Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Moringa Goes Green

It is often said that the first one to be served by service, is the server. It is true. To give yourself over to service to others releasees an energy you did not recognize before, and this special energy has incredible power. The power not only to reach out to others, but to reach within yourself, and feed that place in our spirit that is the wellspring of all the goodness man can do. It changes who you are, it changes those you service, and it tips the scales a tiny bit towards having the good guys get some help. The satisfaction of knowing your efforts ease the burdens of others is a richness that Jeff and I will continue to embrace in our lives.

The most demanding part is getting started. Even this project was an unintended visitor in our lives. We invited Abu to come to our home and to Jeff's shop, without even conceiving that an entire village in Ghana would be coming with him. But instead of reluctance, we let excitement be our guide and the adventure began.

All leaders get weary. The conventional wisdom that help should be supplied to the weak is one I would like to challenge. For it is the strong too that need the help, for they are the engines and engineers that make things happen. The Moringa leadership of Abu/Jeff/Linda are struggling under the strain. This is becoming clear in our household, but fortunately we do have a new volunteer that has signed on... our lovebird Chong is assisting Jeff with his proofreading his emails, as you can see in the photo. Birds are notoriously stupid, but a smart parrot is about as smart as they get, and we are desperate for help, so Chong will be helping with correspondence. You can see Chong already at work in the photo, he is the little "green" bird on top of the monitor.

So if anyone has felt they would like to help us, but were concerned about talent or ability--remember we have just hired a parrot.