The Visionary

I guess the reason I'm writing these blog posts is to record my thoughts and to practice my writing... so bear with me. I will try to make them as insightful and interesting as possible. Until I get better at writing and formulating my thoughts, however, I guess this is mostly for myself. Hopefully, in the future, I'll be able to give more valuable input to blog followers :]

So I guess I have one month to catch up, which I'll gradually try to do with these blog posts.

Today, we listened to the president of Ashinaga give a speech regarding the 100-year plan in Africa as well as his general vision for Ashinaga. To summarize, the main goal of this organization is to end poverty. For the whole world. Yes, it's a broad goal (and quite ambitious), but they're currently focusing via improving education for the most underprivileged group of students. The 100-year plan basically means that they'll take the "brightest" students from all over Africa, bring them to the top university, and then, these students will bring back what they learned in these universities to their country. 100 years of this, then poverty is gone.... according to them.

It's quite interesting to have such a vision. When somebody asked Tamai how he dealt with criticism, he simply responded that nobody has ever criticized him. It makes me wonder if a leader of an organization (the visionary) is always so separated from the logistical aspects of an organization... and kind of floating on the cloud of his vision. They say you need a vision when you start an organization, but being too much a visionary may blind yourself from criticizing yourself and thinking about the basis of your organization. I'm more a technical person, so when I hear "100 year plan" or "ending poverty" I want to know what will happen in the next months, next year, the five year plan, etc. I want to know what they mean by "expanding internationally" and "spreading the Ashinaga vision." Does that simply mean letting everybody know about the organization or building more rainbow houses across the world? Five years from now, for example, if they want to expand in the US, does that mean they want a headquarter in the US? For what purpose? For another avenue to raise awareness and fundraise internationally? If so, how?

As much as I applaud him for being so dedicated to this vision and raising $1 billion dollars to give financial support to orphans all over the world (and the opportunity to go to college), I've always been prone to ask: what could I have done better. When I think $1 billion, I don't just applaud the amount of money Ashinaga has raised. I think: how could this organization used the $1 billion more effectively? How can Ashinaga send 100,000 orphans to college rather than 90,000? ... and to even micromanage a bit more, how can Ashinaga set the basis for a successful English Summer Program for next year?

All these technical things, Tamai has no responsibility for. He is the visionary. Hopefully on Sunday we can talk to the new supervisor for the English program to propose a new basis for the English program and potentially an international tsudoi in America. I would also love to hear how they want to expand to the US and what we, as interns, and soon to be "Ashinaga alumni" can do to help.