In the Small Places

This inspiring book endorsed by Jane Goodall is about Teachers Without Borders founded by the author in 2000 to connect teachers to information and to support each other in local projects; sharing valuable information is the soul of teaching. Its membership now spans 177 countries and highlights practical teacher initiatives worldwide. The founding principle reflects Eleanor Roosevelt’s remark that universal human rights begin in small places, close to home. The author tells his own remarkable story and relates stories of many teachers and people with whom he has interacted. Crucially, these teachers show up to bring improvements to the world in terms of health, peace, skills development, volunteering, earthquake recovery and community building. There is a particularly powerful encounter at the UN between Elie Wiesel and Jacqueline Murekatete, whose entire family had been butchered in the Rwandan massacre. ‘What happened to ‘never again?’, she asks. Wiesel replies that he has dedicated his life to preventing it from happening again and remarks: ‘I know this: we cannot hate in return. There is something even worse than hate. The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.’ (p. 162)