Yes Susan There is a Santa Claus

The Board of One Village just left. It was an incredible meeting, something that I dreamed of but now it’s true.Getting a good working Board takes luck, tenacity and a je ne sais quoi that melded for the first time in our 6 year history. Tonight we not only got it off the ground but also took flight like Rudolph aiming for the stars.
What a pleasure it is to work for such talented and optimistic people. They see possibilities and dream dreams, but still hold my feet to the fire. From it just being my dream it has become a shared dream, and I’m so grateful to take this walk with them. The questions they ask, the breadth of knowledge in people younger than my own children brings me such joy. You see I know about the Peacekeepers and they are on the Board. More than that I wish the folks my age could believe in them as much as I do. They are changing the world sometimes silently and sometimes with a roar, but they are among us and we need to be mindful.
Our Secretary asked me if I had heard from KMET. I guess I haven’t been too current on the blog. It’s always the same story, people write more when things are bad not when they're good. For me, One Village is always a walk of faith. It was only last week, when I asked God what did He want me to do. It had been almost 8 weeks since I had heard from Monica. I felt like maybe it was my pride that kept me going or my driven nature. I realized that the Board meeting was a week away and I might have nothing for them. It had happened once before and, in fairness, everyone was quite understanding, but I felt like such a failure.
I wondered how I could have read Monica so wrong when I was in Kisumu. I was sure we were on the same page, but 3 emails later still no response. I tried to remind myself that things are always slow back and forth to Africa, but I knew that this was a bluff. So I readied myself to admit that it was time to close it down. No KMET no micro-finance in January…no micro-finance no progress, and it went down from there. It’s just where my mind goes.
A week ago I heard from Monica saying “pole sana” sort of a” I’m sorry you poor thing “in Swahili. She had lost some staff and hadn’t gotten my emails. We were on for January start. I asked a former member of the Board to help with the MOU and she was Johnny on the spot. She got that puppy written up in time for the meeting tonight. S is a remarkable woman to whom I shall always be in debt.
So now I can dream dreams again. The Board okayed things that I needed, encouraged me and vowed to come back in January to dream and do the much needed work that we must do to get the children fed, clean water, and enough money to sustain them in their endeavors. It’s safe now to go to bed now and dream of sugarplums and PlayPumps and know that the Board is with me. It is indeed Christmas.