Sometimes, this work is frustrating. 

Excruciatingly long hours.  Constant shortage of funds.  The thousands of things that inevitably go wrong when you are working in a poor African country - like the sudden diesel shortage that hit Zambia this week, crippling our vehicles the day that we need to move 12 incoming staff members across the country.  Admittedly, I occassionally want to stick out my lip and pout, lamenting the fact that I haven’t even gone to a movie in the past 2 years.

 

The good thing about this line of work is that you can’t feel sorry for yourself for long.  You can’t help but be consistently reminded of how strong the human spirit can be.  And unassumingly strong, at that. 

 

I just received this story from our field staff about a man named Antoine, a Congolese refugee who has been running one of our computer training labs since 2005.  We’ve all worked closely with Antoine for the past 2 years, yet strangely nobody knew his story.  It’s energizing and refreshing to hear about the things that the people around you have overcome – and with what strength and poise, you’d never know the difference…

 

Antoine was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1981.  When he was a 17 year-old schoolboy, the war came to his village.  Because Antoine’s father’s job was to report on human rights abuses, Antoine’s family became a natural target for the invading army.  They raided his home, tied his father to a tree, and began to beat him.  The family fled to the bush for safety, but as they ran they heard gunshots ring through the night.  They didn’t hear from their father again, and were convinced of his murder.

 

After his father’s death, Antoine went to live with an uncle.  His uncle owned a computer and taught Antoine some basic computer skills, enough to land him a job upon completion of high school.  As he worked, Antoine’s goal was always to go to college to further his computer education.

 

In 2003, five years after his father’s disappearance and presumed death, Antoine received a letter with his father's handwriting and signature.  Shocked and thrilled to hear that his father had survived, Antoine and his family travled to Zambia to reunite.  Their father had made it to Kala Kala Refugee Camp in Zambia, where he had been trying to reach his family for the past 5 years.  Because his father could not return to Congo for fear of his life, the family decided to stay together in Kala camp. 

  

When FORGE went to establish a computer lab in Kala in 2005, Antoine’s computer experience made his the natural choice for Computer Instructor.  Antoine accepted the opportunity to help his fellow refugees learn the same skills that had helped him in life, and for the past 2 years has been teaching a full load of classes in English, French and Swahili.  During this time, Antoine has written a computing textbook over 400 pages long in simple French, including topics in computer basics, Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, and Internet Explorer.

 

With Congolese refugees now returning home, many of Antoine's former students have contacted him, reporting that they had secured jobs because of their basic computer knowledge.

                                                                       

Antoine is ready to go to college, but refuses to leave until his assistants at the Computer Center are ready to take over in full.  In his time with FORGE, Antoine has learned the many ways that his skills can benefit others.  When he returns to college, he will study humanitarian organization management.  To this, he says, "I now know much about computers, so I'm dreaming to one day help other refugees when my refugee status is gone."

I’m a private person.  When it comes to my personal struggles and successes with leadership, entrepreneurship, and social change, there are few people I’ve ever confided in.  Until now.

Why open up to the world, and why now?

I’ve never before had an internet presence.  But when I recently updated my previously-barren Facebook profile, I discovered what the web can do.  In the next 24 hours, dozens of messages poured congratulating me on getting engaged….something which had happened a full year before! 

It wasn’t until that happened that I started to comprehend the power that is the internet.  I had a good grasp on what the internet could do for facilitating concrete ideas and plans – FORGE was built on instant communication across long distances.   But what about the big ideas?  What about the paradigm-shifting conversations that will transform our society? 

We can all see the strange revolution that is happening online, where the little man behind a computer screen has been steadily inching power away from the gigantic news corporations that have dominated our society for centuries. 

But – what is this really going to change?  Will the internet revolution simply enable more people to bellow their questionably-formed opinions into the virtual oblivion, or will it actually enable new thoughts and possibilities to arise?  How do we separate the substance from the screaming?

The internet is simply a tool.  It can be used however we choose to use it.  Everyone on the Social Edge knows that we CAN use the internet to advance the our understanding of the questions that sit at the root of the evolution of humanity.  

But to me, the community on Social Edge is not nearly large enough.  The internet has given a voice to the masses.  But does it also summon the masses to lend a collective ear? 

I don’t want a soapbox.  I want inspired community conversation, like the kinds we have when crowded around the campfire under the Zambia stars.  Whether the internet can be optimized for this, I intend to find out. 

I hope I’m not screaming too loudly.   

When I started FORGE almost four years ago, I didn’t have a business plan.  I didn’t have a revenue model.  I didn’t have connections, a reputation, or any substantial experience.  And I didn’t have a penny.

But - I had the four most important things I think I could’ve had:

1)    I saw a problem (lack of education and empowerment services for refugees in Africa)

2)    I saw how that problem could be reframed as an opportunity (if refugee populations could become self-sufficient, they could be the key to breaking the cycle of war and poverty in Africa)

3)    I saw a new and untapped channel through which to create that opportunity (college students could be trained to be efficient & effective agents of change, partnering with refugees for education and empowerment)

4)    I had committed people around me who were willing to take a risk  (from the first class of Project Facilitators, to our first refugee employees, to my ever-dedicated family, the first people to take that leap of faith were the most critical)

Beyond those 4 things, it took hefty dose of audacity and determination mixed with a consistent stream of self-reflection and organizational re-evaluation.

FORGE is a success.  We’ve doubled our budget every year since we started, without increasing our overhead.  We now work in 3 refugee camps in Zambia, assisting over 60,000 refugees in building better lives.  Our 100+ refugee staff work tirelessly on our dozens of projects.  We annually train 30 Project Facilitators to develop new solutions and bring new life to our work on the ground.  Before Project Facilitators volunteer with FORGE internationally, they complete over 400 hours of training in 7 intensive months and raise the funds to cover personal and project expenses.

But FORGE is not yet what it could be. We serve only 60,000 of the world’s 8 million refugees.  For the past 3.5 years we’ve focused inward – on our projects and our structures – perhaps to the detriment of our funding stability and potential to grow. 

As a leader, I constantly question myself & my performance.  Are my successes real?  Are my failures as bad as I believe them to be?  How can I take my organization to the scale I know it must reach?

Through this blog, I invite you to come along on this journey of endless questions, hard knocks, joyous discoveries, and quiet reflections.  It’s not always pretty, but it’s sure worth the ride.