Joy Bryant Quotations

What inspired me most was the resilience of the Cambodian people. The country is still living with the trauma of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. People lost everything - family, friends. The rich culture of Cambodia was nearly extinguished. They are a nation of survivors. And while poverty and infant mortality affect a disproportionate amount of the people there, those I met were hopeful for the future and doing the best they can with what they had.

For instance, people who have to walk miles for water - and we just turn on the faucet and let it run. Or people right here in our country [USA] who are food insecure, and yet we as a nation throw out an inconceivable amount of food.

My grandmother instilled in me two important lessons: I was just as good as anyone else, and education was my salvation. Fortunately, I was able to get scholarships to excellent schools, but I was one of the lucky ones. All of this is what draws me to anti-poverty organizations like Oxfam.

We live in a country [USA] where the belief is that anyone can succeed, but for so many here, and for the majority of the world, that's not the case. In many parts of the world, women and poor people are at a huge disadvantage - certain rights and protections don't exist, and they don't have the chance of upward mobility.

Being involved with Oxfam has really opened my eyes to the world at large and the suffering of others. But my background and my life experience are what have allowed me to understand how interconnected we all are. I believe one person suffering reverberates throughout the world.

It's been encouraging to hear the pope talking about climate change and take it away from being a political issue to being one of survival.

Mindfulness of the resources we have and respect for where we live, eat, and sleep is a good starting point. Being conscious of your consumption, what goes in and out, will help cut down on wastefulness.

Acknowledgement: Understanding and compassion for others and their suffering is the next step. Put yourself in the shoes of people who don't have the luxury of being wasteful.

Failure isn't really an option because, as my grandmother used to say, "Nothing beats a failure but a try."

I grew up in the South Bronx, raised by my grandmother, who scrapped and scraped to make sure I had a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I was painfully aware of what it was like to live with limited resources and a certain level of uncertainty.