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My good friend and colleague, Kirsti Tcherkoyan, and I check in every Monday morning for our own little MasterMind group. Last Monday our conversation went to how our work with women, youth and leaders in Kenya has changed our perspective of the work we do here at home in Northern California.  Volunteering in a developing country has had a similar impact on both of us – we have a deeper appreciation for what we have to contribute and how we can serve others right now, right here where we live.

Kirsti is finding that small trade businesses tucked away in the suburbs of San Francisco are more open to and gain more from her business coaching than the target market of high-growth, high-tech startups she had originally been encouraged to pursue as clients. These business owners, sadly, get little attention, support and recognition for their impact on our economy and the role they play in strengthening our middle class. And me, I’m finding increased meaning in my work to close opportunity gaps and bridge silos within our K – 14 education system, holding on to my faith that education is the answer to so many of our society’s problems. It gets hard to hold on to that optimism when so many complain about how “broken” it is. But my trips to Kenya, where poor rural families spend the majority of the money they make working the land on sending their kids to grammar school, have shown me how much we in the US take for granted the privilege of secondary education that is virtually free. If our system is broken, there’s still enough of it that isn’t, and we CAN make it better at what it was meant to be, the means by which we prepare our young to be good, contributing citizens.

Both of us, as a result of the relationships we’ve built in Africa, have a better appreciation for the gifts of experience and knowledge that Life has given us and we believe that the reason we were blessed with them is to share them where they are most needed.  Consider sharing gifts at our conference this summer in Nairobi.