Dear Congress, Mr. President:
My name is Joanna Leigh and I am 39 years old. I was raised by a single mom who worked full time and went to school at night, obtaining 2 Master’s degrees. We have lived most frugally, and I have worked since I was 16 yrs old. I worked full-time through my B.A, my M.A in Psychology, and my Ph.D. I have never taken from the government, nor relied on a private bank loan until I switched my Ph.D. from International Psychology to International Development, and lost all my credits, forcing me to start over. I owe $36,000. Less then the cars you drive. However, in this economy, where I am apparently “overqualified” and with exorbitant interest accruing, it is spiraling out of control. The saddest part is that I have devoted my education and life’s work to giving back to the society I never took from. I saw the egregious waste of the UN Millenium projects on poverty reduction, the catastrophic World Bank loan system, and the disastrous economic approaches to culturally based developmental problems. So I devoted my education and every bit of available income and energy to designing a new model of poverty reduction and putting it into action since 2006. I have never received a salary for my efforts. My health insurance does not cover my vaccines when I go to East Africa. I eat rice and beans every day, shop at thrift stores, use my grandmother’s furniture, and live upstairs from my mom. My joy: the clinic we built in an isolated town services 13,000 people. The village banks we seed create micro-loan opportunities for hundreds- with 100% repayment rate. There is no price on seeing children educated, women learning their rights, the rates of HIV going down. I recently received a bill informing me I was to pay $900 a month in loans. It came the same day as my insurance denials for covering the numerous injuries I sustained in the Boston Marathon bombing. I am sending it back to you, members of Congress, Mr. President. For the following reasons: 1. I have never asked what my country can do for me, I have always asked what I can do for my country. I have never taken, only given. Even during the Boston Marathon bombing, when I was injured myself, only a few feet from the 2nd blast, I stayed and provided triage to two men who were injured far worse than I was. My health insurance is not covering the cost of my vision or hearing loss, skin treatments, or acute PTSD. And I would still stay and assist the wounded. Because I am THAT kind of American.
2. When a student enters a field that serves the public, particularly if she receives no compensation for it, she is making the world a better place. The salaries that tend to be paid at many non-profits are usually small. To require non-profit workers to repay loans is to essentially ensure people will not wish to become non-profit workers, as we will NEVER get out from the rating. As a society, we should want people to become workers for the greater good, particularly as our corporations and Congress are NOT doing their part to create and enforce measures that make our society healthier, safer, and more economically stable. I would have more sympathy for Congress if they didn’t run off for “recess” like children in school leaving 12 bills on their desks. Or had they listened to the 90% of America who demands gun background checks, rather than the corporate interests who put money in their campaign coffers.
The time is NOW to start creating the kind of society we wish to live in, not only through our words but through our actions. I have done that in a dedicated and mindful way for my entire life. I am the American dream. So along with my Federal loan papers, which I will never be able to pay back as they spiral into the hundreds of thousands with interest, I will send on my medical bills accrued from the Boston Marathon bombing. As a special treat, I will also send on the leather boots I was wearing that day. I have been too traumatized to touch them; however, since you all make the decisions that affect our intelligence programs (ThinThread vs. Trailblazer), our healthcare, and our student loans, maybe you should see the consequences of your actions. They will arrive in a biohazard case as they have building debris, blood (not mine), and bits of flesh on them. One of the men I triaged lost his foot. It came off in my hand. I grew up understanding that our government was elected by the people, acted for the people, and served at the will of the people. I am wondering when a single one of you will be as good an American as I am?
Joanna Leigh, Ph.D.
Founder, Executive Director, Moyo International 501c3
www.moyointernational.org
Joanna Leigh, PhD May 14, 2013 Boston, MA