Meaning Behind the Mission: What Literacy Means To Me

Awakening the Mission (Cont.)

I work for an organization who focuses on literacy as part of its mission. And as you might have seen in previous posts I am grappling with how to make the mission more real at our organization:  How do we create passion for our mission with the daily grind of trying to run a profitable and sustainable business?  I've also suggested that finding this passion will lead us to higher impact.

A place to start might be to look at what this mission, literacy, means to me, personally, and why I think it's something worth being passionate about.

Seeing is Believing

Literacy wasn't something I really thought about much throughout my educational career. I guess growing up in the states and attending top notch schools I took it for granted as I'm sure a lot of us do. But then I had the opportunity to serve in the Peace Corps in Mali.

According to the 2009 Human development report Mali ranks right near the bottom in terms of human development at 178 out of 182. The literacy rate of adults 15 years and older is about 26%. Mali is a country where literacy is definitely a key component to development.

In Mali I lived in a small rural farming village where I had to learn the local language, Bambara, because no one spoke French. I think 98% of the adults were functionally illiterate. A school only existed in the village as of 2000 and when I arrived in 2002 classes were being held in a broken down storage building not nearly large enough for the number of children. They had constructed the base for a new 3 classroom school house at the direction of the government, but then funds dried up and the project was never complete. So despite being an agriculture volunteer, I decided to try to meet the communities greatest need and want which was to complete this structure. So my major project was to raise funds for and organize the construction of this school. So we raised funding and the school was completed in late 2003. Right after we finished this a French group came in and built 3 more classrooms. So now the village has 6 classrooms.

A Complex Issue

If I were to stop here, you would probably say it was a good, successful project. But, looking back I'm not so sure. On one level it was good. It provided much needed infrastructure. However, the school alone hasn't solved the problem of illiteracy in Sitafoula. For example, young women are still often kept out or pulled out of school early to either work for the family or get married at a young age. There are only 2 teachers who are only qualified to teach the lower grades. There are no books. The children are the first generation to be educated so parents can't help them with their studies nor do they fully understand the value of education. Without good mentors as examples of the value of education, young men often drop out early to go work. With teacher's only qualified up to a certain level, kids who reach the higher grades have to go elsewhere in order to continue their education. The closest schools with the higher grade levels are 5 miles away through the bush by foot. A lot of families will pull their kids out if they don't have a place for the kids to stay in town where they can rest and eat their meals. The list goes on... So the school was a start but far from a solution.

An Issue Close to Home

While I was living in Sitafoula, I met my wife, a shy young woman who stood out among her peers. When school was first introduced in 2000, she was already a teenager. Some families chose to put their kids in school, but unfortunately hers did not. They felt she was more valuable to them at home so she ended up cooking, cleaning, fetching water, and doing other chores for her aunt's family every day while her friends went to school. Today she lives here in the US with me and our two young boys. She knows better than anyone the importance of literacy. It has been a challenge for her to adapt to our culture and to learn English all while having never attended school in her life. But she diligently attends her ESL classes and works to learn to read while working part time and raising 2 toddlers. She dreams of being able to read to her kids, getting a drivers' license, passing the citizenship test, and maybe one day getting her GED. These are all things most of us take for granted.

Literacy is an important part of my wife's daily life. It's a struggle, but it's something we're confident we'll get through. Our true passion for literacy goes beyond her personal struggles. It lies in knowing that so many kids in Mali including our own family might miss out on all the things we take for granted when it comes to education and literacy.

Our brother Pa is struggling to complete high school against the temptations to quit and go work like most of his peers. Our brother Ablaye is at the top of his class entering high school, but isn't sure whether the future will see him graduating let alone going on to college. Our youngest brother Yacouba is following in his brothers' footsteps and his future depends on their uncertain success.

Then there are Sadjo and Araba. Sadjo is the first girl in the family to enter school as she starts the first grade this year. Will the family keep her in school despite customs and traditions that might pull her out? Araba is still only a small baby, but her education too is at stake. We can only dream right now that she can take it all for granted one day like our two sons probably will growing up here in the US. Then there are our boys' cousins and all the other children of the village and of Mali who are faced with the same uncertain future.

This is why literacy is important to us.

A Daunting Task, But One with Hope


My wife has selflessly devoted herself to helping her family overcome a lot of the obstacles standing in the way of her siblings education. She would never admit this because in her culture that is just what you do. She works hard at a part time job in the evenings to save money so that she can help her family when needs arise, but also hopes to save enough to go back to Mali and visit her family. Unfortunately, the part she saves for herself never seems to amount to much. Last year, she spent almost all of her savings on a plot of land and home for her family in the town where the kids were going to school so they could continue their studies. She routinely sends money to help her family with their farming, for holidays, to help with medical bills, and when times are tough such as a bad harvest. Just a couple of weeks ago she sent another large installment so her dad can repair rain damages to the family home in the market town where her siblings attend school. She has financed the last 2 years of Pa's education. She is trying to help her cousin and brothers continue on to university and possibly come to the US to study.

We're starting to realize that our meager remittances are not going to solve this problem. We've made some bad decisions along the way both for ourselves and for the family, and realize that in some ways we are only strengthening the "aid trap" of dependency. But we have strong confidence in the power of education and literacy. We believe these are the key to her family and community breaking out of the cycle they are in. Our hope is that our passion for solving this problem will help us to find a sustainable way to break the cycle, and maybe one day lead to the long term development of Sitafoula and the broader community and maybe even Mali on the whole.

For us, literacy means hope where sometimes there isn't a lot of hope to see.  For us literacy isn't something we just talk about or a cause we simply support.  Literacy is part of our lives.  The hopes and dreams, the livelihoods and lives of people, real people, our family depend on it.  The cause is more than a cause, it is a necessity.  It can sometimes be a daunting task, but it is something we're determined to figure out.  Our hope is that we will be able to build something out of this vital part of our lives that will impact others' lives in a meaningful way.  

Finding Your Inspiration


To me, at an organization that has a social mission and that really wants to have a great impact towards that mission, it is imperative to find this type of passion.  Otherwise, you will lose sight of whatever that mission is and you will forget why you started doing what you're doing in the first place.  You need to find your inspiration.  There's a difference between supporting a cause like literacy, and being inspired to address an issue like literacy by true passion for the cause.  From the former comes good and from the latter comes greatness. 

For an organization that is just getting started, my advice is to first figure out what your passion truly is and then build something great around that passion.  And to those who've already started, I would suggest stopping, reflecting, focusing, looking inward and trying to discover what inspires you.  Let it become part of who you are.  If your cause is literacy, ask yourself why.  Ask yourself why you care about it and what it means to you.  Ask those within your organization to share why they are passionate about it.  Build off of the stories like mine to create meaning behind your mission.   And then go do great things towards that end. 

Other thoughts and ideas are welcome...

Awakening the Mission

The Role of a Social Enterprise (Cont.)

In my previous post "Books for Africa, Literacy in Africa, and the Role of a Social Enterprise" I asked a few questions about what more we at Better World Books can do to extend our social impact and bring more life to it within our organization. I got some great comments on the post in response to these questions.

A friend and former colleague suggests that the answer lies in us harnessing the passion of our followers and customers to come up with the next "big idea". I definitely agree that there is something to be found through collaboration. I think there is a need for more collaboration in this space, and I think social enterprises can be good catalysts for creating more. It is definitely important to engage with others, and especially to listen to those who are passionate about what you're trying to do.

Daniela Papi also added some great thoughts about how to address these questions. She points out that we are doing a lot already by baking "good" into the business model and being sure to do things before "the bottom line" even at the cost of profits. But how do we go above and beyond even this? She points out our donation volume and the power that comes with that (and I would add responsibility). We're no longer giving a few books or a few dollars or even a few thousand dollars. We're dealing with hundreds of thousands and millions of books and dollars. There is a lot of power there. Daniela suggests we do our homework:

By doing a lot of homework on where your largest donations are going, seeing if they are providing the best format for supporting literacy education, and only supporting the groups you think are doing the best work, you can have the biggest impact with your funds while also inspiring others to improve their work to meet your standards. I don't want this to be misinterpreted as a disguise for donor-driven program development, as that is not what I am trying to promote, but instead a really thorough understanding of the metrics you are trying to change: literacy, learning, book use, love of reading/learning. When metrics are presented as number of books delivered, number of libraries built, etc it is hard to get at the more qualitative impacts you are looking to see.

If BWB identifies partners who have the skills to analyze your partners impacts and finds or comes up with a list of best practices with relation to increasing literacy and learning, these can perhaps be shared across the board and will help your team determine the best places to invest your future funding. In other words - you asked "What else can we as a business, a for-profit business, but one with a social mission do?". You can identify which areas you are investing in short term results and redirect some of that money into helping the entire sector learn, improve, and better benefit from the support you are giving them.

The same day Daniela wrote these comments I came across this post By Sean Stannard-Stockton on the Tactical Philanthropy Advisors blog: "Fixing the Power Imbalance in Philanthropy". Here Sean too points out the value add when social investors and donors see the responsibility they have and use it to invest wisely in high performance organizations over low performance ones. As Daniela points out, the point isn't to tell non-profits how to do development, it is to influence the field by promoting those who do development well.

Realizing Our Influence


I agree with my friend that we need to engage and collaborate more with our network of peers, customers, and followers to come up with new and innovative ways to create change. However, I also agree with Daniela and Sean that as an organization who is making significant contributions to organizations working towards social change we must recognize the responsibility that comes with that. We need to do our homework to learn how these organizations are performing, what is working in the field, and make decisions to point our influence towards the highest impact possible. So now the question that springs to mind is "What do we need to do to get to this in practice?"

Part of the answer lies in simply reflecting on and recognizing the size of our current impact. As an individual donor you think about a $1,000 donation differently than a $10 donation. You think more carefully about what you do with it. In a sense we've already done this by ensuring our funds are going to reputable organizations. But, from my perspective it takes a little more effort to do what Daniela and Sean are suggesting, to really be a leader that is influencing the whole field through smart high impact investments.

Finding Our Passion


I think to get here, you have to start with the mission. I believe it takes true passion for the cause in order to create momentum within an organization to think beyond the transaction from donor to recipient. If you're passionate about the cause itself, you will focus more on impact.

A lot of social enterprises are started by an individual who is dedicated to addressing some social problem and sees capitalism as a powerful tool that can be used to work towards alleviating the problem. In this case the enterprise started with passion and the business was built around that passion. So as long as the organization remembers why it started and what it set out to do, the passion for the mission should remain central.

There are other social enterprises that start from a great idea for a business that has a nice tie-in to social and environmental change. In the case of Better World Books the tie-in to literacy and the environmental fit perfectly and we've baked it into the business model itself. This is a great thing. But, what is our passion? Are we as passionate about our cause as the entrepreneur who builds an enterprise around directly addressing a social ill they care about? By default, I don't think we necessarily are, but I think we can be. I think it takes a more concerted effort. We have to "awaken the passion" within our organization and remind ourselves why we do what we do. In our case I think we need to ask ourselves: Why literacy? And we need to think beyond that it fits nicely with books. What does literacy mean to us? Why do we care about it?

I believe that once we're able to complete the exercise of self-assessment as to what our passion is, then it will be easier for us to see the potential we have to really lead change. Then we'll understand the importance of thinking beyond transactions towards actual human impact. We'll understand we're part of a larger community and in a position to take a leadership role in that community. And we'll see the value in engaging with others in the community to answer the question of how to best direct our influence.

So to start I think I'll write something about why I care about literacy...

Books For Africa, Literacy in Africa, and the Role of a Social Enterprise

An Event Filled Trip to Minnesota

On October 2^nd and 3^rd I had the opportunity to represent Better World Books (BWB) in Minneapolis/St. Paul at several events put on by our partner Books For Africa (BFA). Those two days were jammed packed with events that made me find my way around the twin cities, but were well worth the trip. One big take away is that BFA is a great partner for BWB. Everything about the trip reaffirmed how reputable an organization it is and made abundantly clear the important role it plays in the great task of confronting the obstacles to literacy and education in Africa.

The events ranged from breakfast with Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga, the Tanzanian Permanent Representative to the United Nations; lunch with Johnnie Carson, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs; a conference on Literacy and Education in 21^st Century Africa co-hosted by the University of Minnesota and BFA; a recognition ceremony attended by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia; to a South African Braai at the BFA warehouse attended by South African Vice Consul General Gillian Motlhamme. Congresswoman Betty McCollum and Congressman Keith Ellison also participated in the events. At all of these events BFA was recognized for its work as the largest shipper of books to Africa. The presence of such distinguished guests attests to the importance of this endeavor.

Literacy in Africa: A Large and Complex Puzzle

But in addition to respect for BFA and the incredible outward facing mentality of the Minneapolis/St. Paul community, I think what brought all of these people together these two days is a deep passion about the issues facing the African continent particularly with respect to literacy and education. In his remarks at the conference, Secretary Carson stressed the important link between education and development stating that Africa’s greatest resource was its people as opposed to the common belief that it’s its natural resources. This theme was echoed throughout the weekend. There are many problems the 53 countries in Africa are facing but also enormous potential. The potential resides in its people and only through literacy and education can this potential be unleashed.

There was a lot of mention of the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education and that while a good start, it only creates more problems if more is not done. Now that kids are in school, we need to find solutions to keep them in school and to ensure they leave school “well’’ educated. We need to ensure they have access to good secondary and tertiary schools, good materials for study and research, and good jobs when they graduate. Secretary Carson noted the digital divide, the brain drain, under representation of girls in education, unqualified teachers, and lack of research and good higher education as issues that must be addressed.

Christopher Thomas, the World Bank sector manager for education in Africa, also noted that the drive for education exists in Africa. He stressed the importance of similar things: make sure kids are healthy and ready to learn, transform schools into quality schools, prepare kids for the labor market and world, create universities that are leaders of social and economic change, and create systems that work. He expressed optimism that illiteracy is a very large but solvable problem. We now need to focus on universal “quality” education, focus on improving adult literacy, and develop a rich and literate environment.

Dr. Mahiga reiterated the theme of creating a literate environment by expressing the need to foster a “culture of reading”. Good quality education at all levels is essential to this as are materials such as books.

All expressed that there are a lot of obstacles and a lot of pieces to the puzzle of solving the issues confronting literacy and education in Africa. There are many institutions, organizations, groups, and individuals who must fill their role to solve this puzzle. Books are one important piece and Books For Africa is filling that role. Institutions like the World Bank have their role as does the US government and African governments to create wide reaching systems and institute sound policies. NGOs and non-profits fill in other pieces of the puzzle such as implementing change at the grass roots level. Individual donors contribute by supporting the work of these non-profits.

The Role of a Social Enterprise

One lingering question I had throughout the two days was about the role of business and the for profit sector. Where do we fit in? I didn’t get a chance to ask the question, but I think I can start to piece together an answer.

At the recognition event on Saturday I had the honor of receiving an award from Books For Africa on behalf of Better World Books in recognition of our partnership with them. Books For Africa’s executive director, Pat Plonski, told the story of how he received a phone call 6 years ago from this kid (BWB co-founder, Xavier Helgesen) who said he wanted to run a book drive and support Books For Africa. Pat said sure and a few months later received a check for $1000. The kid called him back and said he wanted to continue to support them and the next check Pat got was for $20,000. And now Pat receives a $20,000 check every month from the organization that this kid started 6 years ago.

We at BWB harness the power of capitalism to provide crucial funding that allows organizations like BFA to do what they do. We have been essential to their growth. But BFA has also been essential to the growth of BWB. They add legitimacy to what we do. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership, a win-win. So the easy answer is to keep doing what we’re doing in supporting organizations like BFA who are directly addressing literacy and education in the world.

But I still wonder if this is the only answer. It is clear that we’re putting a new spin on the donor-benefactor relationship with the non-profits we support. We’ve made them partners and even shareholders. But might there be more value in the relationship beyond the legitimacy they provide us and the funding we provide them? What else can we as a business, a for-profit business, but one with a social mission do?

Our decision to invest in causes such as that of literacy and education in Africa is a conscious one that goes beyond marketing plugs and tax right offs. It is baked into the very core of our business model. It is essential to our survival and long term growth not just as a sustainable social enterprise but as an enterprise in general. The cause itself must have meaning to us. We as an organization need to share our partners’ passion about literacy, and we need to care about solving the problems that are keeping so much of the world illiterate. Coming off of a series of events surrounded by people who have this passion and put it to action in their every day work is invigorating. And coming back to the daily grind of a for-profit enterprise trying to be sustainable can be a downer, even if it is a social enterprise.

So how do we create this same passion for the mission at our own organization so that it is something real and meaningful and not just something we talk about and tout?

What more can we do to overcome the obstacles to literacy and education in the world?

I welcome and encourage your thoughts. I think the answers to these questions will help propel us to become a great company who is a true leader in the social enterprise space.

Paul “Paco” Miller

Africa Rural Connect

Last week I was fortunate to have been able to participate in a round table discussion with Arlene Mitchell from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focused on agriculture in rural Africa and the newly launched initiative from the National Peace Corps Association: Africa Rural Connect.

Kudos to fellow Mali RPCV and one of the architects of Africa Rural Connect, Molly Mattessich, for inviting me to participate.

I encourage all to listen to the podcast and especially Arlene's opening comments. I just want to highlight a few things that jumped out at me from this conversation.

African Women Matter

It is great to hear from someone from an organization like the Gates Foundation talking about the importance of women in agriculture in Africa. Arlene starts off the conversation by pointing out that this is a promising moment in agriculture, but one that will depend on African women as they make up 3/4 of the farming population in the developing world. They need to be the target. Coming off the recent G8 summit agriculture has jumped to the forefront in development, as it should. But, I think Arlene hits the nail on the head that a new focus on agriculture cannot succeed without addressing the needs of the farmers on the ground, and particularly the women.

Voices from the Fields

It is also encouraging to see the Gates Foundation recognizing the need to partner with an organization like NPCA. As Arlene points out they need knowledgeable, caring, and creative minds to focus on the issues facing agricultural development in Africa. The development community doesn't have all the answers, and those answers are not going to come from people who don't care about rural Africa. She points out that it is hard for the developed world to visualize the realities of working on the ground. Thus, the need for connecting with rural African farmers and people who know and have worked with rural Africans. NPCA, Peace Corps, and the African diaspora are three important groups who can help serve as the liaison between rural farmers and the development community.

Appropriate Technology

The final piece that struck me was the conversation revolving around technology and coming up with innovative solutions in rural Africa. Again the overarching them is that these solutions need to come from the ground up and should be driven by Africans. Bringing outside technology to rural development is problematic. There needs to be a focus on local needs. Outside technology needs to be taken and redone from a local perspective. Technology needs to be tailored to address the real target audience, rural African farmers (particularly women), and needs to be done so in real and practical ways. At present technology isn't reaching this target audience because there exists a disconnect in understanding implementation on the ground. Again, this is an area RPCVs, Peace Corps volunteers, members of the diaspora, and small grass roots organizations can play a key role in communicating the realities of farming in rural Africa and giving voice to the true needs of the farmers.

My Personal Spin

For me this initiative and the support of the Gates Foundation is very exciting. My wife is from a rural farming village in Mali, and our whole extended family are all rural farmers who are just scraping by. It has always been a struggle for us on a very personal level to find ways to address their needs. So to see and be a part of an initiative like Rural Africa Connect is exciting. For me the biggest challenge will be to bring the needs of people like my family in Mali to the table, and then to come up with innovative solutions to address them. I really believe this project to be a step in the right direction in terms of bringing a community of people together who understand and care about rural Africa. But, again the real challenge will be to make sure rural Africans and especially rural African women are involved. This is why the project I've submitted is called "Helping Farmers find their voice and be hear." (I know not the most creative name.)

The project is very much an idea at this point that still needs a lot of thought and fleshing out. However, I believe it to be an important issue to find a solution to. We need to find a way to create a platform for rural farmers to express their needs and be heard by the development community. This platform would also be a means for bringing farmers together and enabling them to organize on their own. I'm not sure I have the right approach, and am sure a lot will change in terms of how I've laid it out as I develop it more. But I feel the idea is worth putting out there. And I plan on continuing to work on it and build it into a project that could realistically be implemented. And while I focus on Mali (since that is what I know and where I am most closely tied to), the ideal is to find a solution that could be replicated elsewhere.

There are certainly a lot of questions I still need to answer. Here are some I'm struggling with:

• How do you move from idea to actionable project?
• How do you organize a project from abroad?
  
• How do you get "on the ground" where the action is with limited funds?
• How do you motivate farmers to participate?
  
• How do you ensure women's participation?
• How do you find and connect with existing local organizations on the ground?
• How do you present the farmers ideas and needs to the development community?
  

So I encourage all to read through the idea, and to offer constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement. You can do that on the ARC site or here in the comments. And I thank all those who have already left comments or reached out with advice and suggestions. I'm already working on ways to incorporate your ideas.

I also encourage everyone to check out all the other great ideas formulating on the site and to please endorse your favorites.

Long Hiatus

I know it has been forever since I've posted anything. I guess I've been in "learning" mode lately. I've got some thoughts on social entrepreneurship and social enterprise I'd like to post soon. I'm also researching other topics such as clean water access, education in Africa, and micro enterprise in the developing world that I hope to post questions and thoughts on soon.

Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda

Today I had the privilege of hearing a man talk who was introduced as a saint. This man quickly dispelled this claim joking that he would be the worst of them all if that were true. This man was Archbishop John Baptist Odama of Northern Uganda speaking at the University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Center today. If not a saint, at least a good man bringing a message of hope from a corner of the world where it often seems there isn't much hope left.

Archbishop Odama began with a brief history on the conflict in Northern Uganda that has now spilled over into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This war with the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) has been going on for almost 23 years and is one of the ugliest and longest running wars of our time. He explained how the LRA with the infamous Joseph Kony as their leader came about in 1987 as a splinter group of the UPDA that remained in the bush and grew in power with the help of the Sudanese government. The whole history can be found here.

LRA waged war on the populace for over 10 years before the peace initiative finally began in 1998. This initiative was started by local religious leaders including Odama. They started with community sensitization. They saw 4 possible paths to peace: 1. Military operation 2. Amnesty 3. Dialogue 4. The ICC. They did not see a military operation as the answer, thus their top 2 paths to peace were dialogue and amnesty, dialogue being the number 1 path. They were resistant to the ICC as they felt an ICC indictment of Kony and his commanders conflicted with the trust required for dialogue between the LRA and the government.

Odama believes that the ICC was responsible for the dialogue starting off on the wrong foot. They had already started to begin the dialogue with Kony and his men when on December 29, 2002 the chief prosecutor of the ICC held a joint press conference with President Museveni of Uganda. This was a very non Partisan move on the part of the ICC. Odama considered this and an official indictment as obstacles to signing a true peace agreement.

Odama believes reconciliation is the true path to peace. This addresses the needs of the victims, the perpetrators and the community. All must be involved. In an international court Kony would not have to face his victims, and might even possibly win with a good legal team. Even if Kony were arrested, that would create a power vacuum that might only lead to further conflicts. In order to fully address the postwar problem and to have lasting peace they needed reconciliation according to the traditional custom "Mato oput".

Asked how you attain both Peace and Punishment, Odama reaffirmed that reconciliation and restoring the relationship between the victims, perpetrators and community was more important than punishment. When asked if there are victims opposed to dialogue, he said that there were groups that wanted Kony to admit to his specific crimes against them, but added that in Uganda the common consensus was that people could forgive Kony if he would only stop the war.

Odama and his group saw themselves as the bridge between the government and the LRA. They were the mediators. On July 14, 2002 in Western Gulu they went to meet one of Kony's top commanders, Vincent Otti. There were 4 of them, mostly priests, traveling in a car with no escort. At 4 o'clock they met Otti. They explained that they had come because the war had lasted too long, and they wanted a clear decision from both sides on how to end it. They had already talked to the government about working towards peace talks with the rebels. Otti asked Odama if he had come as a representative on behalf of the government. Odama told him that he came on behalf of the people of their country who were suffering as the victims of the conflict. Otti was suspicious still and accused Odama of being a government spy. Odama responded that this wasn't true, and that he viewed Otti and others in the LRA as lost sheep who he was coming out into the bush to find. Eventually, Otti warmed up and started to talk. Both sides left the meeting with the mindset that this dialogue would continue. It was silent diplomacy between the government and the rebels facilitated by this group of religious leaders.

At one point Museveni warned Odama not to go back into the bush to meet the rebels as he had it from a reliable source that they would surely kill him. But Odama and his peers continued their dialogue. They also continued to press for advocacy even coming to the US State Department. They created awareness in the world about the so far unknown plight of the Ugandan people, especially the children as the LRA was notorious for abducting children and assimilating them into their ranks. Odama talked about 4 days spent living and sleeping in the infamous bus parks where the night commuters slept to avoid abduction by the rebels. He talked about the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons in IDP camps. Through networking and advocacy with people in Sudan, Kenya, Europe and the US the hope of peace talks started to become a reality.

Finally, in July of 2006 these peace talks began and continued until March 2008. Odama and his fellow religious leaders where the official non partisan observers in the peace talks.

In April of 2008 the final signing of the peace agreement was to take place but it failed. Kony did not show. Another meeting in May failed to happen and another in August. Finally, in November 2008 Odama met Kony face to face in the bush and asked him why he would not show up to sign the peace agreement. Kony said that he would not sign with out the ICC indictment lifted. He told Odama he was like a hunter with a spear going after peace, but then behind him the lion (the ICC) was coming for him. So what was he to do? Continue to pursue peace or turn around and fight the lion? Odama urged him of the great importance of signing the agreement, but Kony was too suspicious.

Only 2 weeks after this meeting the new joint operation of Uganda, DR Congo and South Sudan was launched on December 14, 2008 against the LRA in DR Congo. That conflict is still going on today and Kony and his army are still at large. Odama did not speak much on this current conflict as he was careful to point out that the only news coming from the battlefield was from the army. He said the accuracy of these reports was definitely a concern of the people of Uganda who were eager for the truth. He encouraged the idea that independent reporters need to try and go into Congo and see for themselves and report the truth.

Odama made an apology to the people of Congo for allowing their war to be exported into Congo. Early in his talk when talking about the conflict between the LRA and the government in Uganda he referenced the famous Swahili proverb: "When 2 elephants fight the grass gets hurt." In talking about the current situation in DR Congo he extended this: "When there are many elephants fighting the grass really suffers".

With the dialogue cut off and hopes of further peace talks dashed by the new war, Odama did not show a loss of hope. Even though the war has furthered the mistrust of Kony, Odama still sees diplomacy as the only true answer to this conflict. He said all efforts should be made to try to end the war with diplomacy.

Odama proposes political and religious leaders start to brainstorm on how to end this conflict. He suggested that places like the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame are also good think tanks for finding a new path to diplomacy.

When asked if Kony might only be using the indictment from the ICC as an excuse to continue his war, Odama expressed his belief that Kony has 2 major issues he is facing: 1. Fear of prosecution and 2. He is not alone and must be concerned with the future of his officers. He then expressed a third concern Kony might have which is that he might wonder "can he truly be forgiven". When asked if the ICC has played any positive role, Odama expressed that it did serve the purpose of bringing accountability to the forefront and forced both sides of the conflict to consider the issue of punishment.

At the top I say Odama brings a message of hope. The underlying theme in all of his lecture was that of reconciliation. It was clear that ICC indictments, military operations, or even punishment were not the right answer in his mind. He instead takes the human approach. Repairing relationships is more important than punishment.

The moderator of the lecture asked Odama at the end how he maintains his hope when things have taken such a sharp turn for the worse. Odama simply responded that the mission of peace is not his. He doesn't own it. It is owned by God and he is simply a servant. He said "God wrote straight on a crooked line." He admitted that he didn't know what the next steps towards peace were, but knew that steps to peace can be found. He stressed that to find the solution they need more workers for peace and hope, as many as possible.

And finally, he got personal and said that he always has a soft voice in his head saying "I am with you always. Be not afraid." And he added: "Even to go into the bush and meet Kony".

TimBer's Talk: I'm finally getting it... I think

TimBer's Talk: I'm finally getting it... I think


My friend Tim (@timbergman) from work wrote this post today on figuring out Twitter. He used me (@paconmiller) as an example of someone he learned from so I figured I would share a little too.

I just started using Twitter a little over a month ago. At first I, too, had no idea what I was doing or even what the purpose was. I actually tried to follow the Facebook trend and actually answer the question "What are you doing?" Well, that is a pretty boring question to answer most of the time, and a huge constraint to creativity. But, then I realized through someone I was following (can't quite remember who) that I didn't have to answer that question. Twitter wasn't like Facebook. People decided to break that constraint of always trying to answer the actual question literally. So I started posting links that were of interest to me (this was right around the time too that I started reading blogs, mostly about tech and Africa). Then all of a sudden people started to follow me who had the same interests. I posted more on Africa and development than anything and became connected to all these people doing great things in Africa and the development world and holding great conversations on those topics (plus a lot more great links).

It was after those first few followers that I truly started to realize what Twitter was. It was a way to connect with people outside my normal friends, groups, work and networks. It was a way to connect with people all over the world who shared the same interests. That was one thing I never liked about Facebook. I always felt constrained by my network, and always worried about "friending" people I didn't know real well. With Twitter that isn't the case. You follow who you want and they can choose to follow you back or not. It's more like sharing conversation with interesting people than committing to a relationship. There's no need to break up or "unfriend". Just "unfollow" or walk away from the conversation (you can always come back).

Then I took the leap to update my Facebook status from Twitter. Crazy? I know. I was completely defying those infamous words "What are you doing right now?", and honestly I worried what my friends might think to my blatant disregard for "everything that was good and holy". Well, so far I haven't been "unfriended". To the contrary I've actually received pretty positive reaction to what I was doing and as a result I've become more active than I ever was on Facebook (I never got into it before) and started to interact with my friends....it started to become more like casual conversation than forced awkward interaction. People started to find me instead of me having to use friend finder and debate whether I knew someone well enough to click "add friend". I'm sure there are a lot of my "friends" thinking "That crazy Paco and his constant status feed." But for now I can live with that as long as a few are commenting on my updates.

As @timbergman is learning and figuring it out, I too am still figuring it out. I think I'm just hitting the tip of the iceberg. One thing @timbergman has taught me (as he surpassed me in followers ;)) is that you need to engage the community, especially those you follow and those who follow you. I have mostly posted links that I find interesting. But I haven't conversed enough. I know I'm no expert compared to a lot of my followees and followers, but that's the beauty of Twitter. You don't need to be an expert and can still be in the conversation.

So I think I too am starting to get it. I'm ready to start engaging. And I can't wait for what comes after that....