As a US native I hear a to about the state of African political and economic affairs from an outsider’s perspective. This is why it was so refreshing and interesting to hear from Dr. Kutela who researches the how a national economy can effect a child’s education. The root lies in stabilizing the income of the children’s parents year-to-year so that they don’t need to have their kids work in the field for them to make a livable income. But it was also heartening to hear Dr. Kutela’s own life story from being one of those impoverished children working on a farm to beginning 1^st grade at the age of twelve to earning a PhD in economics. I knew I was lucky to be a student at Cornell, but now even more so now that it really has been put into perspective.