Dear friend,
I learned last week about how we are starting a new program in three dioceses (about the size of three counties) in Kenya.
I knew the program would be the responsibility of the local leaders. I knew the bishops were gathering members of the community to decide what is really needed and how best to structure the new program. I thought all that would go pretty quickly.
What I didn’t know was how important it is to take the time to do it right. Five Talents staff in Kenya (and around the work via Zoom) are working with the bishops and other local leaders on an Envisioning process. The process revealed how some in the area feel marginalized, forgotten, or disempowered. Some of the areas have such high illiteracy rates that people cannot engage in economic or social issues. It will be important to try to add literacy training to the new program in those areas.
Economic challenges were not at all uniform throughout the areas. In some places people felt “too poor” to save in new Savings Groups. It will be important for the new program to help them learn from the success of similar communities and to gain confidence little by little.
All this was a good lesson for me in the importance of slowing down and doing things well. Like the old African proverb says, “ If you want to go quickly; go alone. If you want to go far; go with someone by your side.”
Until next Monday morning,
Dale Stanton-Hoyle,
Executive Director