American philanthropist and entrepreneur Bobby Sager doesn’t subscribe to the traditional model of charity; writing cheques from a comfortable distance.
Image: Ian Landsberg/Independent Newspapers
BOBBY Sager doesn’t believe in charity the way most people do. To him, real impact comes from being present, on the ground, face-to-face, in some of the world’s most challenging places. For more than 25 years, the American philanthropist, photographer and entrepreneur has embedded himself in war-torn zones, refugee camps, and remote villages . But he doesn't hand out aid, he helps people rebuild their own lives.
“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito,” says Sager, quoting His Holiness the Dalai lama, one of his longtime collaborators. His work spans Afghanistan, Rwanda, Palestine to name but a few. His philosophy is simple: real change happens when you show up, listen, and help people help themselves.
. Bobby Sager shows one of the striking images in his book The Invisible Sun.
Image: Ian Landsberg/Independent Newspapers
Sager doesn’t subscribe to the traditional model of charity; writing cheques from a comfortable distance. Instead, he lives in the communities he supports, getting to know the people, their struggles, and their strengths. His Sager Family Travelling Foundation and Roadshow has taken his entire family across the world, embedding them in the heart of the work. His children, now adults, grew up side by side with people who had lost everything, learning what it means to give in a way that preserves dignity. “I never give people a handout,” he says. “ I help people help themselves”
That approach is clear in his micro-lending projects in Rwanda, where he has helped women, some widows of genocide, others wives of those imprisoned for it build businesses together. “I don’t just give them money,” he says. “They have to borrow it, pay interest, and make it work. That’s respect, that’s sustainable.”
Sager is also an acclaimed photographer, using his camera to capture raw human emotion in the world’s toughest places. His book Invisible Sun is filled with striking images - child soldiers, refugee children, war survivors. All with one thing in common, hope.
“You can fake a smile with your mouth, but you can never fake a smile with your eyes”, he says. His pictures are not about suffering, they are about the power and hope and shared humanity that too often gets lost in political and economic divides.His exhibition Being Human takes the idea further, challenging audiences to confront their own biases. “We make so much of our small differences,” he says. “But we are 97% genetically identical to mountain gorillas and yet we fight over the most microscopic things”
Invisible Sun.
Image: Bobby Sagers
Speaking ahead of Human Rights Day, Sager reflects on what true human rights mean. “It starts with respect,” he says. “Leaders who think they are giving human rights have it backwards. Human rights are not a gift. They are rights.” His message to leaders or whether in South Africa or in his own country, the United States is blunt: “Who the hell do you think you are?” he says, critiquing those who treat human rights as a privilege rather than a fundamental guarantee. But leaders have a role to play, Sager believes the real power lies in ordinary people deciding to make a difference. “The world is screwed up. That is not up for debate, the question is what are you going to do about it? Nothing is not an answer.”
Exhibition
Image: Bobby Sagers
His approach may sound unconventional, but it has kept him going for over two decades. His mantra? Be selfish, go help someone. At first, it sounds contradictory, but to Sager, it makes perfect sense. “I did not start this because I felt guilty about making money. I didn’t do it because I was touched by an angel,” he says. “I did it because it makes me a better person. It gives me perspective, purpose and relationships I’d never have otherwise.” And that’s the secret, he says, to keep the work going. “If it nourishes you, you’ll keep doing it, the impact gets bigger.” For Sager, the goal is not to save the world - it is to move the needle, one person at a time. “Do something,” he says. “Then do something else and if enough of us do that, we change everything.”
Cape Argus
