The Great War

[I'm departing this week from program updates. Partly because there is not one narrative which stands out as in previous weeks and partly that program updates will soon be housed somewhere else.]

Over dinner, I realized that I am incredibly blessed. I'm 24 years old and I've been given the commission to improve healthcare in a community. Not with any pre-concieved list of tasks I've got to carry out. And I don't even have to pay to do it. In fact, thousands of dollars are available for me to direct.

My boss is an awesome guy who is incredibly capable and, on top of that, humble. I mean, who else's boss cleans their toilet? In addition to him, I get to live and work with two other people who are able to help nurture new ideas and, on top of it all, cook really well. And all I have to do is be constructive about their ideas and do the dishes.

I feel like I'm riding the wave (if I surfed). God put me in "such a time as this" where I could apply for such a job. Nuru was in a place where it would hire someone like me.

I like Jake's phrase/Dad's phrase (must be a Marine thing): we are the tip of the spear. It's true in a lot of ways. Nuru is out in front of other organizations in figuring out how to eliminate extreme poverty. We, the Foundation Team, are at the tip of Nuru. All else is support for our success, helping us to be healthy, well-funded, well-staffed.. It is sobering to realize the gravity of our positions. If we fail, if the spear point is dull, then Nuru will fail. And if Nuru fails, it's a significant setback to this fight.

And if we succeed, if we are sharp, and the shaft behind us is strong, then this spear will pierce the heart of Poverty. And we will have been blessed with participating in the greatest War of our generation.

Let us not be like our great grandparents who fought one World War but planted the seeds of another which their children would reap. Let us end it well with justice and mercy as our weapons.

When we are older, when our bones ache from years of riding on dirt roads and when our skin is aged and weathered, our grandchildren will ask us, "Did you really see extreme poverty? What was it like? And did you really fight in the Great War? Did you really beat it?"

And I pray that on that day, I will be able to say, "Yes I fought in that War and I fought as hard as I could. But I only played my part. It wouldn't have been won without many others on the front lines like me playing their parts, and many more back at home supporting us playing theirs. Yes. Together we fought and together we won that War."