Friday, November 19, 2010

Leadership

Dear Friends,
Greetings! This week one of the things that I learned about here in Sudan is leadership. I think that what I have learned could be applied to any number of countries and situations, I just happened to learn about it in the context of Sudan.

There are the leaders who are imposed on people from the top. The ones who are interested in their own well-being and not concerned with the needs of the people whom they are to govern.

Then there are the leaders who are elected from within the community. These are the leaders who are seen to have the best interests of the people at heart.

A student whose wife had a difficult labor and delivery and was not recovering well after child birth lives in a remote village in the south. She lives a five hour round trip by foot (hoofing)from the nearest medical facility. Her father-in-law lives near the medical facility and had asked a local government official if he could borrow his car to go and pick his daughter-in-law up and take her for medical care. Round trip by car the journey is about half an hour. The government official refused.

I was astounded and I will say deeply offended when I learned this. Government officials are to be servants of the people -- SERVING the people. Not so in this case of an official who was assigned to this village and not elected from within. It also showcases the lack of value put on women and maternal health. I found out later that Southern Sudan has the highest rate of maternal deaths related to child birth in the world.

There is a much bigger picture to life than one's own narrow focus. I think that in many places in the world people must just survive and that concern for that bigger picture is not on the personal radar. Those of us who have the ability to look at the bigger picture must do what we can to create opportunities and change, even transformation, for those whose worlds are by necessity so small.

My students who have lived in other countries definitely have different perspectives and are more open to new ideas than those who have lived in one small village all of their lives. May the God of Abraham and Sarah, Issac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel and Leah, show us how to open doors, minds and hearts for those who cannot see. May the Holy Spirit blow through Sudan, and other countries, pouring out upon all who need new vision and hope.
Blessings,
Debbie

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