a l i v e & a w a k e

THE FOLLOWING IS TAKEN FROM THE PEACE AWARD ADDRESS GIVEN BY CRAIG KIELBURGER AT THE INTERNATION PEACE AWARDS CEREMONY HELD IN JULY 21, 2005

"It was during one of our overseas volunteer trips that I was reminded that people don’t need money or power to better the world, merely the willingness to come together and work in a spirit of solidarity. A few years ago, our organization brought twenty student volunteers from the USA. and Canada high into the Andes Mountains of Ecuador to build a primary school in an indigenous community. Running behind schedule (an animal traffic jam stalled the mules that were carrying our construction supplies up the mountain!), we asked the advice of the village elder. Explaining that we had return plane tickets and would not be able to complete the project, she replied, “No problem. I’ll call a minga”.

In the local dialect of Puruhae India, she forcefully shouted, “A minga will happen tomorrow”. The next day, hundreds of people arrived. Men left their fields at peak harvest time. Women carried babies on their back. Children walked miles to help construct a distant school that they would never be able to attend because of the long journey it would take to reach it. The crowd asked for nothing in return and even brought food to share with the village.

Amazed, we asked the chief, “What happened? What is a minga?” She explained that this traditional word is a call to action—it means ‘a community coming together to work for the benefit of all’. When people hear this word, they stop all personal activities and come together for the collective good. Our translator struggled to explain the idea, and he finally asked us: “What is the word for ‘minga’ in English?” Huh? My brother and I looked at each other. We were dumbfounded. It wasn’t volunteer work—you could do that alone. Mission work? Not really. A minga is like a riot of people coming together, but not for evil—for good"

There is great power (ability to do work) within community and team. As a coach of various sports teams I am very interested in the principles that allow a group of strangers to function well together. Probably as you read the excerpt a number of things popped out at you, which if you have the time, please highlight them to me.

The concept of the Minga has shown me 3 principles which I believe are essential qualities of the team that wishes to bring change. They will be addressed in 3 separate articles: Servanthood, Solidarity of Vision and Submission to Gifting.

Jon