Gold Mining
As it is written here that Gold has been a treasured by cultures all over the world since the beginning of time. When we were growing up, we remember visiting many gold mining areas in our community in Kenya. I felt connected to this book as if it was being written for me, especially in the first chapter of introduction. In 1976, when I was traveling to school, I passed through several creeks which had no bridges and would cross by stepping on stones when the water level was low, and when it was high, I would use another route. One day in the morning on my way to school, the water level was shallow and could see the bottom of the river with clear water and stones stood up clear that I would step on them as I crossed the river. This particular day when I passed through, I saw one unique stone shining from the waterbed of the creek. I developed interest and went for it. I placed it in my school bag as it was not bulky. And at school, I never showed anybody what I was carrying until I reach home in the evening after classes. I showed the stone to my mom, and it meant nothing to her instead, she took it and said this is an excellent stone for holding the door. She appreciated me for getting such a beautiful stone for the house. A year later, I looked at the stone again after visiting the goldmine areas. I took the stone to a blacksmith in the nearest town. He looked at the rock and tried to tell me this was a stone closer to the gold, but it’s not gold. He attempted to buy from me at a meager price, but I refused. He later sent for me and told me the stone contains some gold and other minerals. He offered me an amount equivalent to $100, and I accepted very fast without hesitating. That was a lot of money for me. I later learned the stone was pure gold and was worth $20,000. I regretted, but it had gone anyway.
Camacho wrote that the Gold is beautiful, Pure, soft, and rare. All these attributes were part of the stone I got from the creek. Godly kingdom leaders are the same. They are precious moldable treasures called to serve as attractive representatives of the king of kings. Their hearts are soft, and their love for God and others is tangible. God sees their high value, and we should equally too.[1]
Gold mining is a process that goes for the best only in life. God is always mining the best leaders for his purpose in ministry. It is unfortunate that many people I have seen mining in the minefields for years have never been rich at all; instead, they have been hustlers the rest of their lives. The agents who buy the gold are the rich fellows who get value the gold they get from the miners.
On the other hand, we have lived near the goldmine fields, but we have not seen gold as one may think we have. It is a very scarce commodity, although it’s everywhere. From my cultural view, searching for gold is one of the most challenging things one could ever imagine. It is not as Camacho is describing as if mining gold is one of the most natural jobs. There is a saying that any community where goldmine is taking place remains poor and never grows at all. I have never seen growth or developments in the area apart from the roads built to transport the product to the upper markets. We associate gold with a curse in culture. If gold is found in your community, you are forced to move by the government and never benefit from the proceeds. We have a very negative connection to the gold mining referred to by Camacho in this book. But the coaching model is excellent and appealing to my condition in leadership development.
Camacho says that coaching leadership feels more like a shepherd leading sheep than a CEO building corporation. It is much more relational, intimate, and patient. The pace is slower and more relaxed.[2] This process is more comfortable than mining gold. No, wonder it’s hard to get true authentic good potential and trusted leaders.
[1] (Camacho, 2019) page4 Printed edition
[2] (Camacho, 2019)
About the Author
John Muhanji
I am the Director Africa Ministries Office of Friends United Meeting. I coordinate all Quaker activities and programs in the Quaker churches and school mostly in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The focus of my work is more on leadership development and church planting in the region especially in Tanzania.. Am married with three children all grown up now. I love playing golf as my exercise hobby. I also love reading.3 responses to “Gold Mining”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
John
Wow, I am heartbroken to hear your story about discovering gold in your community. Having not experienced that selfish exploitation, I didn’t have that perspective as I wrote Mining for Gold.
My heart about mining for gold was more like the story of Botswana, where the diamond mining released resources to build a strong country, instead of exploiting the people. Thank you for your honest critique.
Mal 3:3 was my premise. God mines for gold in us as leaders and then refines it so it is pure and reflects His loving nature. I don’t think the book will do very well in areas of the world where mining is equivalent with oppression and stealing from the community.
The truth is that Gold mining in Africa has been badly exploited and it is still being exploited to date. Look at DRC how fighting is done in the area where the highest deposit of Gold is due to exploitation by the western countries who are arming the locals against each other to fight as they carry the gold away for their use. the communities where gold is found is impoverished. Recently Tanzania government burnt all mining by foreign investors who had exploited the country for years. In our community, God mining is looked at as a curse to the community. Many western countries capitalized on the ignorance of the Africans and took advantage of the situation. But using it in your book is well articulated and relevancy is seen although to the communities where exploitation has been done will look at it differently. But your connection to coaching is great. I need to book a session with you in coaching Tom.
John
Absolutely, let’s talk. My assistant can book a zoom call so we can do a live video chat and cover any topics on coaching or leadership development that would benefit you. My heart in this book is generous and benevolent. Not exploitive or selfish. This taught me how completely different imagery and metaphor can be for different cultures. To use a different metaphor, God wants to make incredible works of art, masterpieces (Eph 2:10) with the people all around us and our role is to be his hands and fingers as he shapes vessels of honor for His glory. Please email me at miningforgoldivp@gmail.com and I will have my assistant set up a coaching call for us.
Bless you sir.