They said it at the unveiling of Mandela's Statue in London today

BBC quoted the following on their website today.

Mr Brown hailed Mr Mandela as the "greatest and most courageous leader of our generation".

"Long after we are forgotten, you will be remembered for having taught the world one amazing truth," said Mr Livingstone. "That you can achieve justice without vengeance. I honour you and London honours you."

Wendy Woods, wife of the late Donald Woods (the late South African anti-apartheid activist Donald Woods had the idea for the 9ft-high - 2.7m - bronze statue), said: "This statue will remind the world of the human qualities that Mr Mandela has.

"These are qualities which have helped South Africa...............and helped us on our first step towards a future where all people can flourish and lead happier lives."

Talking to crowds who gathered for the unveiling, Mr Mandela said: "Though this statue is of one man, it should in actual fact symbolise all of those who have resisted oppression, especially in my country."

In my opinion, Nelson Mandela can be described (in any part of the world) as a hero, a selfless leader, an inspirational person, name it. I wish every city could erect a statue in his honour. Steven Shukor of the BBC reports that the Mayor of London, Mr. Ken Livingstone, described Mandela's statue in his city as "a beacon of hope".

I believe that Nelson Mandela's statue would never be brought down even by the rowdiest of crowds in any part of the world as has happened with statues of some leaders. There is absolutely no reason for hating him. May we live to see more Mandelas despite the tall order Madiba has set. The challenge to us is, by the time you and I make 89 as Madiba has made recently, how much score will we make on the "Mandela legacy scale"? How many people will we have positively influenced or inspired by our legacy? How long will our legacy last?

Your two cents worth makes a difference - Mother Teresa

On this day when the late Mother Teresa was born, I took a bit of time off to review and give some of her quotes a deep thought. Could you please join me in committing these two to some thought?

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."

You may want to read more of Mother Teresa's quotes here.

Some information (source):

Name: Mother Teresa
Variant Name: Agnes Gonxha
Birth Date: August 27, 1910
Death Date: September 5, 1997
Place of Birth: Skopje, Yugoslavia
Place of Death: Calcutta, India
Nationality: Albanian
Gender: Female
Occupations: nun

Risk

It has been said that all successful people, especially those in business, take big risks. It is also said that those who fear to take risks (risk-averse) may achieve quite little. The latter category of people have been accused of simply attempting to deny reality because every aspect of life is a risk or involves risk-taking.

Some businessman once advised that it is good to take a risk if the possible benefit of the venture taken is several times higher than the cost of the possible loss. That way, he commits himself knowing that if he lost, it would be something relatively little compared to if he won (if he won, he would 'win big'). He however points out that from every business deal he makes (those that work and those that do not), he learns lessons hence there is no absolute loss after all.

Bishop T.D. Jakes presents an aspect of risk-taking that is so often ignored. Jakes said, “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't God and die to find out there is.”

So which risk would you rather take? To live as though God exists or to live as if He does not exist? Well, the choice is yours and yours alone.

The Teak Tree

For the past two days I was in Arua, a town in North-western Uganda, a region famously known in Uganda as West Nile. There is lots I could write about my experiences while there but I will limit this post to one aspect.

I could not help but continue to admire one tree specie that is reportedly abundant in one part of Southern Sudan. By the way, Arua town can pass the description of being just a 'stone-throw' away from the Sudan border. I first visited Arua in October 2006 and could not help but spot this tree. This time when I went back I even saw a forest of tall ones, I guess more than 5 years old. For some shameful reason I had not carried a camera so I cannot share with you the pictures on this occasion. Maybe some other day. These tall ones were so geometrically straight and elegantly tall that I could not help but take a walk under them. I quickly created a 'memory of the future' as some Zimbabwean describes future dreams and visions. I just imagined how a few years down the road I will actually be walking through my own forest. What a sweet feeling it will be whatever the size of the forest!

I love trees. I love them for various reasons including their cool shade, their peaceful poise, the rains they make, the beauty they add to the environment, the oxygen they provide in exchange for carbondioxide, the fuel they provide, the silent wealth multiplier they are, the sweet sounds that come from the birds they provide a home to, etc.

I purpose to plant not less than one hundred trees of whatever specie this year. In this simple way I could leave a legacy. Making a legacy out of just 100 plants. How simple! Will you join me?

(Below are pictures of one of the seedlings I have so far planted).

Wedding Anniversary

Eight years ago today, a beautiful young lady and I wedded in our local church, Kampala Pentecostal Church in Uganda. It sounds so long and yet feels so short. I thank God that I personally have no regrets. I hope my wife shares the same feeling.

The eight years are full of learning experiences that have made us wiser in issues of marriage relationships.

There are several lessons to share but one that one of the elderly Pastors (who enjoys his marriage relationship) shared with us during pre-marital counselling, and that I confirm and in turn share with others, is: "do not go into a marriage relationship with a list of expectations, instead go in there, learn each other and together adapt appropriately." I find this advice invaluable. There are lots of different ways of doing things that couples learn from their spouses. One who expected their spouse to do things exactly like them would soon get disappointed but more importantly would miss a possibly better way of doing things and also miss a learning experience in the process of being 'rigid'.

I noticed that while attempting to elaborate on one aspect of the Pastor's advice, I have touched on something I would describe as patience and flexibility. Maybe not only that but also the aspect of harnessing the power of complementarity and synergy.

I better stop here because it looks like the more I write the more I 'scratch' on other lessons and the higher the possibility that I will be late for a date. Maybe I will get back to the subject on a later date (either as a new post or improvement on this one - keep visiting the post / blog if you are interested in more).

I am off for a date.

The power of photography

Photography is a good hobby of mine. For some reason it seems my colleagues who visited Uganda in April/May 2007 also discovered it. It was no wonder therefore that they asked me to shoot their pictures as they posed as a group. It was an easy task for me. Besides, I love cameras. It was a good experience using a wide range of them, each with a unique capacity. One member of the group of friends kept back a camera and captured this evidence just before I started snapping away on each of the cameras (see photo).

Since it is said that a picture speaks a thousand words, I intend to harness the power of photography for facilitating teaching and learning in my classes e.g. creating a collection of pictures of clinical cases for teaching; combination of pictures and podcasts for long distance / online learning; etc.

Teamwork

This is one of my favourite words and subjects. I love to read articles and books on the subject. One other thing I love to do to help me appreciate teamwork (besides entertainment) is to watch a soccer match. I love soccer - I loved it as a child and now as a fairly aged man. Despite my advanced age (although still much younger than Roger Milla in his last appearance in the World Cup) I can still do a few of those flicks here and there. Anybody would therefore be sure that I watched two of the many matches of the new season (2007/2008) in the English Barclays Premier League.

As a learning process facilitator, I love to use stories and analogies of everyday life events to help me make my point. The football analogy is my favourite one for explaining teamwork (the need for it, its benefits, its characteristics, its challenges, consequences of failure, management of failure, feedback, etc) especially to audiences that love / love to watch soccer.

In the build up to the matches that opened the league season in England, I read a column in one of our local newspapers and the writer accused one of the prominent clubs in that league as depending too much on a few key players and that once such individuals were absent, the club struggled and this is proof enough to him that the club plays not as a team but as individuals. Could this be an inadvertent lie or a blatant one or simply plain truth?

I could be wrong but I think this gentleman has probably not taken time to reflect on the lessons (about team characteristics and teamwork) that we can draw from the game of soccer. Whatever the outcome of a game, every side in the game of soccer plays as a team and demonstrates many characteristics of a team. The outcome of the match is no measure of the team characteristics. I also believe that in every team, skills, talents and abilities differ among the individuals hence their deployment in the different positions and the difference in roles and responsibilities. This is partly why they are called a team.

Stand-in substitutes may not perform as well as the position holders (first choice individuals) but teamwork prevails nevertheless. Rather than say there is no teamwork in the game of soccer, I would instead question the ability of the selected individuals (in a team) to work well as a high performance team - in soccer there is always a team, practising teamwork but their performance (outcome of the game) will depend on a number of factors including, among others, the emotional set-up and skills / talents of the individuals, and the team against which they play.

To me, therefore, there is nothing like lack of team/teamwork in the game of soccer. There will always be key individuals in certain key positions and who make key contributions / influences in the teamwork (whose absence would surely be felt). However, when such individuals are present, they would not do much without the collective synergistic efforts of the other allegedly 'weaker' individuals in the team.

I hope this piece provokes you who have read it to the end to reflect on the soccer game a bit more deeply and hopefully share your opinion on lessons that can be drawn from it.

Who has wisdom?

As I traveled to Gulu (in Northern Uganda) on 5th August 2007, I carried the 3rd edition of a book entitled, "Not Bosses But Leaders" given to me by the author, Prof. John Adair during one of his recent visits to Uganda. Inside the book I found a piece of paper on which I had scribbled something as I heard Professor Adair respond to questions during one of the monthly sessions of the Uganda Management Forum late last year - each one of us who attended received a complimentary copy of the book.

I do not recall the exact words used in the question but it was about classifying individuals who are considered to have been good leaders and yet in the same breath are considered 'brutal' to the followers. The example given was Adolf Hitler. Professor Adair conceded that Hitler exhibited some tremendous leadership qualities but in modern terms would not qualify to be regarded as one with (practical) wisdom. Professor Adair listed the ingredients of wisdom as intelligence, experience and goodness and asserted that Hitler lacked the latter attribute, goodness.

As I reflected on the ingredients of wisdom, more questions popped up in my mind about each one of them. What kind of intelligence was Prof. Adair talking about - cognitive intelligence (IQ) or emotional intelligence (EQ)? What did he mean by 'experience' and 'goodness'? Is experience simply determined by time spent doing a job or activity? Who defines 'goodness' and its cut-off point?

What do you say?

I must confess that if Prof. Adair explained during that meeting in Kampala what he meant by each of those words, I missed it. I need therefore to read more of his works. In the meantime, I share my humble opinion which may or may not differ from Prof. Adair's.

Most people (at least some in this part of the globe) consider experience to be determined only by the period of time spent doing a job or activity. I am one of those who believe that, in this dynamic era, the amount and quality of experience is not necessarily proportional to the number of years one spends on a job/activity. It is rather how much one has learned from their exposure and how they can appropriately apply that knowledge to generate innovations and new strategies to continue to (progressively) survive in the ever-changing environment.

I should share more of my opinion later. I also hope to read more of Prof. John Adair's works to find out what he meant.

KPC Gulu launch - what I saw

For some background information to this post, please refer to my earlier post of 30 July 2007.

I had to make it to Gulu Sunday 5 August 2007 to be part of the KPC Gulu launch. While I was happy that I made it, I was not happy that we got to Gulu rather late! Thanks partly to the several stoppages by traffic officials who seemed to be interested in stopping any bus they saw on the road. A journey that normally lasts 4.5 hours took us about 6 hours. The Church service at Gulu started at 10am and ended at 12pm. We got there about 15 minutes before the formal end of the service. I did not allow those unfavourable incidents to obscure me from noticing some of the highlights of the day - what I could quickly notice in the few hours I was there.

Firstly the hall was filled to capacity, the tents outside were also full so the fact that we (more than 50 people who travelled that morning as a group from Kampala) got no seats was not a problem to me.

Secondly, from the look of things - especially the order that prevailed - the organisation was good. This is typical of the KPC leadership. I also later learnt that lots of members of KPC (volunteers) travelled to Gulu 3 days earlier to get the place in order. Some were there even much earlier. A friend I travelled back with in the same car, one of the top artists in the country, was there for two weeks doing the design / art works. I am told the facility was in poor shape before the artistic touch. It was a hotel that has its own history. KPC currently rents it at a rate that the owners would definitely not complain about - in its previous state, it was quickly becoming a liability to the owners. Thank God it is now an asset. (Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, defines an asset as what brings money into your pocket; and liability as what takes money out of your pocket).

Thirdly, the community leaders were part of the function and believed in the vision of the project. The district Chairman, Hon. Norbert Mao, was there to welcome this project that is intended to work with him, other leaders and the community in meeting the people's needs - at least make a contribution towards meeting some of them. I did not get to see him but I was told he was there.

Fourthly, and this one is humbling. I was told that Justice Mrs. Julia Sebutinde was there and had travelled a day or two earlier. Interestingly she did not travel in the pomp of an international judge currently in the limelight of trying Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia. She went as a volunteer member of KPC and was seen cleaning around together with the other members of KPC who I cannot describe in the same way Sebutinde is known worldwide. Sebutinde is the presiding judge for the UN-backed special court for Sierra Leone. What challenge does this give you and I? Think about it.

Fifthly, at the closure of the service, Pastor Gary Skinner made an alter call and the response was good. That is one of the things that highlights a Pentecostal Christian function - when somebody gives their life to Christ or gets born again or gets saved or becomes a Mulokole as is known here in Uganda. I believe that this is the major reason for KPC Gulu - to bring spiritual healing to the people besides meeting some physical needs.

Sixthly, I could not clearly recognise the Gulu I knew as a little boy (over 20 years ago). I had a little boy's memory of Gulu and what I saw was quite different. There was lots of positive changes in terms of physical development. A friend who gave me a lift back to Kampala asked me to meet him at Hotel Pearl Afrique and I was lost at how to begin. I could only remember Acholi Inn. Where in Gulu was Hotel Pearl Afrique? Thank God for the boda-bodas (bicycle 'taxis'). One of them 'chauffeured' me right there. It was actually a walkable distance from where I was.

One of the few things I did not get to do was to move around Gulu and see what remains for me to recognise. Some of the many places I had wished to visit were; my former school that I am told has shifted closer to Gulu university main campus, the three different addresses I once stayed in, Acholi Inn hotel, and the children's park, among others. There was no time to visit those areas. They remain the reason (or is it excuse) for me to go back soon.

Lost a puppy!!

What a shame! My nice puppy, an 'African' jack a doodle dandy (jack Russell x standard poodle) just passed on. It succumbed to parvovirosis despite having been vaccinated). Parvovirosis is a viral disease that takes quite a number of puppies in this part of the world. My pup was such a friendly and active pup that it took a while before we knew it was getting down with the infection. It took it only 24 hours to pass on after clinical illness was noticed (vomiting and chocolate brown diarrhoea). It was only after that that it went off food and never jumped on anybody (playing). Attempts to save her life were sadly fruitless. Everything about this incident is annoying. This pup was a gift unmatched. To get a replacement for a pup that is a product of artificial insemination - a cross between a female Standard Poodle (now living in Karamoja in Uganda) and a male Jack Russel in the USA - is a tall order. Oh what a shame! I may write more about this loss much later. I need some time off the topic.