If I Had a Water Buffalo poignantly explores the critical difference in outcomes when offering a hand up rather than giving a handout. A seemingly simple request for a water buffalo by an impoverished rice farmer proves to be the catalyst for Dr. Fitzgerald’s global and unending journey in search of a better way to meet the needs of people less fortunate. Woven with both triumph and tragedies, encompassing undertakings in Indonesia, Eastern Europe, South America, and Bangladesh; If I Had a Water Buffalo artfully lays out why the approach to helping those in need must incorporate the personal empowerment of the beneficiaries over charity often creating harmful dependency.