Description

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""If I Had a Water Buffalo"" poignantly explores the critical difference in outcomes when offering a hand up rather than giving a handout. A seemingly simple request for a water buffalo by an impoverished rice farmer proves to be the catalyst for Dr. Fitzgerald's global and unending journey in search of a better way to meet the needs of people less fortunate. Woven with both triumph and tragedies, encompassing undertakings in Indonesia, Eastern Europe, South America, and Bangladesh; ""If I Had a Water Buffalo"" artfully lays out why the approach to helping those in need must incorporate the personal empowerment of the beneficiaries over charity often creating harmful dependency.

About the Author

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Marilyn A. Fitzgerald, Ph.D., is first and foremost a compassionate individual drawn to the needs of the less fortunate across the globe. As a result of her extensive fieldwork and research at the grassroots' level of economic and community development, she has become a highly sought speaker, radio guest, and expert consultant in the areas of sustainability, stakeholder negotiations, microfinance and evaluation of project outcome maximization. Dr. Fitzgerald is a clinical psychologist in private practice and has also earned an MBA and president of Common Ground Solutions, LLC. consulting with various organizations.