![]() Me: Have you ever heard about a project or a place and suspected that its story has become based more on our desire for it to be true than on something real? UNICEF guy: Like when you are promised the moon, but when you get there you find a few candles? Me: Yes! Well, Kufunda Village is the moon. After three days at the Kufunda Village Art of Hosting training, I was able to welcome a visitor from UNICEF into the village this way. I continued to tell him that Kufunda has been a beacon for the Art of Hosting community as proof that our practices could be an operating system for sustainability. If it could be fully operational in Zimbabwe for the past 15 years, imagine what would be possible in our Western organizations and projects? Even so, I had arrived fully expecting to be disappointed by the gap between desire and reality but, instead, was deeply inspired by the strength of the community. A powerful practice at Kufunda that is not as deeply integrated into the Art of Hosting trainings and literature in the United States is the importance of building confidence among practitioners who are not expected to lead or share power. This and developing a deep understanding of your own needs and gifts was spoken to mostly by young people and women in the community.
During a design session the day before the training began, an educated European man and Art of Hosting practitioner who was also visiting the village offered a conceptual shift to the design. A local Kufunda Villager without advanced education listened attentively and then stated to the design team that she was the kind of person who needs time to think about things and would like to wait before making a group decision. Everyone settled into her pace. After the training was completed, several young educated Black Zimbabweans from Social Entrepreneur Bootcamp referenced the ‘eloquence’ of this woman. They were impressed by her ability to host so many so well and her sophisticated grasp of languages. One of them also noted the ‘eloquence’ of a male village leader who ‘I would have walked by on the street thinking that he was no one or a drug addict.’ This poem harvested from the community’s voices during the opening circle of their 3-day Art of Hosting training is the most eloquent expression of Kufunda’s depth of purpose and practice that I can offer as a visitor to their moon: It is important that we gather To support our families and Learn to be together and Rediscover ourselves again In the mix-up of others We learn what is only possible together The young teaching the old The old passing on what is known In the circle Where our families’ fears can be healed Becoming human again is as simple as eating cake It is time to enter inquiry So that our dreams visions passions and Personal growth can become projects of freedom That bring us to life Together we can restore being African Beyond fear and forgetting As individuals and as a village Inviting every voice to bring new ideas and name challenges It is important that we host ourselves and each other In the learning circle of love, family, Kufunda Respecting each other and the land Creating opportunities for what Zimbabwe can be In the quest for global equity We are the teachers Born of living the future and The longing for collective wisdom We begin with self discovery and Enter this journey home That has no end Like children’s play
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