The title is borrowed from Gorman Hyden’s classic on development challenges in Africa. In the process of building anything you will realize that there are indeed no short cuts to progress. We have come up with all sorts of hacks- but truth be told building an organization is not an overnight process and cannot be hacked. It is a complex process involving people (with different personalities and skills), financial resources (from various sources with different reporting/accountability requirement), a set of ideas, processes, and ways of working. These are stand-alone pieces that need to be brought together into a symphony.

A businessman who wanted to invest in our organization asked me a simple question-how does your organization make a profit. I stammered, stuttered, and mumbled something incoherent. I must say I had not thought about ‘profit’- especially financial returns. It’s a word that is alien in our work except when used in its negative- ‘non-profit’. A challenge of sorts especially when we consider that we set up our whole sector as focused on being non-profit.

A day may come when you must make an important decision such as where will you live; will it be in your country of birth or elsewhere. We live in uncertain times or an era of uncertainty and this is most likely to continue for the next couple of decades. The grass almost always looks greener on the other side today. Fun fact though- the other side always remains even when you have crossed to the other side and tomorrow it may look like you have walked away from a place where the grass was just about to shoot.  Many of us have had to deal with the question ‘…should I go, or should I stay’? The second question is usually What am I missing out on by moving or by staying?

Dear Dali,

What is life all about? Shakespeare in Macbeth put it this way.

‘Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player. That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing’

So really what is life? Is it about having fun, endless sorrows or just a hard slog. Others have said it’s what you make it to be.

What a day. I was not at home. I was at boarding school doing form one. There was an announcement in the dining hall just before dinner that I had to go to the headmaster’s office. Went there and met my uncle Bamunini BaChenge. Apparently, he had come to pick me up so that we go home. I could tell something was wrong.

In life certain things are given to you but I have learnt that you must grab certain opportunities. In some circumstances you turn what was meant to be challenge into an opportunity. Don’t wait to be given. A license gives you permission to do something usually after some training. One may have a license to practice medicine (after going through medical school). Another may have a license to practice law (after going through Law School) and another may have a driver’s license and has permission to drive (after going through Driving School and exams). No one hands over Licenses to Prevail. The permission that enables you to do what you got to do.

Dear Dali,

We live in a world where everything is screaming for your attention, time, money, attention, or even emotional investment. We live in the digital age and information is at your fingertips. When you wake up there is that temptation to check out what has been happening in the world. You check on who has been messaging you throughout the night on WhatsApp and Telegram. You go into the groups- see what has been posted, look at the status of your contact, scroll on X (Twitter was a better name though) for news or gossip, watch and listen to the short Tik Tok videos that appear as you scroll. Head to Facebook and check out all the posts and before you know it you are watching reels. That can easily take up 30 or 45 mins of your time. It is not worth it at all, my child. There will never be enough time to waste.

Dear Dali,

We live in a fast-changing and uncertain environment. So much is in motion. The world is constantly going major disruptions. Do you remember that time we spent two years at home without travel- that was a major disruption of sorts. A global pandemic disrupted how we work, how we learn and restricted travel. I believe there will be more disruptions in the future.

Dear Dali,

On Embracing

I have written about embracing before (see Letter #4-what was I thinking) but thought to revisit this subject. There are many things that we struggle with and yet they are beyond our control. We exert a lot of energy of what leadership and productivity gurus have called things in ‘our outer circle or the circle of concern’. In the meantime, we lose focus on what is within our circle of influence- those things that we have control over.

Dear Dalitso,

Today is a great day to change the world. This was always my mantra for close to three years. I then changed. I don’t know why. I got used to the idea that my work contributes to changing the world. I did not check myself or even doubt that I was on mission. I just assumed I was doing the right thing. Didn’t need to check with anyone. I had it covered. Truth is, I got lost.