Growing Leadership

by | Oct 25, 2024

Hear directly from Mark Kauk, Many Hand’s Director of Leadership Development in Haiti. Mark shares updates about the on-going Lead Like Jesus courses, and some stories about the impact these course have had on the community.

A common sight near our Mè Bèl Mè center is a farmer plowing his ground preparing for the next crop! In the Lead Like Jesus Level one and two training courses taught weekly for 17 weeks, much of the time is spent preparing the soil for servant-leadership by challenging participants to FIRST examine their heart commitment to God. Students are then challenged to strengthen that commitment with inner habits of abiding in God’s love through prayer, solitude, scripture reading, and supportive relationships.

The farmer with which I stopped to talk said that he is plowing the ground for the second time before planting. Weeds take over the ground quickly during the rainy season. Our leadership courses challenge students to reflect on their EGO, or things that Edge God Out. Two of the most common “weeds” that subtly make their way into a leader’s heart are PRIDE or FEAR. Learning to recognize these in our response to others as leaders is important. Jesus example of HUMILITY in serving is the antidote to pride and his demonstration of LOVE for others is the antidote to fear.

The Lead Like Jesus curriculum emphasizes that EVERYONE is a leader in some capacity: as a husband, wife, neighbor, sibling, friend, employee, employer, church member, church staff, teacher, community member, etc. We all have the ABILITY TO INFLUENCE the thinking and behavior of others. The Mè Bèl Mèr staff, which recently completed the level 1 training, consisted of cooks, PMJ assistants, a cleaner, security guards, and a pastor, all bringing some leadership capacity to the MH4H center and their community.

Pictured Above: Mè Bèl Mè Staff Graduation from our 4th Love in Action Center

As we began to train more people, we wondered out loud if our training could engage someone who cannot read or write? We have found the answer is YES! Jean Ronel, our Haitian leadership manager, wisely said that those in this situation often listen better and have life experiences to share, too. We have also found that a workbook partner working with them in the class provides a perfect opportunity to learn together and build community!

Pictured Above: A typical LLJ class working with partners in the 5th grade desks!

Pictured Above: Lead Like Jesus Teachers: Jocethène Decius, Jean Ronel Joseph, Micul Pierre. 

During each of the Level 1 and Level 2 courses, the participants propose an action plan to initiate and attempt to complete as a way of applying their leadership skills to be a servant-leader. Our definition of leadership is HELPING PEOPLE MOVE FROM WHERE THEY ARE TO WHERE GOD WANTS THEM TO BE. We are still refining our action plan process to emphasize SERVING others through a variety of ways, both inside and outside Many Hands, and from smaller, ordinary plans to those requiring more planning and resources.  Below are some examples!

Pastor Sauveur, from the Mè Bèl Mèr Love in Action center had as his action plan to host a prayer meeting for the PMJ mothers once a week on Thursdays from 12:30-1:00 pm at the Mè Bèl Mèr center and he is excited for the women to share prayers of thanks and prayers of need and record these in a journal to see God honor these prayers over the next few months.  

Pictured Below: The Sylvain staff graduating from the level 1 LLJ class pictured below consisted of ag workers,
educators, security and maintenance, chaplains, a translator, and cooks.

Pictured Above: Sylvain Staff LLJ graduates

Frantz Accilien, who helped translate our Lead Like Jesus materials, felt a real desire to help young people in his church learn how to play the keyboard. As part of an action plan, he has been hosting a group of 10 young people two times a week for 3 months to learn how to play the keyboard for worship music in the church.

Pictured Above: Frantz Accilien hosting a keyboard class for young people.

Our final group that graduated in July included many of our upper level managers, nurses, chaplains, and spiritual moms. They completed the Level 2 course which challenges the participants to help people move through 4 stages of learning: NOVICE, APPRENTICE, INDEPENDENT WORKER, and MASTER TEACHER.

As part of the completion of an action plan for level 2, one of our spiritual shepherds, Jean Baptiste Robeson planned, recruited, and is teaching a LLJ class for young men and women 20-35 years old at a nearby church. This is one of our first opportunities to teach the class to people outside of our staff in the community. It is exciting to see these young minds engage in discussion. They are the future of the country!

Pictured Above and Below: The class with teacher Jean Baptiste Robeson

Numerous other action plans are currently underway or finished. Some have focused on creating economic opportunities for people in the community. Evenie and Beatris, who help create delicious Haitian meals for our guests, shared their knowledge of how to make Kokiyòls ( Haitian donuts) by training four women from their community to do the same with the potential of providing income for their families.

Pictured Above and Below: Beatris and Evenie demonstrating the process of rolling the dough for the delicious
kokiyòls.

Some people, recognizing their roles as leaders in their families, have started weekly or daily Bible reading, singing, and prayer in their families. Others are meeting weekly with another neighbor or church member to prayer for them or provide assistance to them.

Pictured Above: Denise and Nerla, PMJ assistants in Mè Bèl Mèr.
Both have started weekly devotions with their families

Pictured Above: Adeline and Wana (left and center) are meeting individually each with a widow after their
church services to pray. Phenise ( right center) is meeting with a blind person to pray and support him with her meager resources.

Just a a plant grows as it is nurtured and cared for in the soil, we trust that God will grow the seed of servant-leadership in the hearts of the Haitian people as they follow the words and example of how Jesus led his disciples. Through our Lead Like Jesus classes, we hope to help people engage in how they can influence people to move from where they are to where God wants them to be, bearing 30, 60, or a 100 times a crop from the seed that was planted.

Pictured Above: One of many papaya trees on at our Sylvain center.

About Many Hands:

Many Hands is an Iowa-based nonprofit creating local and global life-transformation by strengthening families.  Established in 2008, the organization focuses on six key areas for transformation, including education, agronomy, leadership development, safe homes, medical assistance, and economic development. Each year, the organization reaches at least 25,000 people through their Haitian operations, IMPACT trips, and four Many Hands Thrift Markets located in the great Des Moines, IA area. 

Many Hands is called to transform together, to be love in action, in a broken world.