“I have a school…”

So I met a guy last week at a coffee shop who was talking with a group of people I kinda sorta know and when someone asked him what he did or mentioned something about Asia and he said, “I have a school in Vietnam,” and I could help responding, somewhat sarcastically, “Really? Because I have a school in Kenya.”

I could tell my pronouncement sorta deflated him a little bit because he was probably used to the unique one in the room and I thought we would have something to talk about, but not so much as it turns out. I was all about getting to know this guy and learning from his experience but he apparently didn’t want to talk about “His school,” despite the fact he brought it up in the first place.

The more I do non-profit work the more I’m shocked by the number of people who seem to use their non-profit to promote themselves. I’ve never said, “I have a school in Kenya,” with a straight face because I feel it’s such an egotistical statement to make. Instead the line that I do use to describe what I do is, “I run a small nonprofit that takes care of a school and orphanage in rural Kenya.” I use that because I feel it’s factually accurate and at least lowers any element of self promotion.

It’s not my school and it never will be. It’s Momma Hannah’s school, its Eli’s school, it’s the community’s school, it’s the kid’s school, the school is not mine. What it is for me though is my purpose. It’s the reason why I’m working as a waiter. It’s the reason why I have credit card debit and still have a car payment. Somewhere along the way this project we started to help out a friend has become a driving force in my life. When I forget that I flounder, I can get lost in depression of being a writer working as a waiter.

I don’t have a school in Kenya; I have thirty-five little reasons to go to work in the morning. Okay, technically I go to work in the evening, but you get the point.