You are Invited to Join the DanceI had the opportunity to spend last April visiting the remote villages of Tanzania, Africa. It was a humanitarian trip to help build relationships between my church in Burnsville and the church in Idunda, Tanzania. As I prepared to go I knew how important this was, but I also knew I wanted to learn about the spirit of the people. I wondered what I would learn from a place half way across the world that I could use here. Once there however, it did not take long to know that I would be forever changed by the spirit of these remarkable people. I am now just being able to really integrate all I learned about life from the people there. The following is a wonderful story of a man named Ingogo, his vision and his invitation to be all you can be.
In Africa, the average yearly wage is $240.00, half of the population is dying of AIDS and children can only go to school if someone pays their way. But despite how hard it is to go school, the community knew there needed to be a school in the area. A call went out to find a Headmaster for this school of which was there was no building or even land to build it on. The job to begin with, was to vision this school into being. Ingogo accepted the job because after much prayer and consideration, he realized he had the gifts to vision this school into being. He also realized he had answered a much higher call when he agreed to create this. He told our group this story as we stood high above the villages looking at the school he had built and the incredible vision that would, one person at a time, help heal the world.
He brought us to a place under a tree and explained that this was a sacred space used to vision about what to do next. When he got the job his office was a tree with a bench. Everyday, rain or shine, he sat on the bench in this sacred space and asked for guidance. Soon many parts of the vision began to formulate. He explained to us that knowledge was very important and this place would be school with high academic standards. However, almost more important than that, was the moral character and integrity of each student. It was understood that education was a privilege and each student was expected to take what they learned back to their families and villages and out into the world. It was understood and expected that they recognize within themselves their gifts and use them in service to others and the world.
I thought about that in relationship to our lives here. How often do we slow down enough to listen to our own hearts and the guidance of Spirit in our everyday life? How often do we recognize the talents and abilities we have been gifted with? How often do we offer them in service to others?
When we first arrived at the school, all the students came out of their classes to sing and dance for us. Their songs were sung in Swahili resonated from the depths of their heart and souls. Just listening to them gave us goose bumps. Soon we were invited to join the song and dance. It did not take much to realize we could not sing or dance the way they did…not even close. We stood to the side watching hoping we did not have to participate. Thoughts of not doing it right, or not knowing how, seemed to take over my thoughts. As I stood there being somewhat afraid, a couple African students came to grab my hand. I knew I was expected to join the dance. They smiled at me with their eyes as they taught me the dance with no common words between us. I could not do it the way they did, but what I could do was important as we sang, danced and laughed together.
The school is now six years old and the students are mostly made up of orphans. He secured the land by speaking his vision and through the participation of many people the land was given for the school. Many people’s hands were used in all kinds of ways as the clay walls that would become dorms and classrooms went up. Others heard of this man’s vision. Teachers came to teach and people from far away places sponsored children to attend school. Students have already graduated and gone back to their villages to give back while others have gone on to the universities to further their education. Ingogo is not wealthy or famous, far from it. He is just a man that listened to his heart and encouraged others to give of themselves for the greater whole.
As I write this at home, all this months later, I know we are all invited to join the dance. We are invited to bring all of who we are, our gifts and our humanness, into the world to be shared. How often in the busyness of life do we forget that each of us have been gifted with our own unique and wonderful gifts to be used in the world. We are at a time in this world when who we are and what we have to offer is much needed. So often we let our own inner judge decide what part of us we can really let come out, when in reality every part of us needed to make up the whole of our experience. So like the students singing and dancing in this remote village, I am inviting you to join the dance of life. I am inviting the voice of your heart to be heard and in so doing you will be giving the gift of who you are to the world. ~Blessings~
Sandy Thibault is a Transformational Life Coach helping individuals embrace peace and possibility in their life through individual coaching sessions and facilitating workshops. She is a business partner in Burnsville Counseling and Healing Center and co-founder of the Institute for Peace and Joy. She can be reached at 952-435-4144
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