The Life of Bre

Hi, I’m Bre and I’m a believer who struggles with depression and selfishness... among other things.  (Insert “Hi Bre!” from the crowd here)

I spent four weeks this summer in Africa. For the first three of those weeks, I was part of the Leave for Change program.  Leave for Change is run by the World University Service of Canada. Through their worldwide network of partner organizations they arrange for employees, like me, to use their vacation to volunteer in a developing country.  And employers, like mine, support the program financially, along with the government.

The idea behind Leave for Change is education.  Their mandate is based on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and they expect all of the volunteers to keep these in mind as they are working.  The MDG’s are eight international goals that Canada and other United Nations member states have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The MDG’s are:

Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger

Providing primary education to all children

Promoting gender equality and empowerment

Reducing child mortality and improving maternal health

Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Ensuring environmental sustainability and creating a global partnership for development

They sound really important don’t they!?  They are.  However...... my Leave for Change assignment was to teach people about accounting.  My job description was to help a non-profit organization, the Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Program (BOCAIP), re-write their accounting policies and procedures.  It didn’t exactly sound like combating HIV/AIDS, even though officially, that was my “sector.”  Still, working on policy and procedure at least sounded sort of like I was going to be making a difference. 

Then, I arrived in Botswana to discover that the finance officer was not even in the office that week.  She was off at a training course, and the person that was there to meet me, Desiree, thought that I was there to do another job completely.  I knew from my previous trip and from the Leave for Change pre-departure training that I was going to have to be flexible.  So I chatted with some of the other BOCAIP employees and found out that they write a lot of funding proposals and the budget part of those proposals was the bane of their existence.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that they weren’t using Excel, the spreadsheet software, to its fullest capacity.  So I spent the first week training anyone that was interested on how Excel could simplify their lives.  The following week the finance officer, Osadie, came back to work.  I quickly found that she didn’t really need me to help her re-write anything.  Her system was top notch and BOCAIP’s policies were better than many companies in Canada.  What she did need though was skilled help!  You see, BOCAIP has eleven centers all over the country where they do voluntary AIDS counselling and testing, orphan day care, preschool, and support groups.  There are over 120 employees.  Any of you who have worked in an office will know that there’s lots of paperwork to go with 120 employees and 11 locations.  For example, Kemptville College, where I work, has 200 employees and 3 locations.  We have a person dedicated to human resources and payroll... 2 people dedicated to payables... 1 person dedicated to deposits and another person, me, for everything else.... and we can’t keep up.   At BOCAIP, Osadie IS the accounting department.  And on top of all the work she already has to do, there is the added difficulty of dealing with donors who want reports and reconciliations.  Big donors don’t want their money mixed with other donor’s money, so Osadie has 7 bank accounts to juggle.  Leave for Change wanted me to spend time educating her, but trust me, I learned more from her than she did from me.  I spent the majority of my time just helping her catch up – doing reconciliations and other stuff that I’d do every day at work here. 

By the time my three weeks at BOCAIP were over, I wasn’t sure how much I had really done to combat HIV/AIDS.  I knew that I’d helped Osadie make a dent in her to do list.  I knew I’d learned a lot about how dedicated the BOCAIP employees were – coming to work even when funds were low and they weren’t being paid.  I knew I’d absolutely treasured the each day’s morning devotional time with the staff.  But I really didn’t feel like I’d accomplished much......

So, off I went for my extra week in Kenya.  (How could I fly all the way to Africa and not stop in on the OK Kids partners?)  I visited the babies home and cuddled with little Anita.  I visited the tailoring school run by Richard and Monica in Kawangware slum.  I met with Pauline, our university student, who had been making bracelets and cards to send back with me as a fundraiser for OK Kids.  And I visited a new project that was introduced to us by John – the driver that OK Kids has been using forever.  He took Marc’s group out to a school in his community in January 2008.  It had a huge impact on Marc and the others, so I knew I needed to go there too.  The Gathaithi Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s Centre is entirely volunteer and donor driven.  They are not supported in any way by the Kenyan government.  Currently there are 120 kids being fed and cared for at the school.  Gathaithi’s vision is to have a safe place for the kids to stay.  Right now, they come to the school to learn and to get their meals, but they don’t all have a safe place to go at night.  They’ve done a huge amount already – starting in faith to make the renovations that they can afford from their meagre donation budget.  Sometimes though it is a struggle to even buy food, so the renovations are moving slowly.  Their plan is ambitious – $300,000.  What they need is a corporate donor and I must admit that I was feeling a little overwhelmed by their hope that I might find said donor... I still am actually.  But then, as we were leaving,  they took me to see their kitchen and dining hall.   There was an elderly woman, a volunteer, making dinner for the students.  She was smiling through the smoke as she turned the huge pile of cabbages that I’d seen earlier into a meal for the students.  That woman had to be the most creative and ingenious cook I’ve ever met!  How many things could you make out of cabbage? 

The Gathaithi board members told me that the Kenyan health inspector had been out to visit and said they would be closed down if they didn’t put a concrete floor in the dining hall.  That night when I wrote on my blog, as I did throughout trip, I didn’t even talk about how crazy I thought it was that the ministry of health would close a place feeding children who would otherwise starve for lack of a hygienic floor....  I just wrote how I wanted to do a fundraiser at work once I was back home. 

The next day, I had an email from one of my MBA classmates.  She wanted to donate whatever they needed for the floor.  In her words, “You know what; this is probably the best donation I’ve ever made. It’s brilliant to know exactly where it's going.... Aside from actually being there and doing stuff (which I still need to work out...), I’m glad I can help out with what I’ve got.” 

Amazing, huh?  There I was thinking that $700 was going to be a real challenge to fundraise, and there she was, thinking it’s the least she can do.  I thought it was funny how something that looked so huge to me could look so attainable to her. 

I recently read a book called The 2 Degree Difference, by John Trent.  It is about how small things can change everything; and there are tonnes of examples that illustrate the concept.  The one that stood out most for me is how Rudy Giuliani, during his term as mayor, started reducing New York City crime by fixing broken windows.  Giuliani’s said:

“...a seemingly minor matter like broken windows in abandoned buildings leads directly to a more serious deterioration of neighbourhoods.  Someone who wouldn’t normally throw a rock at an intact building is less reluctant to break a second window in a building that already has one broken.  And someone emboldened by all the second broken windows may do even worse damage if he senses that no one is around to prevent lawlessness.” 

You wouldn’t think that a silly little thing like fixing broken windows would be part of a plan that cut in half the number of murders in the city over Giuliani’s eight year term – but it was.

Another picture of how crucial two degree changes can be is driving a car.  You stay between the lines by making lots of 2 degree adjustments on the steering wheel.  In fact, making bigger adjustments will get you pulled over!  Or, what if you fall asleep at the wheel?  You quit making 2 degree changes and suddenly, especially if you left your foot on the gas, you’re on the other side of the road facing oncoming traffic!  The worst thing you can do when you realize you’re in the wrong lane is to yank the wheel back.  Making a big adjustment like that could be disastrous.  You need to take small steps to get back to where you belong.   

C.S. Lewis talked about the same idea in Mere Christianity, first published in 1961.  He spoke at length about the concentrated energy for change that comes wrapped up in the smallest of acts, good or bad.  Kim used a quote from him in her message last Sunday morning – about how good and evil both increase at compound interest.  A little thing you do for good today can lead to something you never thought you could achieve the day before.  A seemingly innocent indulgence in anger today is a foothold for the enemy tomorrow.   

Are you beginning to see the trend here?  I went to Africa to do bank reconciliations in the fight against AIDS.  Giuliani fixed windows to reduce murder rates in New York City.  And there are more examples of how small things can make a big difference...  Think of Naaman in the Old Testament.  He went to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy and Elisha told him to wash in the Jordan River.  Naaman really got his knickers in a twist about that.  He was a big important guy – the general of an army – and he was expecting a big solution.  It was insulting to him that Elisha would tell him to simply take a bath.  Fortunately for Naaman, he listened to one of his servants who was brave enough to say, “Come on sir, why don’t you just try it?” because it worked!  And when the disciples were arguing about who was greatest, what did Jesus do?  He took a little child and had him stand among them and he said, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me."  He didn’t gather a herd of kids... just one.  

 My trips to Africa and The Two Degree Difference book have convinced me beyond a doubt that one individual can truly change the world.  The suffering in this world can numb us into a kind of indifference.  I know how hard it is to keep up with what is happening on this planet – I try and I can’t.  I also know how easy it can be to tune it all out and ignore the news, ignore the problems.  Heck, there are so many problems in this world that it is hard to even know where to begin.  I have been to Africa twice.  I have seen and touched and smelled extreme poverty.  I swore that I would never forget them, not even for a second, and I still get lulled into complacency.  When something overwhelms me, my tendency is to turn away and think about something else.  As Bono says, “Wishing for the end to AIDS and extreme poverty is like wishing that gravity didn't make things so damn heavy. We can wish it, but what the hell can we do about it?”

I think the key is remembering that every two degree change is an essential part of the bigger solution.  You don’t have to have Bono’s money and influence to make a difference.  You don’t have to be Madonna or Angelina, adopting every child you set eyes on.   You don’t have to be a politician or a good speaker or anything other than yourself.  You can give; you can learn; you can volunteer; you can simply be aware.  I’m not referring only to Africa or AIDS either... pick a country, pick a cause, pick something.  I guarantee you that if you ask God to lead you, he will.  Ask him to show you what breaks his heart and allow it to break your heart too.  For me, what breaks my heart is that in a world where my biggest problem is being overweight, a child can die for lack of food.  I find it amazing when people like Bono say that ours is the first generation that might actually see the end of extreme poverty.  It’s such an inspiring statement!  We won’t see it though, if we don’t do anything about it.  We have to stop turning away from the things that make us uncomfortable and turn into them.  We have to stop letting our excuses about how it's "difficult" or how “we have poor people in Canada too” justify our own inaction.  If poverty in Canada bothers you, fight it.   If AIDS in Africa bothers you, do something about it.  If every human being stood up against the thing that broke their hearts, then all the “causes” would be taken care of.  This is not about charity; it’s about justice and equality.  We have rights and freedoms that others only dream of... and if we recognize that 1 in 5 people on this planet do not have those rights then how can we sit by and do nothing?  If we truly believe that all people have equal worth, then we must act. 

I realize that I may sound like an idealist, but I’m not.  I’m selfish because I know that this is the way to a deeper relationship with God.  I struggled at first with the idea of talking about this at the recovery service.  But as I prayed about it, God pointed out that James wasn’t being legalistic when he asked, “Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?”  At first glance, that seems harsh and judgemental, but I believe James is simply stating that our faith will die if it doesn’t get a little exercise – he’s trying to save us from our own complacency.  He’s trying to get us to pray the most dangerous prayer of our lives.  Use me Lord, use my life.  Amen. 

"...good and evil both increase at compound interest.  And that is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.  The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.  An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”