“Our success will and must be measured in the happiness and welfare of our children, at once the most vulnerable citizens in any society and the greatest of our treasures.”
Nelson Mandela.

A little while ago we received a phone call from the Girls & Boys Town Regional Development Office. This is the team responsible for securing funding from private and corporates to keep the organisation afloat.

In our industry we all know how incredibly  hard cold calling is. People are just so busy that you really need to wow them if you’re going to get any kind of agreement from them. Can you imagine how much harder it must be to secure funding through cold calling?

Anyway, we agreed to meet with Girls & Boys Town to see how we could support the Regional Team. We then went on to meet the Regional Co-ordinator and we agreed to support Girls & Boys Town with the Avo training interventions.

Well, we’ve just had our first session with the team and it was awesome. We presented the team with the Brand of One workshop which Tracy facilitated. It was such a humbling experience to see how much the ladies appreciated Tracy’s work. It was equally rewarding to experience humbleness of the team. Nothing else matters to the ladies but the success of the organisation. Each and everyone of the ladies are wholey and solely committed to their jobs. They just have so much passion and belief in what they do. 

Below please find an e-mail from Elrina Bower, the Regional Development OfficerDear Elaine.

“Thank you once again for the wonderful workshop on Tuesday! We all enjoyed Tracy’s entertaining, but very professional presentation. You guys really know how to do it!

We will be overjoyed to have a follow up on this workshop at a time later this year, whenever it might suit you. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU from all of us. With much appreciation.”

Elrina  I think Tracy and I both realise that the privilege was all ours, sometimes meeting up with teams who are focused on enriching the lives of others actually puts our lives in perspective… Thank you Girls & Boys Town for allowing Avo to partner with you !

It certainly is a sad state of affairs when one has to blog one-self. Luckily for me I have no qualms about my self esteem and rather than rob you of me…I decided to blog me.The article this time was called “View from the Top”, and was featured in the August 2006 GIBS Review.

To quote from the article:

“Partner and director at Avocado Vision, Elaine Joy Sampson, believes this life leads you to where you are supposed to go and teaches you lessons you need to learn. While some might consider this a very disempowering outlook on life, she believes the contrary: It is hugely empowering to see the road ahead and to grasp an opportunity with both hands and run with it.”  

“But understand that whatever path you take, and however challenging it may seem, your abilities, strengths and talents have been given to you to suit the road you must travel. So, rather than doubt yourself, accept that who you are is enough.” she points out.  Read more

Cool hey ……

I received this from one of our clients and looking through our blog site. I am absolutely in awe of the work that Avo is able to produce in conjunction with our clients.

This quote captures the essence of Avo…an ability to pull and work together for the good of our clients that stems from a deep founded respect for each other. We are very privileged to have sound, solid relationships that celebrate each person and the contribution they bring to the company and then to the client. Often we don’t even recognise the power within our team, or even celebrate it as an achievement…the power of respect.

“A team effort produces the best results when there is mutual respect among all the team members. The presence of mutual respect instills a sense of unity and equality, which in turn, establishes a solid foundation for motivation and achievement. Whether a team consists of two people or more, teams with mutual respect and equality are the best.”

In celebration of Madiba….

 ”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

“Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

“It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

“We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? 

“Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. 
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

“We are born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone, and as we let our light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 

“As we are liberated from our fear our presence automatically liberates others”.

Madiba

Ladies, you’re going through a rough patch right now, each having lost someone incredibly dear to them. I am not even going to begin to understand your individual sense of loss or pain but I do want to share with you my thoughts around having spent some time with you and your families this weekend.

Noms: It was wonderful to see you stand so firm and proud, honouring your great grandfather, not through words, but through the life you have chosen to lead and the example you are setting. What a privilidge to to be able to be there with your family who, even at a difficult time, made Jules and I feel special, welcome and such a part of your family. Jules and I are incredibly proud of you .

Trace: Loss is never easy but it’s hard to accept in one so young. It was wonderful to see and meet with your family and to feel the care and love they had for John and for each other. The lives today are not exactly characterised by a sense of servanthood. For me as an outsider it was phenomenal to see how your family not only serves each other but served John and his mum. I had such a sense of warmth, care and self-sacrifice.

Jen: The loss of a young one is hard in itself but when it is a result of despair and loneliness or depression, one almost wonders: What could I have done to help? How could I have made it better? The hardest part lays ahead for you, to support you friend: allow us Jen, to provide you with the strength you need.

Descanos -a resting place of pain, maybe this blogg could be your personal resting place

For me being a mother means far more than having given birth to a child, or adopting a child. Being a mother for me means nurturing, supporting, believing in and encouraging those who are important to you. By now you would begin to understand that Avovision operates very differently from most companies and has the pleasure of having a truly unique team.

So this blogg is me simply acknowledging all the MUM’s in Avo.

Nomsie: For the way you have stepped up to look after your brother. For the example you set, for the home you provide and the dreams you dare to dream for Nqobi. For your strength of character, your wisdom and insight. I am so very proud of you.

Meryl: As I watch you interact with your daughters, as I struggle to understand your relationship with them, I marvel at the ease with which they share their dreams and experiences with you. The delight they take in talking to you. I hope that  one day I will have the same relationship with my children.

Thenjie: A mum so far away from her daughter, how you must miss your daughter. Thank you for the way you take care of all the Pips. Your sms’s that you send through telling us how much you miss us, the notes we find asking us how we are, the calls asking us where we are. Thank you for the care you show.

Jen: What remarkable wisdom you have, that quietness that draws me to share what I feel with you. The comfort of knowing that in sharing with you, I am surrounded in understanding and trust. How remarkable to be able to trust someone enough to simply just be. So your children too have inherited your ability to accept and love unreservedly, what a legacy to leave behind

Tracy and Jeanette: For the love that you two so willingly share with all the children whose lives you touch. You two have such an amazing ability to give, to share and to draw within yourselves. It is easy to love your own, but you two give so much to others who have no relation to you. Thank you for all the lives you touch. Know that it makes a difference. This love that comes without asking is perhaps the most difficult to sustain.

Carrie: How easy it is to talk to you, to gather insights and to use you as a sounding board. How clear you are in what is important to you. Thank you for the wisdom you bring to my life. The offsite Avo mum

Hanli: A single mum whose daughters bear testimony to the love and care you show. It isn’t easy being a single mum, carrying the burden of responsibility, providing for your children and still delivering dynamite work while still speed dating. Well done!

Dinah: How difficult your life has been, I can’t even begin to imagine all you have been through. Yet every day, despite your struggles, you keep going, providing the best life you can for your children.

Jules: If you could, wouldn’t you try to save the world? Always nestling the Avos close, trying to serve them with all you are. For your unfailing belief in our team, for your passion for every person, for the sincerity you show in your interactions. You big old mother hen! I wonder if your boys understand how lucky they are to have you as a mum, in a world that needs to prepare it’s children to take up the reins of leadership and entrepeneurship, you live what we are just begining to understand. I thank you.

Hi All,

You all know that Noma is one of our tadpoles doing her industrial attachment with Avocado Vision. She is currently in her third year of her B.B.A in Finance. Her focus  at the moment is on Investment,Economics,Insurance and Strategic Planning. She is as yet not sure which one she will specialise in.

Noma has just found out that she has passed her course with flying colours. Well Noma, no surprises there we would expect nothing less from you but excellence and brilliance. Well done !

A copy of an email received from Discovery:

Dear Clint

On behalf of Discovery Institute and the Learners: A huge THANK YOU! We really appreciate your contribution towards the skill development of our learners and for making a difference with the skill that they will use in their daily lives.

Thank you for partnering with Discovery’s Values of liberating the best in our people.

Cherel Shepherd

Discovery Institute

Decansos - “the makeshift roadside shrines that symbolise loss and transformation”. Courage - “will in extreme difficulty”.

Decansos and Courage both imply moral strength to nurture and persevere. Decansos - Spanish for resting place marking the spot where there has been a death - ressurection: rest within the very symbol of pain. In order to heal, we need to go back to a place of grief and loss.To do this takes courage - Decansos.

On the April 6th,2006 Tracy and I had the privilege of taking our Nedbank delegates to Robben Island to start the first leg of their Decansos programme.

The Decansos programme allows the delegates to revisit places of hardship or turmoil in an attempt to heal . While our basis is understanding and acceptance of the diversity of our country, the Decansos journey is a incredibly personal one.

Every person born of South African origin has a story to tell. Whether they fought in the struggle, whether they were conscripted, whether the threw a stone or were a consciencious objector …we all have stories, and all of them are powerful. The program is as much about understanding yourself as it is about understanding others and accepting others.

The Decansos programme started with us getting insights into the lives of those who work on the island. We chatted to Derek Basson and listening to him, to his childhood, his understanding of his motives, and feeling his pain and melancholy I was struck by his almost hopeful outlook for our future. In fact he challenged Tracy and I. As we drew our conversation with him to a close he commended Avo for the work we were undertaking to build bridges of understanding but he also asked us how we were going to reach out to others who had no platform to tell their stories. Yes, he was talking about all those who were conscripted, all those who were imprisioned for fighting the conscription campaign, and all those who were on the borders and in the security police. I, for one, stood in awe of that request. I had as yet not thought about the other side (being black and part of the struggle myself) or of the turmoil they must go through on a daily basis. I wonder where all those poeple are…who’s helping them heal? Derek told Tracy and I about a member of the security forces who had been on his tour, who broke down and cried who needed to tell his story. I was humbled that Derek, who had been imprisioned for fighting Apartheid, now saw the need to heal his former enemies. Derek felt his pain. If he can do it so can I.

This interaction set the tone for the program.

As I look through the arial pics of the island, I notice the airstrip. It forms a cross on the far side of the island. Very poignant. I suddenly realise that this place of banishment, of misery, of human frailty is for some many people a Decansos. Derek, Eugene , Lionel and so many others who live and work in their place of pain and difficulty find courage and hope by telling their stories.

That’s what this program is about: it is about making yourself vulnerable, it’s about stripping away the protctive layers that we have shrouded ourselves in and allowing ourselves to communicate with, and interact with, an unknown.

It moves beyond the theoretical basis of diversity, it moves beyond the clinical understanding of culture and it grapples with the heart of our pain. It allows us to display and interact with our fears and misunderstandings. It allows us to relate to, discuss and explore our interpretations of events and it allows us to acknowledge our fraility. It is perhaps one of the most difficult journeys one could take in your life time but it is for me the most worthwhile.

Too often we assume that because Apartheid is over and we are all basically nice people we should just understand our differences and just get along. If only it was that simple.

Our workplaces have become such a melting pot of cultures, views, opinions, and ways of being in and understanding the world that superficial acceptance just does not make for real team integration. By allowing our own vulnerability to show, by showing and eagerness to learn about others and accept them we build the strongest bridges of all.

It is really incredible that corporate companies like Nedbank are challenging and growing their teams by taking them on programs like ‘Decansos’. What they are effectively saying is : We want more for our people, our clients, and more for our country !

Well done Sharon Kersten !!

Every time I see what this program does for people I understand my role and my passion in this country.

By now you would have realised that AVO rocks, and I mean well and truly rocks. Not only do we have a kick-ass sales team, an awesome training team, and ubercool design team and two very sexy directors but we also have a new development team which is absolutely phenomenal !!!!

SAB tasked AVO with setting up a promoter curriculum to accredit all promoters who promote SAB products. Hanli our account manager (yes, the self same Zanzabari babe) set about recruiting 5 of our youngest team members: THE TADPOLES, to source the material, develop the course and develop the material. This included looking at SAB, who they are, what they do, their products and brands, consumers, markets, the legislation around alcohol consumption, managing difficult customers and other behavioural elements.

The phenomenal thing about our tadpoles is the fact that they are all full time students. So not only do they study, they work at Avo and they took up the promoter academy challenge. They were awesome. They presented the course to SAB and walked away with 5 bookings in the bag.

These are our youngest team members led by Hanli: Peter Pan and her merry band!!

Well done tadpoles, you guys are awesome.

PS : the tadpoles are: Tazzy, Carin, Carla, Nomsa and Fransie