Paul Polak’s Family & Friends:
I met Paul about 40 years ago and have worked for him in various capacities ever since. He has always been amazing with his goals of helping people and expanding their opportunities.
When I first met him he was still working as a psychiatrist but had ideas other ideas for his future. Some of his projects after he moved on that I remember are:
-Donkey carts so the women in Somalia wouldn’t have to walk miles and then carry water back to their camp. They had donkeys and Paul worked with builders to figure out how to build a cart. So the builders had a new business and the water could be delivered.
-Bicycle water pumps. The water table was pretty high and Paul developed pumps that could be worked with a bicycle type pump. I forget where this took place originally but it allowed the farmers to have another crop and improve their living substantially. And the builders of the pumps had another product.
-Pipes with holes in them. The farmer could plant pipes that would water the crop by pumping water into the pipes with holes in strategic places for his crops. I think this started in Nepal (maybe). Again, it allowed the farmer to have more crops.
I remember later projects in places like India where there were jobs that required little schooling to enable people to get a job to start a paid for life. He organized schools for them.
It wasn’t long after I started working for him and he started IDE that his business grew so large he had to higher several people. I still worked on personal things but not IDE. The last things were the blueberries in Canada.
I will miss Paul Polak and all his ideas.
Mary