Employment is a Business!

Search for the man within...

THE SEARCH FOR THE MAN WITHIN

Search for the man within

The man that you were meant to be

Make him be, and

You will truly be free!

Search within and never doubt

Even though promotions come without

And temptations set your eyes aglow

Never stop that search within

Till you be at peace Him

For you are not what the world applauds

No matter what they see!

Only you can be the judge

The judge of what you were meant to be

So search, I say, search within and let that man be!  

Allan Bukusi

Life will give you another chance, but is very unforgiving about wasted opportunity!

Life will give you another chance, but is very unforgiving about wasted opportunity!

you can spend money you don't have, but it is harder not to spend money you have earned.

It is a funny thing about life; you can spend money you don't have, but is harder not to spend money you have earned.

Power without control is like talent without discipline.

Power without control is like Talent without discipline

Do you have eyes for work?

Macho ya Kazi was not very clever nor was he strong, but he had more wisdom than most people do. People wondered why he was able to keep a job for so long and be such a blessing to his family and community yet many strong and educated people found it difficult to sustain their families. Somehow they could never keep a job for more than a few days. The secret of His success he said, was in his name. His friends went to the city every day to look for work, while he only worked where he found it.

In the nearby city there was a business man who needed many workers. He needed one to cut the grass, another to rake the grass and another to burn the grass. He needed another to cut the trees, sweep the leaves and plant more trees. He needed another to tend the flower beds, cultivate the garden and prune the flowers. Before Macho ya Kazi went to work for this man the business man hired between 3 and 5 people every day, but usually complained loudly about how difficult it was to find good and faithful workers. All the people he hired were satisfied with pay for the day!

Macho ya Kazi was hired by the business man to cut grass on Monday. At the end of the day he said to the man, “Sir, do not pay me today, I need to come and rake up the grass tomorrow”. The next day, after raking up the grass, Macho Ya kazi said, “do not pay me today the grass needs to be burned and the trees cut tomorrow”. At the end of the third day he said to the business man. “Please do not pay me today for I need to cultivate the garden and trim the bushes tomorrow”. On the fifth day the Business man was ready to pay for the work macho ya kazi had done for the week and let him go. Macho Ya Kazi took the money and thanked the business man for the opportunity to work for him. But as the rich man turned to go, Macho ya kazi said “Sir, thank you for the pay, but the grass will have grown by Monday, can I come and cut it?”  

Many people know how to work and can be very good at it, but not enough people know how to keep a job. They do not have “eyes for work”. They walk all over it, go looking for it, but never see it even when they find it and thus keep moving from one job to anther in search of work. In doing so they leave a lot of money on the table.

“Macho Ya Kazi”  means “eyes for work” in the Swahili language.

Allan Bukusi

True education is achieved one child at a time!

Last week I attended an ACE educator’s convention in Nairobi. It is always fascinating to me that when we talk of educators we think of teachers, much as that is a very narrow understanding of the word. The theme of the convention revolved around “a new vision for growth in student numbers and raised standards in education”. After considering a review of education systems across USA, Finland and our very own national system … It seems to me that it matters less what is taught than how it is taught. It seems to me that the subject matter is not as important as the person teaching it. It seems to me we should be paying more attention to who is teaching our kids than what they are learning. I love to read history today, but back in 8^th and 9^th grade, history was a nightmare. My favorite subjects, in which I excelled, were taught by my favorite teachers! A teacher without a heart for education, delays, negates and discourages the expression of gifts, abilities, interests and talents in a child. The opposite, a teacher with a heart, despite their “educational” qualifications nurtures and guides them to investigate, develop and exploit their natural abilities and realize their full potential. That is what parents do. Children simply follow the lead… I believe that national transformation will not come from increased enrollment in schools, expansion of classroom facilities or adjustment of curricula and education systems, but by the quality of those we call educators in our society. The transformation of a society has taken but one Thomas Edison, one Abraham Lincoln, one Billy Graham, one William Wilberforce, one Mother Teresa, one Mahatma Ghandi and one Nelson Mandela. The transformation of a nation is not in the numbers receiving an education, but in the creation of the ideal. That can only be achieved one child at a time.

Allan Bukusi, March 2018