Bottomless Well of Need

"It is easy to be overcome by the sheer size of the challenge facing us at New Rivers. In many ways, I have found a bottomless well of need."

This week's blog focuses on the ethos of New Rivers. Read on to hear from Manfred Ewikowski, one of our Directors, as he shares a part of his personal response to the bottomless well of need.

The truth we can find in the movies

In many ways I am a typical member of Generation X in that much of my worldview has come from the movies I watched growing up. One of the movies that has stuck with me over the years, or at least a phrase from a movie, comes from a movie called With Honors. This comedy with Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci is well worth watching. The statement that stood out to be from this movie is the title of a thesis that Brendan Fraser's character is writing 'The Bottomless Well of Need'. For some reason this phrase has stuck with me for many years. 

The idea of a bottomless well of need is particularly poignant with respect to the work that I am involved with at New Rivers Enterprises. New Rivers has a mission to make slavery obsolete through disruptive and sustainable business practices. However, the breadth of slavery throughout the world can be overwhelming when looking at the needs and human suffering it causes. It is easy to be overcome by the sheer size of the challenge facing us at New Rivers. In many ways, I have found a bottomless well of need.

Hopeless and Overwhelming

I am sure that I am not the only one who faces a hopeless or overwhelming situation. In fact, I often try to avoid looking directly at these situations. I turn a blind eye to various television ads seeking donations to address a myriad of human sufferings around the planet. Too often, I think that the little I have will make no difference to what appears to be a bottomless well of need. So I simply do nothing. I am pretty sure that I am not alone in experiencing what has been called 'compassion fatigue'.

The question becomes 'What is a reasonable thing to do when faced with a bottomless well of need?'. My privileged life in Australia is in many ways a life of excess, whether or not I want to admit it. Yet, too much of the world is in cycles of poverty and need. Clearly, something is wrong with humanity as a whole. I know that I cannot fix the human condition, nor is depriving myself or my family of what we need a sustainable or wise solution. Jesus even commented, when confronted with the use of resources and money, that the poor will always be with us. It appears that bottomless wells of need have existed for quite some time.  

Is the answer simple?

Perhaps the answer is more simple than we want to admit. There is a well known story which I will probably paraphrase quite poorly. It is the story of a boy on a beach where thousands and thousands of starfish have washed up on shore. These starfish are slowly dying. The boy picks up one starfish and throws it back into the sea. He then picks up another starfish and throws it into the sea and continues to do so. An old man comes onto the beach and sees what the boy is doing. He walks up to boy and asks him what he is doing. The boy replies that he is saving the starfish. The old man rebukes the boy for his foolish attempt to take on a task which he will never be able to complete. He finishes his rebuke of the boy by saying, 'What difference do you think you can actually make to all these starfish?'. The boy simply replies, 'I am making all the difference in the world to this one', as he throws another starfish back into the sea. 

There is a profound wisdom in this story which we often miss. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Doing nothing achieves nothing on the misguided view that 'unless I can empty the bottomless well of need there is no point in helping at all'. My suggestion is to do something and see what happens. Throw a stone into a well of need, by helping someone, and you might find that the well is not bottomless. Why is that realisation significant? A well that is not bottomless can be filled.

How can one person fill a well that is so deep it appears to be bottomless? They cannot - so another approach needs to be taken. New Rivers is an example of a different approach.  The idea that first came to us was to make slavery obsolete (a bottomless well situation). We then started thinking about a way to approach the issue of slavery without pitting our limited resources and capacity against a global problem. How could we do more than free slaves? How could we make sure that our resources would not inadvertently fund slavery by compensating slave owners through redeeming slaves who are then replaced by more slaves? We wanted to make sure that we weren't inadvertently making the slavery well deeper.

The Questions (and Answers) Keep Coming

We then asked the question, 'How could we stop the use of slaves?. Buy the business and then run it without slaves. Then like the boy on the beach, buy another business and run it without slaves. When then realised that running businesses without slaves can still be profitable. Suddenly, we realised that we could effectively bring a bulldozer to the beach and start pushing in hundreds of starfish back into the sea at one time. Or if you prefer the well metaphor, we could start throwing larger rocks into the well to start filling it up quicker.  The well now does not appear bottomless. It is still really, really deep but not bottomless.  Global slavery is too big for our company to address on its own. So why do we keep going?

I admit that I do not expect slavery to be relegated to history within my lifetime. The next question is then, 'Why should I keep going?'. The answer was to change the timeframe and look for ways to multiply. 

We refined the timeframe from making slavery obsolete to making slavery obsolete in three generations. In other words, 'What can I do to ensure that slavery becomes a thing of the past during our grandchildren’s lives?'. Make sure application of the idea can be replicated by others. Therefore, the work needs to make sense and be sustainable. Enter the profits.  At New Rivers, we are comfortable with profits which do not come at the cost of human suffering. This approach may result in smaller returns on investment but there are returns on investment all the same. Back to the well metaphor. Both large and small rocks can be used to fill a well.

Multiplication (Don't Give Up)

What if what we are doing at New Rivers sparks other entrepreneurs, businesses and investors to do the same?  I do not think that it is unreasonable for businesses and individuals to accept lower profits, not no profits, in exchange for not profiting through human suffering. Keep in mind, in many instances the lower profits are only in the short-term.

New Rivers is also looking for more people to join us in filling the slavery well of need.  Investing in New Rivers is a simple way to join us in filling this well. For other ways you can be part of what we are doing follow this link.

Perhaps you or your business is working in the anti-slavery space in other ways. In that case, please keep doing what you are doing. New Rivers is not going to fill this well alone - we are stronger together.

Perhaps you know of a different well of need? In that case, start doing something. Find a way to fill it without digging it deeper.

Whatever you do, do not become overwhelmed by the myth of the bottomless well of need. We have chosen at New Rivers to not be overwhelmed by the enormity of the issue of slavery, but to do our part. New Rivers is not a large company in the sense of its directorship and its leadership structure. Currently, New Rivers consists of 6 directors, passionate investors and a phenomenal team in Pakistan. I do not know what the future holds but I believe that it will be brighter, perhaps not entirely in my lifetime, because I am part of a group who chooses on a daily basis to not be overwhelmed by the needs we see.  

My hope is twofold for New Rivers. Firstly, that we succeed in bringing change to the slave based industries that we work in. Secondly, my hope is that the approach that New Rivers takes will become contagious. New Rivers has a strange approach when it comes to our intellectual property. We really hope someone copies us again and again and again. More than that, we hope that you improve on what we are doing. That you find ways to fill the well quicker. When do you please let us know.

I firmly believe that no pit is bottomless as long as we resist the urge to do nothing in the face of great need. Find your rock, pick it up and throw it into the well. You may be surprised at what happens next.

Join Our Mission:

For more information on how you can be part of making slavery obsolete through your investment with New Rivers, follow this link to learn more and join other investors. 

We are always interested in feedback and new ideas that people may have with respect to changes that can be made at the brick factories and any other businesses that New Rivers is involved in. We look forward to hearing from you - email us at info.newrivers@gmail.com.

Pictured: Manfred, Michelle (centre) and the New Rivers Team