Volunteering is a Superpower

Around ten years ago I was introduced to the inspiring work of Gemma Sisia, with thanks to my parents who had brought her biography on holiday. After reading Gemma's story I sent an email to congratulate her on establishing The School of St Jude in Tanzania to fight poverty through education and on the impressive results so far. This email set off an unexpected series of chain reactions that continue to evolve and expand.

My father is from the same town as Gemma (Guyra, New South Wales, Australia) and he had sold farm machinery to Gemma's parents over the years. Growing up in Armidale, 30 minutes South of Guyra, it turns out Gemma and I had mutual friends but we did not know each other. When sending the original email I assumed Gemma would be too busy to see it, read it, or reply. But it was like I had just sent a WhatsApp message and the reply was almost instant. And so began a series of exchanges that led my family to sponsor a child at St Jude's. Then we started receiving frequent updates on progress of the child we had sponsored, and newsletters on the progress at the school.

Eventually we learned that Gemma and Sarah Henry were preparing a speaking tour of Australia. We were living in Singapore at the time, so we suggested they fly via Singapore to stay with us so that we could arrange a series of speaking events too. These included opportunities to speak at several international schools, my colleagues at work, and the generous offer from Chris Churcher to host two events at the Red Sea Art Gallery. 

Gemma presenting to guests at the Red Sea Gallery, raising awareness about the important work of fighting poverty through education. Singapore 2009.

When we started promoting the events in Singapore, it triggered introductions to people that had similar dreams of fighting poverty through education in other locations around the world. These included Jamie Amelio and Bill Amelio and their Caring for Cambodia initiative. We arranged a lunch for Gemma, Jamie and Bill. It was fascinating to observe and compare the different stories and challenges of establishing schools in Tanzania and Cambodia, and how these had affected the respective operating models and access to volunteers and resources.

Meanwhile, I was completing further study at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business executive MBA program while living in Singapore. Our class were paying significant fees for the privilege of a world class education, but to be honest, much of the material was a refresher on content we had already studied in earlier undergraduate programs. The ideas were relatively familiar so the focus became building our global network of like-minded classmates.

Along the way it occurred to me that our class of 270 students could sponsor two children at St Jude's for a tiny fraction of the fees we were paying, and this smaller investment would probably have a much bigger impact on the individual students plus their families and communities. And so with the help of a supportive professor, Mike Gibbs, we arranged to collect donations from classmates across the three campuses -- Chicago, London, and Singapore (now Hong Kong). The idea was to collect enough in a single donation that would pay for 12 years of schooling for two students, a girl and a boy. We raised enough to provide two half-fee sponsorships for several years.

Eventually the discussions with Jamie and Bill led to our class donating supplies to the schools in Cambodia, with delivery arranged by one of our MBA classmates who was a pilot for a regional airline. Bill also prepared a presentation to alumni about his experience in global IT roles. The content from this presentation was also featured in a published article and various interviews.

New connections continued to evolve and expand, including the discovery of Room to Read. This started when John Wood presented at my daughter's school in Singapore. Since then, connections and opportunities to collaborate continue in Hong Kong, with John participating on panel discussions as part of Chicago Booth's Social Enterprise Initiative.

The sponsorships of the children in Tanzania also continue and we are determined to complete the process and to see the impact the children can have on their community and country. No pressure to the students we've sponsored, but I privately hope that one (or both) of them will serve terms as the president of Tanzania.

The overriding theme that emerges is that volunteering is valuable. It provides a portfolio of productive possibilities, it levels the playing field and focuses all participants on shared missions and important goals, such as fighting poverty through education. Without volunteering, how else would these connections and collaborations have emerged? Reach out to causes you care about, make connections, ask how you can help, and continuously look for opportunities to collaborate. It will gradually become clear as you craft your own journey, that volunteering is a superpower.

Ps. A subsequent post will describe some of the experiments that have emerged to continue funding the sponsored students at St Jude. Other posts will also capture other stories on the making connections and value of volunteering.

Pps. This is one of the earliest examples of organically discovering the 3C's approach to networking. Make a connection, find something you both care about, and proactively go about creating a series of collaborations the evolve and expand over time.

Ppps. Fortunately I was able to visit the school and students in Tanzania in October 2016. The trip provided an opportunity to hike Kilimanjaro and also to continue on a trip to India to support another important volunteering initiative. But that's another story.