Imponderables: Why do some people escape poverty?

Regular readers of News Cut probably have surmised that I like to ask questions that have no answers, in the hopes that the ensuing discussion can make it easier to at least begin to sort it out.

A new post on TED about a woman who escaped a Nairobi slum, and pursues dreams of becoming a doctor raises an old question: Why do some people escape the most unimaginable challenges and succeed and others don’t? Is it just luck? Or something else?

Some comments attached to the video raise a more intriguing question: Does telling the story make us less inclined to solve the underlying problems of poverty?