“Barka”…Thank You

I have so much to be thankful for.

I begin with a thanks to Uniterra, WUSC and CECI.  The team that guided me through the process of application, engagement, pre-departure and orientation.  Thanks for your patience and guidance.

“Barka” to SEMUS for making me feel so welcome and valued.  These are good people that remain effective and dedicated to the improvement of their community.  Even more, I know I have made some good friends in Yako, as you introduced me to your families and allowed me to celebrate in the success of Burkina Faso (both on and off the soccer field).

Thanks to my new friends in Bobo Dioulasso for creating such a special weekend for me.  I look forward to connecting again.

Thanks to the Kevin, Katelyn and Jeannette (the 3 Waterloo University students) for taking me in and showing me the ropes.  It’s inspiring to see young people doing such exciting and good work.

Thanks to Sarah for sharing with me her experience.  This allowed me to hit the ground running in so many ways and see so many wonderful things.

Thanks to MD Physician Services, the CMA and the Leave for Change program.  Imagine, this entire experience has been facilitated through my employer and their participation in Uniterra’s Leave for Change program.  For anyone that spends anytime thinking about “The War for Talent”, “Engagement” and the impact these things can have on productivity, profit and growth, feel free to contact me regarding this opportunity if you think your organization might be considering such a forward thinking strategy.

Thanks to all the people that reached out me while in Africa. I was surprised how much I appreciated hearing from you.  Whether it was a simple fb Like or status comment, a blog comment, an email or even a real-time chat, it was cool to connect with you from such extraordinary experience.  I was often surprised by who I was hearing from and that made it even more special. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone that reached out to Bev and the kids, while I was way, to see if they needed a hand with anything.  It was so good to hear about this, through out the journey.

Thanks to Bev, Rebecca and Taylor for allowing me to experience this adventure. The support they gave me was incredible and greatly appreciated.  I really hope they get an opportunity to experience something similar one day.

 

I’ll officially close off this blog with a quote from Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild (Btw: it’s a great movie too)

”make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

I remain one of the luckiest people you know….

Please consider being part of my Burkina Faso experience, by making a donation at the following site <<click here>>

Cheers

Dan