There were the obvious moments; being with friends and colleagues again after a few months away from them, meeting our newest addition to the team family (baby Charlie Isaiah Whitcombe!), seeing the teachers at our partner schools continuing to flourish in the classroom. And of course, there’s always the opportunity for bean sorting!
But often for me, when we have visiting teams, the highlight is always the same. And never was it more so than on this recent trip with Cranleigh School.
My highlight is journeying with people as they start to “get it”.
By that we mean…getting to grips with the big issues, the big questions that are part of the everyday when you are involved in development and not-for-profit life.
There is something so special to me about walking with people, especially young people, as they begin to grapple with the injustice in our world, the inequality, the pain and struggle and yet at the same time witness them be surprised and inspired by the hope, the faith, the development, the possibilities for the future.
To see them start to unpick what they had previously been told was true, what the media has shown them to be true and challenge it head on. To truly understand the land, its culture and its people.
To realise that we don’t have the answers, that we aren’t the ‘saviours’ coming to bestow all our knowledge and goodness on those who are less fortunate than ourselves. That in fact, historically ‘we’ have got it so wrong and caused more damage than good, creating dependency and not offering empowerment and sustainability at all.
It’s the main reason we do trips, we aren’t a tour company. If people want to go to a developing nation and feel good about ‘helping the poor’ then we’re not the organisation for them!
My heart for the students (and anyone) we have visit Zambia with us is that they might be challenged and changed. That they might take all that they taste, see, hear, smell and touch, and have it stay with them. So that, as people of influence and affluence they might make choices that impact others well.
That they might be part of the generation that truly makes a difference.
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