The Ripple Effect of Great Leadership | Transforming the Lives of Children in Zambia

David Temfwe works for an organization called The Jubilee Center in Zambia, a location where many leaders have been impacted and blessed by the Global Leadership Summit. Among those leaders is a local pastor named Francis Bweupe, who because of the Summit, started a feeding program for the children in his community. In this story, David shares his encounter with a volunteer named Idah, who has benefited from Francis’ extraordinary leadership and has herself become an example of servant leadership to us all.

It is seldom disputed that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” However, I would like to propose that occasionally, without a story, a picture is merely a visual representation of ambiguity that can either be interpreted through our individual worldview or simply disregarded, never to be payed a second thought.

Two colleagues and I went on a field visit to a community that Jubilee Centre serves in Lusaka. We were at one of the churches in our network and my task was to take photos of the children’s feeding program and henceforth, my natural focus was on them. My colleague reached out to me and requested I record the story of one of the volunteers.

The volunteer’s name is Idah Musole. She is the epitome of the statement “go the extra mile.” She has been a volunteer at the Apostolic Faith Mission Church for the past four years and prepares meals for the kids in the feeding program. This church has no kitchen, stove or fridge, but she is tasked with preparing each meal, which she does from scratch, and by scratch I mean from the inception of the fire all the way to serving the kids with a succulent meal that is arguably the highlight of their day.

There are 75 children who come every day. She knows them all by name. But it goes beyond that. She has a personal relationship with each of them, and you can see it in the way their faces light up when they see her. It doesn’t matter if she is greeting them with a smile or scolding them for cutting the line, she is a mother to them and loves each of them unconditionally. She knows that a substantial amount of the kids are coming from challenging situations at home and she strives to give them a slice of paradise for the few hours she has with them each day.

She arrives at the church every day at 8 a.m. and doesn’t leave until after 4 p.m. because she chooses to help sweep the classrooms after the kids leave on account of her relentless desire to see them succeed. Her love for them is so influential that her 9th grade daughter chooses to volunteer with her too. Mrs. Musole helps support her family by making doormats, selling cooking oil and making and selling a local beverage called munkoyo.

Mrs. Musole shared with us how she is unequivocally called by God to serve him and this is the way she shows her commitment. She has an authentic gift with people; she loves with a selfless spirit that warms the hearts of each individual she encounters. I can attest to this because although much of what she shared was translated to me, her personality just radiated.

By virtue of us being Christians, we have the immeasurable force of the Holy Spirit that accords us the ability to love unconditionally. At the Global Leadership Summit, Greg Groeschel talked about how “There is so much more in you!” Contextualizing his statement, we need to share more, care more, seek more, observe more, and love more. We need to learn from Idah Musole’s selfless spirit.

Lawrence Temfwe, GLS pioneer in Zambia, reflects on the rippling impact of the GLS in Zambia, “We just do not have any idea how GLS is changing the way we do church in Zambia.” Everyone wins when a leader gets better. Pastor Francis, inspired by the GLS, encourages and empowers leaders under his influence to be all that they can be, and people like Idah flourish in their gifts and service, and ultimately transforms the lives of children in her community. And it all circles back to the GLS, where God spoke to one leader and inspired him with a grander vision.