#Stop to Celebrate Excellence
Dear Dali,
Chakanaka chakakana mukaka haurungwe! (that which is beautiful does not need tampering with)
Yesterday you made me so proud. That performance. That confidence. Wow! I had never seen you in your element like that. You did us proud.
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July 2, 2024
Letter #43
Struggle. What Struggle?
Dear Dali,
Today I met up with an old colleague. My mentor in the struggle. You see there was Prof Sam (a post for another day) and there was Mercia Andrews. A struggle stalwart. There are many movements in our region, the liberation movement, the trade union movement, the women's movement, and many others. Mercia has at some point been active in all these movements.
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June 25, 2024
Letter #42
Getting Comfortable with Writing
Dear Dali,
Today I had a chat with a friend about writing. The request was ‘may you mentor me to write’. A seemingly very simple and straightforward request yet so complex. Where does one start? Asking them to submit their writings for review or agreeing on a timetable of when to write. But write about what really. I am not a writer. I have never seen myself as one.
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June 4, 2024
Letter #41
Discomfort for the Sake of Progress (Part 2)
Dear Dali,
Communication serves as a tool for leaders to motivate individuals to surpass their boundaries, yet there are occasions when clear communication alone may not suffice. The assumption however is that the team is capable to execute on these goals. So, teams for instance of builders or carpenters rarely need further supervision beyond being given the plan of the house being built. Knowledge work is a totally different ballgame. The goals rarely change but the ways in which to accomplish them are most likely to be affected by several factors such as context, availability of resources, and adaptability of skills. There is usually a need for the capacity to comprehend the task and define the different steps towards completion. These are skills honed/developed over time not necessarily through the completion of a tertiary qualification but usually in a real work atmosphere.
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May 14, 2024
Letter #40
Discomfort for the Sake of Progress (Part 1)
Dear Dali,
Something has been bothering me for a while. Let me use this letter to reflect a bit more. It’s about the role of a leader. I stumbled upon this on the internet…
“The job of any leader is to push people beyond their limits. To lead is to make others better. No leader accepts his/her role with the idea of taking the path of least resistance. And when a leader pushes, there is always resentment, always pushback, because we as humans don’t like being pushed toward the best version of ourselves. We are happy to find comfort”, (Bill Belichick Patriots New England, n.d).
I subscribe fully to the description of a leader... however, this can easily become unpopular.
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May 14, 2024
Letter #39
Dear Dali
Dear Dali,
I have a story to share with you. It’s about strawberries and more.
I walked into the greenhouse with the intention of issuing the instruction to pull it down. Then I looked at the beds of the neglected strawberry seedlings on the edges of the greenhouse. My instinct says- what if we grow strawberries in the greenhouse? I called the Assistant (Ba Simba) and gave him the instructions to transplant. Blank look- he is confused. I had to demonstrate what I was on about. We prepare the beds. I lead in planting a few. Then I plant some more. We have 150 plants in one row. At this stage, my family follows to see what’s going on. I have been gone for too long. They find me kneeling, planting in overalls. It’s a photo moment. Camera. Action. We finish planting on day 4. Then we water and wait.
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April 24, 2024
Letter #38
Dear Dali
Dear Dali,
It’s been a while since I gathered the courage to write anything meaningful here. What can I say life happens. We lost a dear friend, your godmother. One wonders why bad things happen to good people. All I heard in the eulogies about my departed friend was that she was a good wife, a good mum, a good Christian, a philanthropist, etc. I can personally attest to her philanthropy and that is the point of this piece. Happiness was a giver of her money, time, and compassion. She stood with me and your mum at a very difficult time when we could not have a child. Helped us in our prayers and then you were born. She always called you, her baby. I heard so much more from people who had interacted with Happi.
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April 17, 2024
Letter #37
Being a 2Mile Person
Dear Dali,
The idea is borrowed from Matthew 5:41 where the Lord Jesus Christ teaches that if one is coerced to walk one mile, they should go the extra mile. It is pregnant with various meanings and has been adopted into the English Lexicon to refer to instances of unusual kindness and service. Other organisations refer to themselves as 2-mile organisations in reference to their commitment to excellence or maybe a superior service.
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February 28, 2024
Letter #36
The Journey to Mastery
Dear Dali,
I am yet to come across stories of instant success. They are probably there but I bet you they are just a handful. Life has been designed in such a way that we all go through trials, tribulations, and even failures before we make it. I think it has more to do with the fickleness that we carry. Imagine the egos if we succeeded instantly and all the time, we tried something new. God in his infinite wisdom has made sure to first build resilience and humility in you before He gives you success. There are many factors that determine individual success but today I will focus on the process that one must go through. My observation is that there are usually four stages to success.
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February 26, 2024
Letter #35
Lessons about Loss
Dear Dali,
One of the inevitable lessons about life is that one day you will lose money. It could be due to negligence on your part or someone else’s fault. But it will be your loss, nonetheless. Some losses are too big and some insignificant. The lesson is the same on all occasions. We live in a world where we don’t know everything. You can do everything you know and do it well- but still lose some money. That my dear Dali is called life.
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February 6, 2024
Letter #34