How many times have you discussed a problem with someone and you talked and talked and boiled it down and shrugged your shoulders in conclusion -- "I don't know what we can really do...?"
I've certainly felt that way. That's one of the challenges of leadership in general and politics specifically. Often times a problem can be so massive and so complex that we wilt out of fear and despair or we give up feeling insignificant. Some forge ahead without a big picture vision, keeping things simple and accomplishing a lot in the process; some bring help and aid and improvement to areas that need a miracle. I am as stoked as a Berkley College student that's just been to a Civil Rights march and heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr speak... I am freshly impressed in a huge way with a glimpse of quality leadership that's peered through the lens of my ears. I've actually heard a totally intelligent solution that sounds extremely well thought out.
The way the night started out was after a long day of visiting the AIDS/HIV clinic (the MildMay Centre), which was like a lifetime experience that only lasted a few hours in the morning. That was followed by a lunchtime visit with the child we sponsor (talk about a mountaintop experience) ... and that was the afternoon part of one day. That night we met on three or so tables out in the grass at the Speke Resort. Graduates or current participants of the Leadership Development Program (Compassion loves acronyms, and this one is LDP) split up and one or two sat at each table and ate with us and shared their stories.
By the end of the night I was thanking God that I was alive to experience this. It was one of THOSE special and rare times where you just feel blessed to experience it. It was a special day. You don't have to journal about it or carve the date into a tree trunk or a park bench, because you're probably going to remember the event forever. It's not the same as meeting a celebrity, where you're in awe of the person for who they are or for their compliments; although those encounters can qualify for special memories if they transcend the awe of the person into a relational tingling thing where two or more people connect and share a moment with each other as equals or one valuing another over themselves (like a celebrity might do for a child, perhaps, making that person feel special and cared for and important. This night was like one of those moments.
Our table had a bright, articulate young man named Vincent. He was raised in a family of 15 children, with a step-mom who was one of his father's other wives and was many times neglected by his step-mom, not being fed like the other children. He became a Compassion sponsored child, which quite literally and dramatically saved him. He graduated through that program and even had a conversation with his step-mom later where she apologized for not treating him right. He apologized for letting her down at times. They reconciled with each other and she was reconciled to Christ. He went on to the next-step program that Compassion wanted to tell us about. It's this Leadership Development Program where they get sponsored and have their college education paid for. Now he's an advocate for child sponsorship. He's started an alumni association that is giving back to the community and program that saved his life. Other leaders are serving others. It's an awesome program. Hundreds of young people apply for it and go through a review process that acknowledges those with leadership potential and enables them to achieve and focus that potential. It's awesome that it's here, and it's incredible that it is inspiring its participants to give back.
Another older gentleman, named Steven is one of the leaders of the LDP program here. This guy would be a helluva football coach. (Please forgive my colorful Ugandan) He is such a great and motivating speaker. I felt like our table got the world class talent and I felt like, 'Hmmm, too bad about those other tables. There's no way they could have the same level of experience that we did. We got to hear a clear, thorough, well-thought out and effective program articulated for us. We got to hear personal stories of how it works and why it works. I was reminded of a talk that I'd had with Brian Seay earlier about the LDP, where he said everyone involved pretty much thinks that the level of leadership we're seeing raised up in the LDP program means that one day the Ugandan President with be a Compassion graduate (someone who's been sponsored in the Child Sponsorship Development Program, or CSDP). I thought, 'Man, I think I just had dinner with that guy. I could totally see him leading a nation. He spoke with conviction, passion and intelligence. Again, I almost felt sorry for the bloggers at the other two tables. Surely they didn't experience such an impressive discussion as we did...
It turns out I was wrong. There was a young man named Job that those at his table later said, "I think I just met the future president of Uganda!" That is so cool.
Steven spoke at the end of the evening, summing up the LDP program as being like putting the finishing touches to a painting, or the frame that completes the big picture. You see, Compassion has programs like the Child Survival Program (CSP), which intervenes even before birth, helping the pregnant mom deliver a healthy baby and keeping both mother (or, the label that's commonly used: "caregiver") and child alive and healthy for those first few years after birth (responding to the problem of 30,000 children dying before the age of 3); and the CSDP, which keeps kids healthy and empowers them to live and perhaps thrive from the ages of 5 or so through the age of 22 or when they leave the program to join the work force; and then it has the LDP program, where they take leaders and support them through college. I don't do an adequate job of showing the brilliance of this comprehensive outlook to what Compassion does, but it's so big picture. I am thoroughly impressed.
Steven talked about leaders of integrity to serve. There model is Jesus -- the servant leader. It was just so exciting to meet and be around leaders like that. We asked him questions. He answered one particular poignant question with an emphatic finger pointed down towards the table: "Where would you rather raise your children -- the US or here?" He talked about how children in poor conditions know how to depend on God. Those with nothing know that Jesus is their everything. Those with plenty rely on themselves, making it harder to trust in God. We asked him about how people in this country could have hope. He described seeing people in the poorest of conditions having smiles on their faces. People in Africa have hope that, no matter how bad their conditions are, that maybe tomorrow will be better. It's an amazing hope that he describes as being part of who they are (like part of their DNA). It was eye opening for us, who come from an incredibly rich country and have seen such squalor and poverty up close and personal.
Man, I left this dinner late at night, walking hand in hand with my wife back to our room in a splendid resort feeling happy, full of hope, and plain out blown away by the quality of leadership, the soundness of this vision. Wow.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at February 16, 2008 11:18 PM