From Z to Z

Our team left Zimbabwe on November 18th and spent a couple of days in Pretoria, South Africa.  We had some down time and took a day to drive around the area and visit a game park and since we were a group of four men we went to a very well known restaurant called Carnivore.  Not only was it a culinary experience that was like nothing I have had before it was an extremely cool design and it felt like you were on safari and staying in a lodge in the bush.  A photo of the menu shows what our meal consisted of and the process was that each of the meats were cooked on a open charcoal fire in the center of the resto, and  as they were ready  one of the chefs would bring a large skewer the size of a sword to the table and slice off or remove some of the meat on offer.  My favourite was the blesbok, kudu and zebra.  Along with the huge variety of meats there was salads, a number of great sauces and veggies.

Vegetarians should look away, and yes I tried everything on this board!  I only had some ice cream for dessert.

Don and Marie Josee Mann have lived in S.A for about four years and use it as their base of operation in Africa. In the past few weeks the Co-Directors have travelled to Kenya, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and we were off to Zambia on the 20th.  The political unrest in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Liberia impacted the plans for CLI summits and meetings in 2017 and they have described  this past year as a challenging one for CLI.  The leadership in Zambia had been communicating with Don and Bill just earlier in November about some administrative issues regarding registration of the initiative with the Zambian government and just before I left for Africa they indicated that the summit could not go forward.  This trip would provide an opportunity for all of us to sit down with the Zambian leadership team to sort out issues and strategize.

Don, Marie Josee and Bill are in the foreground and Pastor Gary Fess from London, Ontario along with the CLI Zambia team as we discuss a plan forward for the initiative.

  Don and Bill envisioned the initiative, developed curriculum and set out a model to launch a movement of integrity.  In the conversations I have been having with them over the past few months it has helped them to create a strategic ministry planning document that  lays out the road map for this initiative.  So much of this has been happening quite quickly and the struggle has been between launching the movement using the right sequence of events and taking advantage of the momentum that comes out of the summits as people get excited about the potential to reshape a country in the way they think about integrity in all walks of life.  The curriculum is well designed and has numerous life applications that if applied, will improve a person's lifestyle in the six pillars of integrity (dignity, trust, authenticity, honour, influence and truth).  As most of us are painfully aware, it takes accountability and a group of like minded people around us to help us stay on track.  This accountability network is a big part of the initiative that is still in development.  A well established framework of accountability and mentoring within the cohort model is the key to maintaining any movement of integrity.

Over a number of days we met with the Zambian CLI lead team, and within our Canadian team to strengthen our strategies for each country we are working in. We were able to clarify a national strategy that supports the launching of CLI in a country that equips and empowers the effective replication of the cohort model and provide accountability circles that keeps the movement true to its values.  In the countries where CLI had launched and there were a few hiccups, we modified the Natstrat ( new word I just made up) to be able to get it back on track.  over the next few months if things go according to plan there will be several dozen men and women  in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone who will have gone through the cohort experience, and will be ready to lead a cohort of ten through a 14 session personal development course that will give them the tools to be able to live a life of integrity.  From these sessions it will be expected that many of them will lead a cohort of  their own and hopefully a movement begins...

Gary, Don and Bill - my travelling companions for the past two weeks

It was cool for me to go to the game park and see wildabeest, a number of antelope species, ostrich and lions in their habitats.   The park has a hands on experience with lion cubs and I usually am not too impressed with animals in enclosures it was pretty cool to be that close to 2 month old cubs and see their size.  later as we saw the lions come right near the jeep I was also impressed with the size of these cats.  I do want to want to share about the other ministry that Bill and Don are involved in in Zambia so that will be my next post.