Sometimes in life you start to become successful and you forget the lessons life taught you along the way. This week here at “Camp”, which is what we call our home in Tanzania, we had to send one of the boys back home. Man was it hard, I cried, even though it will only be temporary, he will go back to his grandmother’s home. He lived there before moving in to camp with us. Both his mother and father are alive but neither of them have taken care of the boy and they left him to his grandmother since he was very young. His grandmother is old and can barely take care of herself yet her children have abandon several kids with her, life with grandma is very difficult. There is very little food to share between herself and the kids, they have to walk to fetch water and there is no money for anything extra, no soap, no oil, no basic essentials, they all sleep down, most of them together with only a mkeka (a grass mat) and a shared sheet between all. There isn’t the luxuries that he has available to him at camp. Here he is feed 3 times a day, with vegetables everyday and meat usually 2-3 times a week, he sleeps in his own bed with a mattress and sheets, he has soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush, oil and we have fresh water delivered daily. We often buy the kids clothes including school uniforms and shoes, as well as all school supplies. He has stayed with us for over a year and before that we provided a mattress and other essentials for him as well as tutoring and meals. But lately we have been having problems with him, his behavior isn’t good and he isn’t appreciating the things he has here. We have warned him several times and each time he apologizes and says he will change his behavior but we have yet to see a change. We don’t expect much from the boys but they must pitch in around camp and do their part with feeding the animals and keeping the area clean. This boy old enough that we shouldn’t have to remind him everyday of his chores or check to see if he has done them, he is the oldest one currently staying with us and the other boys will model his behavior if we allow it to continue. So he had to go get his grandmother so that we could discuss the situation with her and have him return home with her for a week.
Just like all of us, our past and our stories are what got us to where we are today and we feel it is important to remember where we came from and what life was like before. Sometimes we all need that lesson, where did we start in business, what areas were will diligent that now we are lazy? What practices have we put off and now we see the effects on our business? Has our customer service changed? We don’t need to go back and live there for a week like this boy has to, but we need to remember what it took for us to get where we are today or maybe where we were when we were most successful and happy. We all had to adjust business practices due to the pandemic but it is important not to forget our past, so that we can focus on the future and where we are going.