This short article was originally written for the PathLight newsletter (sign up for it by clicking here). Actually, my son Jedd and I wrote this, and he did most of the work. And my daughter Rachel deserves credit for finding the Bryant Myers quotes! So I guess it was a family production. Anyway, it was written as part of PathLight’s announcement that we’ve hired a Belize Director, Fermin Olivera. That’s a significant step for the organization as we transition from being led by USA citizens to being more of an indigenous organization. So, here’s the article:
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One of the most important tenets of PathLight’s program is empowering the people we work with. By providing students with an education, we hope to free children from poverty, and see them grow up to be leaders in their own communities.
But this does not just apply to students. We want to see our program become something that belongs to the people it’s for. That’s why we’re so excited to have found a new program director for Belize. Fermin Oliviera grew up in Belize and has worked in various leadership roles there. We feel it is so important to have a local head our program there, and we are so happy to have achieved that goal.
Indigenous leadership is important for a number of reasons. For one, we want the students to constantly be reminded that their education is a precious gift, and that with it, they can lead successful lives and become leaders to their communities. As Fermin will be working alongside the students, they will frequently be around an example of how they can shape their own lives.
Furthermore, just having someone who understands the culture first-hand is critical to the success of the program. With Fermin as our Belize director, we are much better equipped to respod to challenges unique to Belize. He has a better understanding of what is truly needed in the communities and in the education process of the students, and knows what is realistically possible given the resources available in the area. He is better equipped to build community, and will have an easier time communicating than a foreign program director. Just having a Belizean head our program also helps build trust, and people will be less than skeptical knowing that we work with a native Belizean.
In Bryant Myers’ book, Walking with the Poor, the author points out that “the quest for transformational development … begins with the need to articulate the better future the community decides it wishes to pursue. Making the better future clear requires a process that allows the community to clarify for itself what really matters and why it matters.” We believe this is only possible with an indigenous liaison, as cultural differences make it difficult to understand what is truly needed in a community unless you can relate to it, having lived through it yourself. Myers goes on to say that “if we have the humility to know that we do not know enough to do someone else’s development for them, then seeking local participation is the only safeguard against our doing unwitting damage. By any measure, local participation is a critical success factor for transformational development.” PathLight believes strongly in this statement, and it gets to the heart of why we feel it is so crucial to have Belizeans at the core of our program and as leaders making the correct decisions for communities they understand.
With Fermin as part of the program, we believe we’ve taken a major stride toward transforming PathLight into a program run by Belizeans, for Belizeans. By allowing community leaders to play an integral part in the program wherever we work, we believe we can more efficiently and more biblically bring about positive change in those communities.