From empowering Ugandan leaders to an almost lockdown in the Netherlands

Only a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to facilitate a leadership program for founders and directors of grass roots organizations in Uganda to become great leaders. The place where I stayed, Mukono, was pretty remote and for a full week I was disconnected from any news and social media. Little did I know...the moment that I arrived at the international airport in Entebbe to fly back to Tanzania I became fully aware of the worldwide outburst of Corona as my phone flooded with messages and news items.

Why did I go to Uganda?  I got this beautiful opportunity because of Libre Foundation. An organization that believes that every person should have access to self-development. Libre uses their profit by offering training programs in the Netherlands to provide pro-bono programs on leadership and communication in developing countries to people that don’t have the means to attend these important programs. I strongly believe that developing people into independent and confident human beings leads to less conflict and more togetherness.

Share even if its little. Most participants live in very small houses sharing their bedroom with their children. They have limited resources but that doesn’t stop them to offer time and energy to their organizations. I was very inspired by that. They want to develop not only themselves but also to support and strengthen their families and their communities.  

Everything you give attention to, grows. The venue for the training was made up of loose roofing iron sheets that made a lot of noise once traffic drove by and when it rained. When that happened, which was literally every minute, we had to put extra effort in carefully listening to each other. However, participants were not bothered at all and a richness of learning experiences and insights unfolded. Given the fact that everything we give attention to, grows, this could easily distract everyone from this training. On the contrary, the focus here was on growing and not being limited by the noise or weather conditions. We physically moved our positions to limit the noise, we helped each other to gather everything quickly once it started raining, we literally stood closer together in exercises. This all led to more focus and togetherness.

The power of diversity. In all different action-oriented exercises they learned about communication skills, organizational analysis, public speaking, conflict management, coaching, motivating and time-management. Whereas most participants never had any training like this before they were committed, active and eager from the beginning to the very end. The participants consisted of grandmothers, grandfathers, mums, dads, sons and daughters, and ages from 22 to 54. In a culture where hierarchy, age and sex still could have a big impact on group dynamics I was amazed by the equality and openness that every individual participant showed; every voice counted and created more insights and perspectives. I was amazed by their willingness to try out new things, to step out of their comfort zones, to ‘fall with the risk to lose face’ and stand up again stronger. 

Without a safe environment, education cannot serve as a game changer. In that week I also visited a school where students shared their questions: I want to pursue my dreams but my family doesn’t have the financial resources, what can I do? When I walk to school I don’t feel safe, many girls have been raped around me and what can I do because I want to go to school? I spoke to a university student who told me that often girls need to sleep with their teacher to get good grades and when teachers show interest and they refuse, the teacher makes sure they won’t pass the exam. It made me so aware how important it is to educate and support young people to let them pursue their dreams but at the same time create an environment where they feel safe, secure, supported and strengthened.

Corona turned things upside down. Only a couple days after my stay in Uganda, the whole world is in crisis mode. We had to decide to fly back to the Netherlands temporarily and we hope to return soon to Tanzania. We all have to go back to basic. Stay with our families indoors and try to organize everything among each other. Go out and walk in nature but with a safe distance to others. Regardless of sex, age and background we all have to change our daily routines to cope with this virus. This virus also makes me aware again of the things that are so important. To spend time with my loved ones, family and friends. This is challenging given the social distancing but I loved the phrase somebody shared that social distancing doesn’t mean social disconnection. I enjoy to see how community building is an effect of this crisis, materialism is of less importance and supporting each other is key. We can learn this from Africa, support each other (at a distance), share what you have only if it’s a little. I love all the initiatives I have seen in the Netherlands such as sending cards to elderly people and bringing lunch-boxes to health care professionals. I do fully understand that some of us are facing extremely difficult times, let’s try not focus too often on ‘what is not possible’ but to enlarge our awareness on ‘what is possible’. With this mindset I am currently using my coaching skills to support people particularly in need during these Covid-19 times. 

Look around you and give each other an extra smile and some extra attention because at the end of the day this will make a difference!