Earthquakes - Northern Dhading and Other Areas, Nepal (III)
the adventure
"Raising Many More Servant Leaders in the Mountains!"
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Nearly one year on, it was gratifying to see Project Taja Asa (Fresh Hope) maturing and making significant impact on the lives and attitudes of the mountain communities in Dhading. When we began this reconstruction initiative post-earthquake, there was a fair amount of inertia and doubt. But, as we started taking the small and often difficult steps, things developed, situations improved, and communities rallied.
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Following our successful first leadership and disaster preparedness course last Aug-Sep, we commenced scaling up our vision of raising a critical mass of servant leaders in every mountain village. The logic was really quite simple: one trained leader would have limited influence and capacity over his or her village, but a motivated leadership team of 12 in each community of several hundreds and thousands would have far greater reach and impact. In time, perhaps the entire Dhading region's resilience would improve dramatically.
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As we embarked on the second leadership course, we found ourselves with a happy problem: more than 100 Nepalese leaders from the surrounding villages showed up! So, my dynamic team of Singaporeans and Nepalese rolled up their sleeves, and promptly constructed a large improvised outdoor classroom, using local bamboo, rafia and whatever tarps we could borrow.
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This course reinforced our belief that we learn best by doing and applying. Instead of the conventional lecture-style of instruction, my team and I employed different experiential learning methods to engage with the participants. Using the parable approach, every experiential activity was a container for a leadership lesson. And, our mission exercises challenged the participants both physically and intellectually, obliging them to apply servant leadership practices under situational stress, dilemmas and time pressure. Overall, the participants experienced how theory informed practice, and how practice in turn enriched theory.
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As before, the journey to the mountains of Dhading was an arduous and long adventure on its own. Besides the bone-jarring 4x4 ride through river beds and narrow mountain trails, our team had to hike on foot in the mountains for several hours before we could reach Tawal Village, the central training site. Nevertheless, the high morale that every Nepalese participant experienced as he/she completed the finale mission, known as The Leaders' March, was more than reward enough. As each team in striking red Taja Asa t-shirts marched to the finish line, bearing casualties on their backs and on improvised stretchers, the sight was both impressive and inspiring.
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Reflecting on this latest mission, it is gratifying that Project Fresh Hope is now starting to make a tangible impact on the capacity of the Nepalese communities. As we continue to proliferate this course and the concept of servant leadership to more and more communities, I believe that we will help open up the hearts and minds of more Nepalese leaders everywhere.
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Here's to more humanitarian adventures in the coming months!
