A happy Thanksgiving to you all!

This week, in the spirit of gratitude, we’re sharing a video of a woman who is very grateful for Spirit in Action.

Boyd and I met Justina in Manyamula Village, Malawi last summer where she shared this testimonial of how her life changed after receiving a Spirit in Action Small Business Fund $150 grant.

For more SIA videos click here.

Are people in Africa happy? Are people in the North America happy? Of course, the answer in both cases is: some people are; and some people aren’t. Whatever our situation, how we act and think can increase our happiness.

Recently, a good friend of mine sent me a blog post entitled, “12 Things Happy People Do Differently.” Always on the lookout for inspiration to send to SIA partners at home and abroad, I printed out several copies and sent one of them to Canaan Gondwe, our fantastic Small Business Fund (SBF) Coordinator in Malawi. This sparked a great conversation between us, each sharing how we act to incorporate these “happy habits.”

Below is an except of Canaan’s response to five of the attributes.

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Happy people! Ofonime Nkoko (SBF Coordinator, Nigeria) and Canaan Gondwe in Kenya.

Tanya, thank you very much for sharing this article with me. This will help me and the management and the whole MAVISALO to reflect on our conduct, character, and to move to things that happy people do in life. Sometimes we fail to increase our levels of happiness because we are harboring wrong views and attributes of ourselves.

1. Express gratitude

My college lecture once said and I quote “don’t despise your small beginnings but in them thank God in order to excel.” We usually tend to look down on our current state and think nothing is being done. As we do that, we lose a sense of gratitude and happiness.

2. Avoid over-thinking and social comparison

Very strong statement and advice. When one over-thinks and lives a life of social comparison, it has a negative impact in the way you look at things and this also cultivates poor social relations. When you embrace such values in life, you lose a sense of happiness. You easily burn out and lose balance. But it is good to have mentors in life. Make connections with people who have succeeded and employ good ideas from them and move. One mentor of mine said “walk your pace and vision, walk your talk and walk your level.” I saw this as avoiding social comparisons.

3. Practice acts of kindness

Kindness is one the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22). This is God’s own fruit in us as human beings. God’s kindness is shown in giving and helping the helpless human beings. I see this being emulated in SIA in rolling out SBF to our communities. Is this not God’s own kindness? Is this not kindness in its fullest form? Are the sponsors and board members of SIA not celebrating in a sense, for bailing out one person from poverty, elsewhere in Africa? If Canaan can spend hours helping a less privileged person in this rural community, is this not an act of kindness? Very important attribute indeed.

Tanya and Canaan in the MAVISALO poultry house.

4. Nurture social relationships

One person said, “a problem shared is half solved.” Man is a social being from creation. We need to be connected to other people and this brings balance as we share views, successes and challenges. We are molded holistically as one said and I quote, “there is beauty in diversity.” In nurturing social relationships, we are able to understand our people better. This is very true in even in providing the leadership to our organization. As leaders we need to come down and listen to the people we lead. I have personally succeeded as a coordinator by nurturing relationships. I respect each and every person and relate deeply with them because they are God’s own creation.

5. Learn to forgive

Keeping hatred makes one feel low. Hatred spoils facial expressions. Truly, when you harbor hatred, you walk a sick person. We need to forgive those who wrong us. God forgave us and this is wanted even for us. Forgiveness brings healing to the forgiver and the one forgiven. We enter a new life indeed if this is done.

Tanya, I once more thank you for the 12 tips. I will share this with my friends. Send us more of these when you bump on them. They are fruitful indeed.

This time of year is a good time for reflection and appreciation so this morning I sat down and wrote out five things about Spirit in Action that make me proud.

Elephants follow each other's path across the Samburu River in Kenya.

1. We build relationships that are multi-sided and on-going. I learn from SIA partners and they learn from me. We enrich each other’s lives.
2. We are flexible. SIA responds to the needs and ideas of our partners, rather than dictate the exact approach to address their challenges.
3. We focus on positive change. You won’t see humiliating photos of children with flies in their eyes on the SIA website. We honor the dignity and joy of our dedicated partners.
4. We start small. Our small grants give a family or community necessary assistance to make the first step towards their vision for change, without making them dependent on our support.
5. We share the gift. A SIA grant doesn’t have to be paid back, it has to be passed along to another community member in need. Grant receivers are also gift givers!

May peace be yours in the New Year! We are so grateful for your encouragement and support of SIA worldwide. You can add what makes you proud of SIA in the comment box below. I’d love to hear from all of you!

Tanya visits Gaudenziah at her family's thriving Solar Cookers business in Eldoret, Kenya.

This Thanksgiving, as we each reflect on our blessings and the bounty we have, will you join me in also praying for the world? Below are five table graces incorporating prayers of thanks and prayers for service and justice. If you have a special Thanksgiving table grace, share it with us in the comments!

May this Thanksgiving be a time to recommit ourselves to empowering others, living compassionately, and putting God’s Spirit into action through serving and praying for the world. Happy Thanksgiving!

Different ethnic groups share a meal together in Rwanda - SIA creates community!

1. Give us grateful hearts, O Lord, for all thy mercies,
and make us mindful of the needs of others;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(1928 Book of Common Prayer)

2. To those who hunger,
Give bread;
To those who have bread,
Give the hunger for justice. Amen.
(Latin America Prayer)

3. Make us worthy, Lord,
To serve those people
Throughout the world who live and die
In poverty and hunger.
Give them, through our hands
This day their daily bread,
And by our understanding love,
Give peace and joy.
(Mother Theresa)

4. For food in a world where many walk in hunger
For faith in a world where many walk in fear
For friends in a world where many walk alone
We give you humble thanks, oh Lord.
(World Hunger Grace)

Women cook a meal together (Rwanda)

5. Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
And sae let the Lord be thankit.

Some have meat and cannot eat,
Some cannot eat that want it;
But we have meat and we can eat,
So let the Lord be thanked.
(The Selkirk Grace by Robert Burns; Scotland)

Related Posts:

• Musings and Gratitude (12/28/10)
• Gratitude from Marsha Johnson (4/19/11)

After the minibus could make it no further along the muddy road, we all got out to walk the rest of the way. Dennis Kiprop, always cheerful and positive, told us that it wouldn’t be too much further. Three-quarters of an hour later, with muddy shoes and cold toes, I and the other thirteen SIA Conference attendees finally made it the house of Rose Ayabei.

Our minibus couldn't make it any further up the muddy hill, so we got out to walk.

After a morning of meeting at the Ukweli Training Center in Eldoret, Kenya this past August, Dennis was taking the group of SIA partners and Small Business Fund (SBF) Coordinators from all over Africa to meet some of his enthusiastic SBF group leaders in the area. I use the phrase “in the area” loosely because we soon realized that Rose’s family lived at quite a distance from Dennis’s home in downtown Eldoret.

Dedicated Volunteers

It was sometime during the hour-long bus ride to Rose’s that I came to appreciate the devotion and dedication of our SBF Coordinators. Dennis had made this long journey more than a few times over the yearlong period that SIA follows the new SBF businesses. He continues to make the journey both because Rose is always inviting him come see the progress and because he is committed to supporting the new business leaders and encouraging them in their endeavors.

Our SBF Coordinators work as volunteers for SIA and receive stipends from SIA to cover their expenses (for travel, internet use, postage, etc.), as well as respect from their neighbors and communities for the work they do to bring development to the area through the Small Business Fund. Ms. Nalu Prossy, the SBF Coordinator from Uganda said at the conference, “I do that work as a volunteer because it is in my heart, I have that spirit of helping others.” When she meets with new groups for business and skills training, “I help them, encourage them, share the work with them, comfort the widows.”

Tanya Cothran and Nalu Prossy walking in the mud.

Valuable Conference

The conference this summer in Kenya, supported by SIA donors, was an important time for SIA partners and SBF Coordinators to share, learn, and grow together. We met for four days, reviewing training materials, addressing common challenges, developing African leadership, and planning for further collaboration after we all returned home. I heard beautiful stories of communities flourishing through SIA SBF and the Sharing the Gift program, which spreads the impact of SIA even further into the community. I also heard concerns about the cost of traveling to monitor the groups and after making the long journey to see Rose’s poultry house, I began to understand the length that the Coordinators go to make SIA SBF groups feel supported and encouraged.

SIA partners walking on the muddy road.

Even though it was costly to bring all the Coordinators to Kenya for the week, the benefits far outweighed the costs. I left the gathering with a real sense of gratitude that we were able to meet each other in person and establish an even stronger sense of community among the SIA partners. The coordinators developed connections among themselves and they are working to build resources that will help each of them in their work with SIA. One of the requests that came out of the meeting was to build an online community so that they can keep in touch with the whole group until we meet again –hopefully in a few years!  Canaan Gondwe, from Malawi, expressed his gratitude at the end of the conference, “Thanks to the SIA board and donors – it was not easy to bring us here. For some it was the first time to get into a plane, and the first time to come to Kenya. Thank you, thank you, so much. Yewo chimene.”

New shared experiences

The trudge through the mud to Rose’s poultry farm was longer than expected and the SIA partners, now friends with partners from other countries, caught each other as they started to slip, cheered as they finally reached the minibus, and even washed off my shoes for me after we got back to our rooms! Dennis said that Boyd and I had now had a true “African experience” and, more importantly, it helped the group create a strong bond of support and mutual respect.

We finally make it back to the minibus!

Washing Tanya's muddy shoes