U.N. Advisor Urges Villanova Students To Commit To Good Deeds
By Kim Glovas
VILLANOVA, Pa. (CBS) -- Villanova University is about to mark its eighth annual "St. Thomas Day of Service."
The work begins Saturday, but students also got some inspiration on Thursday evening from a well-known visiting human rights advocate.
Chris Mburu is a senior human rights advisor with the United Nations. But he's been working on human rights for 20 years, first in his home country of Kenya, then at Harvard University Law School, and then with such organizations as Amnesty International and Global Rights.
He says doing service is the gift that keeps on giving.
"Today, we keep thinking that if we give it all away we'll have nothing, but in actual fact what I've discovered in my years of philanthropy is that the more I give away, the more I actually get -- not just in material terms but in terms of satisfaction, life gratification," he says.
Mburu grew up poor in a small village in Kenya, and his education was provided by a woman in Sweden who heard about his case. He says that small act changed his life, and he adds that it can happen every day by each individual in one small way.
