"Some of the worst human tragedies happening in the world today go on because we don't really see them.We rarely make eye communication with people who are suffering,so we act sometimes as if the people don't exist."     The speaker is Bill Gates,the world's richest man.At a gathering in Seattle,he is talking not as the Microsoft chairman but as a partner in a strong personal duty.For Gates and his wife,Melinda,making less inequality in global health and domestic education has become a life's goal.     Having set up their foundation with close to $29 billion,the Gateses are on track to become history's greatest philanthropists .But they do more than just give money out.Experts praise the couple for their wisdom and their ability to gather others:"Even with this great contribution,"says Susan Schwab,president and CEO of the University System of Maryland Foundation,"they know they can't solve these problems alone."     Their devotion came from different sources.For Melinda,it was a vacation to Zaire.Where she was struck by meeting women in being extremely poor.For Bill,it was reading that millions of children die every year from preventable diseases."Melinda and I had assumed that if there were medicines and treatments that could save lives,government would be doing everything they could to get them to...people,"Bill said at the World Health Assembly in Geneva."We couldn't escape the cruel conclusion that...some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not."     From shock came action.They focused on the simple message that one life is worth no more or less than another.Frances Hesselbein,chairman of the non-profit Leader to Leader Institute, says:"Sometimes people give in a very fair way,but there is something about what they are doing...that is the opposite of that.It is very difficult to understand and very personal."     Both Gateses read scientific books and travel extensively in developing countries.So far, the Gateses have devoted $9 billion to global health.They share a sense of urgency."We're not doing enough in developing countries to give out the treatments and practices we know are effective in fighting diseases such as malaria,tuberculosis and HIV,"the couple told U.S.News. What made Gates' wife also a philanthropist according to the passage?
She was attacked and was saved while traveling to prefix = st1 /Zaire. She was impressed with the poverty of people in Zaire. She read that millions of children die every year from preventable diseases. She and her husband have set up their foundation with close to $29 billion.