Strive Masiyiwa: “Problems are only solved when one person decides to do something about it.”

As I said last week, now and again I will write about an inspiring initiative from someone on this platform. This is not meant to be a competition, but rather to help us encourage one another, and also to learn some principles which we can apply elsewhere.

Here is one from Joy Lewanika from Zambia. Joy writes:

“I visited a friend at UTH, because I heard that she was looking after a grandson who had been admitted in the children’s ward. When I got there I found that the boy who was in hospital has got severe Cerebral Palsy and has been like that for the last twelve years. He can’t walk, doesn’t talk and his grandmother has been caring for him all these years as his parents died not too long after he was born. In spite of knowing the grandmother for a number of years, I didn’t know that she had such a challenge as she is always smiling and upbeat about things (if you know what I mean). However, on that day in hospital I saw something in her eyes that touched my heart and I vowed to help in any little way that I could.”

“In addition to prayer,” she wrote a little later, “I offered to take the boy for his doctor’s appointments and physiotherapy sessions. Met a lady who has set up a school for disabled children, at physio, and now the boy is in school, funded by a group of my friends. This has given more time to granny attend to other matters. The boy is thriving in his new environment. I have made a lot of new friends and together we are looking at ways to elevate the life conditions of those who are needy. Indeed, even just a little bit of help makes a difference!”

My reply:
What can I say?
That is the love of God!
You are blessed. Stay in touch.

Someone else on this platform told the story about a guy who used to go out every morning and pick up starfish stranded on the beach, and throw them back into the ocean, one by one. Another guy asked him, “How can helping just a few starfish, out of thousands, ever matter?”

“It matters to this ONE,” the guy replied calmly, returning another to the sea.

Anyone can blame a government, a local authority, or some rich people that don’t care. But as Joy shows us, there’s always something each one of us can do.

__Problems are only solved when one person decides to do something about it.

Do you see children on the street corner who should be in school? Well, by the time some government or authority even acts, maybe their life will have been condemned to crime.

When my wife and I started the Higher Life Foundation, it was not because we were rich. We just wanted to help a few orphans with school fees. At the time, we could barely afford to send our own child to a private school.

I am going to find Joy and her friends, and join their group, by making a small annual contribution. I will match whatever they contribute. Let’s go to the beaches, and throw starfish back into the ocean.

__There is a problem you saw today, and the reason it has been tugging at you is perhaps God wants to use you to do something great for someone, and after that, for your community, Africa, and the world.

The starfish that you will save is a STAR that will light the future.