“Courage means strength to face danger or take on challenges/ State of mind or a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger of pain without showing fear”

Dear friends,

Early in January this year, while on a connecting a flight from Mainland Japan to USA, I sat closer to a group of young Germans. As the flight departed from Seattle to Chicago, I heard one of them sitting on my left side talking to his colleagues in the next seat in Deutsch. I later responded to him in his language and we quickly develop a good conversation. I learned that he works for a Microsoft company and they had been in Seattle for a special company training. He asked me how I learned to speak such good German and I told him I had been for a while in his country. He was then curious to know my origin and I told him I am originally from Tanzania. They were connecting a flight from Chicago to Frankfurt Germany and he asked me if I was also heading to Germany and I replied I would be for a while in USA, then head to Japan for a while. He was very surprised and he added I must have an exciting life. He teased me by saying, “Don’t tell me you also speak Japanese.” I replied to him “I am working on it”. He gasped and finished by saying I must be very courageous. I now have just completed basic Japanese, the German word “Mut” translating “Courage” came to my mind again. Before the 4th century AD, the Japanese had no writing system of their own. During the 4th century they began to import and adapt the Chinese script. Today their language consists of native Japanese, Chinese and a category of words borrowed in modern times from Western languages such as English. When I compare the characters that exist in my mother tongue Kiswahili to over two thousands characters in Japanese, I realize it will take determination and courage to speak this language….and I feel good every time I open my mouth and try it! It takes courage for each one of us to climb above our own comfort zones and reach out for the fulfillment of dreams and new levels of experiences in our lives.

Good plans and visions can remain unachieved if we don’t take a step of courage. When I look back as a teenager, I understand now that it took a big step of faith and courage for me to leave my family and all that I knew since childhood to get onto a plane heading to Europe by myself. Even my family was scattered into two sides, the ones who supported my going to study in Europe and those one who believed I was too young to do that. Yet, I was determined and I now believe no one is ever too young to be courageous. If I hadn’t taken that step, you wouldn’t be reading this newsletter or perhaps not have read any of my books. I have had to wear that same hat of courage each time a new challenge arose that took me to another level. Just to name a few:

- Up to the age of seventeen, I never wore a pair of high heels! In the crowds of runways as a model, no one could have ever detected that. When they gave me a 16cm high heel, they truly expected me to walk on them and when I did, my head was whirling around!! Back then, I called my first chorographer Manon, and told her that I need to practice walking on heels and she took me to her studio shouting “now stand straight, swing and go”. Later, when I stood before hundreds of viewers and cameras I just had to wear courage, and stand, swing and ………

- It was courage that moved me out of my comfort zone when I traveled to many hospitals to visit and hold sick children, and for those in need, to comfort them. With Tausi Aids Fund we have to deal with HIV/AIDS orphans and those affected,it takes courage. Thanks to the hard workers of Tausi Aids Fund founders and all who support the Organization. If you would talk to any of the doctors who had once treated me, they would tell you that hospitals are probably the last place I would ever want to be! Yet hospitals belong to the routines of our lives here on earth. I salute all those who are committed to work in those areas in making differences in other people’s lives.

- Though I am quick to learn and adapt to new things, driving was a huge challenge for me. I gave all the excuses with my tight schedule just to let others drive. Yet the time came when I knew I had to learn to drive and that was some real drama! My driving teacher, friends and family tried all they could to help me, yet it never seemed to work. The day I got my driving license, I knew I would have to have courage and face my fears of being on the streets, so I decided the same day to drive two hours on the highway. Now this was on a German highway, the fastest so far anywhere that I had driven. I mastered the driving, even though my first days included hitting the back of a brand new Volvo, and once reversing the car all the way to my neighbor’s garage! Still I couldn’t allow any “elephant thinking” to hinder my goal to drive. Author Ken Blanchard defines “elephant thinking” as a way of limiting yourself on your past experiences. He writes “When they begin to train an elepha nt for the circus, they chain the baby elephant’s leg to a pole in the ground. The baby elephant wants to get away, but can’t escape. So he stops trying. As he grows up, he just assumes he can’t get away”. So, instead of parking the car and leaving the keys, I headed to Viernheim field, close to where Michael Schumacher and other formula one pilots drive. I was dedicated to more practicing there. Thanks to all of you who didn’t give up on my driving because today I am a very good driver internationally.

- Once I visited a detention center, and UNICEF contacted me with the question “How come you went to spend time with children in jail”? My answer was simple….courage and curiosity. When these young kids later received their own skills workshop, I was encouraged on how one person’s courage can bring a change to others.

- A friend in Sydney, Australia previously mentioned to me how the courage I once showed him inspired him to adopt 300 children in Kenya for schooling! He left his luxurious comfort zone and made a difference in one of the world's poorest corner. That is courage!

Friends, these are a few examples in the areas where courage was needed in order to move forward. Everyday, we all face situations where courage needs to be practiced whether at school, at work, at home….or any places where right decisions might need courage. We speak of role models like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Wangari Maathai of Kenya becomes the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, Sir William Wallace on movements to free Scotland from English rule at the end of the 13th Century. (watch Mel Gibson’s Brave heart), The Massachusetts Fifty-fourth Regiment (led movements to free blacks from slavery in parts of America), David fighting Goliath, John Githongo on exposure of corruption in Kenya…and so on….. All these people though with visions but needed courage to realize their dreams and showed us all courage and determination. Their courage brought about a change in their own lives and in lives of others. When we step out of our comfort zones and move to new levels in different aspects in our lives, our lives are changed and so are the lives of those around us. Don’t sit back and say “I wish I had courage to do this or that”, life is too short to live with the so called “normal life cycle…..work, eat and sleep”. Dare to move beyond that cycle. Visit the places you have always wished to visit, join/volunteer to that Organization that you know is making a difference, go out and meet people. Take that language course you wished to take and begin to communicate with different cultures. Learn new skills for your job, or hook up with one of the world’s good causes, or join a missionary trip. Start that special project you had been planning for years or write that manuscript for a book. Change to that job of your dreams or get a hobby….just put on and wear the courage hat, and step up to richer lengths in your life.

With courage, let the steps you make be directed with a healthy mind set and with right attitudes. I remember two years ago as I was shooting for a cosmetic campaign in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, I was welcomed with a culture of drinking strong spirits as a way of belonging to the crowd. As nice as I wanted to appear to my hosts, I just didn’t accept their way of showing courage by holding my nose and letting them pour the strong liquor down my throat! Yes, your dreams and visions need courage to be realized but let your courage be aligned with your values.

Until next time, I am encouraging you to be courageous.