HKL Vol 1 # 13 English

From Global Health to Education, HKL Speakers Call for a More Human Future

“If You Want to Go Far, Go Together”

Dr. Desiree LaBeaud, associate dean of global health and professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, said as a biologist, she recognizes HKL as an integrated organism serving the world.

She told the audience that she wanted to use her time to remind them of something she believes is easy to forget: Each person is pure love.

She shared an African proverb that has stayed with her through more than 20 years of work in Kenya: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

As a scientist, LaBeaud is accustomed to relying on evidence and facts. But she said facts alone cannot always change human behaviour. To change behaviour, people must change their hearts.

At the centre of her vision is the conviction that every child, regardless of where they are born, deserves the same potential for a thriving life. She said she believes HKL can become part of creating that future.

The Most Powerful Force in The Universe

LaBeaud described Humility, Kindness, and Love as deeply feminine principles, while emphasizing that they exist within everyone regardless of gender. She reminded the audience that, at our core, we are Humility, Kindness, and Love.

The world is currently out of balance and needs more of the Urging the World qualities associated with caring, connection, and nurturing. Her challenge to participants was to See Our Interdeeply personal.

connectedness had purchased far more vaccines than its population required, Pai explained, yet vaccine sharing was not carried out quickly enough. He questioned

She described the love in the conference as palpable and ar- Dr. Madhukar Pai inaugued that human connection gural chair of the Department and love can catalyze the changes the world needs.

of Global and Public Health at McGill University, told the how a country could protect itself from a pandemic while people elsewhere remained unprotected. The lesson, he said, was interconnectedness.

She concluded with a reflection on the origin of the universe. As a scientist, she often thinks about what existed before the Big Bang. She said she once thought the answer was energy. Now, she said, she believes it was love. For LaBeaud, love is the most powerful creative force in the universe.

Dr. LaBeaud’s dream for you: Take the time to fall deeply in love with yourself. Do the work to know yourself fully and love yourself fully.

Dr. Desiree LaBeaud

Associate Dean of Global Health & Professor of Paediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine (California, USA)

Dr. Madhukar Pai

Inaugural Chair, Dept. of Global & Public Health, Mcgill School of Population & Global Health (Montreal, Canada)

audience that although he had delivered hundreds of scientif-

The Right of Beic lectures, speaking at a conference focused on Humility, ing Human as a Kindness, and Love was an Non-Negotiable honorable experience.

He began with a question he regularly asks students in his global health classes: How are you feeling about the state of the world?

He displayed a word cloud created from responses from hundreds of students. The most common words included disappointed, discouraged, anxious, pessimistic, worried, and hopeless. He highlighted how the self-centred choices made by leaders leave young people asking why adults are allowing these things to happen.

Global Health Requires Global Solidarity

Pai argued that the world’s problems cannot be solved through nationalism alone. For Dr. Pai, the inability to see our interconnectedness is what bothers him most.

He used the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change as examples. Wildfire smoke does not see borders, viruses do not see borders, and climate change affects every country. “We are all global citizens,” he said. He recalled appearing on Canadian national television during the COVID-19 pandemic and urging Canada to share vaccines with other countries. Canada

He argued that before considering someone’s nationality, religion, race, gender or any other characteristic, people must recognize the person standing before them as a human being. Humanity, he said, has become disconnected from this fundamental principle.

For Pai, this is where HKL be comes especially important. He says “Humility, Kindness and Love are so scarce in this day and age.” Pai urged all leaders to be at the HKL conference.

He said these values must shape how people respond to refugees, immigrants, international students, poor communities, climate crises and people living in countries far from their own.

He concluded with a plea for people to rediscover the humanity that has been lost and to create a world in which young people can once again see adults behaving with compassion and responsibility.