number of resources to work with there.
And so our ambition, whether it’s in health, whether it’s in agriculture,
sanitation, and U. S. education,
we were allowed to dream even bigger.
And so over the last ten years we’ve seen some phenomenal results.
We’re close on polio.
We had less than fifty cases last year and we’re hoping this year will be the last year that any kid gets polio.
The idea there’s 122 million children alive,
that if the death rate had stayed the same those kids would not be alive.
You can detect when people are thinking clearly.
You know, when they have a passion for what they do, words really do come through.
The letter is at www.gatesletter.com
A lot of good news and a lot of things we still have to work on
so I hope you’ll take a look.