Week VIII - Day 5

Yay for Thought Partners!

Someone who: 

1. Challenges your thinking. 
2. Causes you to modify or change your paradigms, assumptions or actions. 
3. Has information or a way of thinking that provokes you to innovate or otherwise leads to value creation in your business, career or life.

Our dear friend Acuil has been a true blessing. He’s stopped by to check on us as well as helped us get connected with others here in Juba. On top of that, he’s listened to us share our thoughts on opening/supporting a school and has dared to partner with us in thought.

When we talk with him, we both realize how much we don’t know about South Sudan in general and Juba specifically. He’s pressed us on topics such as land acquisition, cost structure, and social/political support. He can be a bit relentless and at first I found myself getting frustrated but Michael reminded me that Acuil meant no harm and was only trying to see if we were really ready to do the difficult work ahead of us.

He has gone out of his way to include us in meetings held by individuals who think like us. He's placed us on an email list so we can stay updated. And he's called to ask where we are in our process. Having Acuil press us has reminded me of all the great people we left back in the US and how good it is to have people in our corner not only rooting for us but also questioning us.

It is always good to share your ideas with a few people who will support and hold you accountable. I would like to share that we have a couple of people like that here in Juba and Acuil is an outstanding thought partner for us.