8/31/2014 For These 2 Women, the Lottery of Birth Decides Opportunity - NYTimes.comhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-for-these-2-women-the-lottery-of-birth-decides-opportunity.html?_r=1 1/3http://nyti.ms/ThROvCSUNDAYREVIEW | OP-ED COLUMNIST | NYT NOWSo Similar, So DifferentJUNE 21, 2014Nicho las KristofREADERS often ask: Why do I travel to places like Sudan or Myanmarwhen we Americans have so many challenges at home to worry about?As Janessa put it on my Facebook page: “Shouldn’t we take care of theissues within our own borders BEFORE we try and fix everyone else’s?”It’s a fair question, and it comes up often now. We’re weary with theworld, and so many humanitarian problems seem insoluble. We’re readyto turn inward.Yet perhaps an encounter last month in Myanmar on my annual “win-a-trip” journey, with a college student in tow, can help answer thequestion.The winner of my contest this year was Nicole Sganga, a 20-year-oldNotre Dame student. One day, we hiked into the remote village of YaeThay, far from any road, and we met a woman named Sajan, also 20.We stopped and chatted, meeting her children and talking about heraspirations. Nicole and Sajan are both bright, hard-working and fun-loving, and they got along well. But their lives could not be more different— a reflection of the lottery of birth.8/31/2014 For These 2 Women, the Lottery of Birth Decides Opportunity - NYTimes.comhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-for-these-2-women-the-lottery-of-birth-decides-opportunity.html?_r=1 2/3While Nicole grew up in a middle-class family on Long Island, N.Y.,thriving in school, Sajan dropped out at age 10 when her father died. “Icouldn’t afford to go to school after that,” she explained.Sajan, a model of resourcefulness, resilience and tenacity, became acook to fishermen and married at 13, traded for a bride price of one cow.She has two daughters whom she aims to send to high school, but shewants sons because, she explained, “a boy is better than a girl.”She has never seen a dentist. She wears lipstick but has no television,no radio and even no electricity. She has never ridden in a car, and shedoesn’t have a bicycle to get around. Her wardrobe consists of two sarongsand four tops, but no shoes or sandals; she goes barefoot.Sajan says she can leave the home only with her husband’spermission. She loves her husband but declined to say whether he beatsher. She added reflectively that a husband should beat his wife if shedisobeys him.Nicole told Sajan bluntly that she didn’t intend to marry until at leastthe age of 30. We wondered if Sajan would disdain such a lifestyle, but sheimmediately said: “I’d like to trade with you.”She also estimated that a highly educated young woman like Nicolewould get a huge bride price — at least five cows. That was perhaps a signof the premium villagers place on educated girls.(In another village, a man offered 100 cows for Nicole if she marriedhis son. Nicole gently explained that she was not for sale.)Sajan and other villagers draw their drinking water from open pondsand mud puddles, because there is no well available. The result is sickness,parasites and death, especially among children.No one in the village uses contraception, and it’s not clear how manyare even aware that it exists.It was eerie to watch Nicole and Sajan talk to each other: Two youngwomen, born at almost the same time, both with talent and dreams, bothseizing opportunities, yet only one in a context in which her abilities cancome fully into play. It was a reminder of a basic truth of life: Talent isLogin to receive$10.00 Cash Back$20.00 Cash BackSome exceptions may apply8/31/2014 For These 2 Women, the Lottery of Birth Decides Opportunity - NYTimes.comhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-for-these-2-women-the-lottery-of-birth-decides-opportunity.html?_r=1 3/3universal, but opportunity is not.That’s one reason I encourage young people to travel outside theircomfort zones: From afar, it’s often easier to see our own privilege — andresponsibilities.There has been a much-needed focus this year on inequality in theUnited States, with even Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of GoldmanSachs, saying that inequality is destabilizing America. But, of course, thegreatest deprivation is in Asia and Africa, and it’s still far cheaper to createopportunity in poor countries than in rich ones.Vaccines save lives. Iodizing salt raises I.Q.’s and reduces mentaldisability. Wells, bed nets and deworming improve health. Familyplanning would help the 215 million women worldwide who yearn for away to avoid getting pregnant. Education allows people to transform theirown lives. These are all bargains.In some quarters in America, it’s considered glamorous to volunteer inTanzania, but not to mentor a child on the wrong side of the tracks. That’smyopic. But I think it’s also shortsighted to insist that we solve all of ourown problems before beginning to address those abroad.Compassion shouldn’t depend, one way or the other, on the color ofone’s skin — or passport. We can, albeit unsteadily and uncertainly, trysimultaneously to chip away at problems both here and abroad —spreading opportunity so that the Sajans of the world are as empowered asthe Nicoles.I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, On the Ground. Please also join me onFacebook and Google+, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.A version of this op-ed appears in print on June 22, 2014, on page SR11 of the New York editionwith the headline: So Similar, So Different.© 2014 The New York Times