In the face of adversity makes many crumble and it makes others stronger. It was strength and determination in the face of adversity that took one young Peruvian boy from a childhood working on the streets to become the leader of the nation that once look at him with hopeless eyes. In 2001, Alejandro Toledo was elected President of Peru, becoming the first person of mixed Latino and Indian blood in 500 years to hold the position.

Toledo began life poor, forced to work on the streets selling cigarettes and shining shoes to help support his family. Working on the streets was Toledo's only way to pay for his education, and it was this struggle that made him appreciate where he came from and use his position to see that others do not have to struggle as he did.

“In a paradoxical way, these kids know what life means. Whatever they accumulate in the future, they will appreciate much more than children who are born in well-to-do families. If we give them the chance, they can be the Bill Gates, the Carlos Slim[s] of the world.”

Since leaving office Toledo has founded the Global Center for Development and Democracy, where he works to end inequality and poverty  in the face of some 2.5 million children who toil the streets, fields and brick factories of Peru.  The Child Laborer Who Became President ran this May in Foreign Policy, which interviewed Toldeo. In his interview Toldeo spoke on his plans to work to eradicate child labor in Peru;

Foreign Policy: “Peru's Committee for Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor has estimated that 2.5 million children, most of them under the age of 14, are working throughout the country. What is the future for these children?”

Toledo: “Child labor is something very close to my heart. I cannot be analytically objective about it, though in retrospect, it has enriched my rebellion against poverty. I became a rebel against poverty when I was 4 years old, without knowing what that meant. When I was president, it gave me strength to fight poverty.”

Alejandro Toledo is not only working to change a nation, but he is inspiring a nation and a generation. Toldeo has proven that one can not only find their way out of a childhood of poverty, but can use their struggles to teach a nation how to recover and work to prevent future generations of children from being born into the same fate.

While Toledo's life work is surely making a great impact on the future of not only Peru, but all of Latin America and the Developing world, their is a long road ahead to see that children no longer have to suffer from the effects of poverty. Children are an investment and if we are to see an end to poverty and child labor, then as a global community we must make the investment in their future, by investing in healthcare, education and nutrition for all of the worlds children.

On April 18, 2007 the Foreign Policy Association, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Americas Society hosted a New York Democracy Forum lecture on “Democracy or Populism: Responding to the Crisis in Latin America,” which featured The Honorable Alejandro Toledo President of Peru 2001-2006. To learn more about the event or to watch President Toledo's speech on the Foreign Policy's site click the following Link.