By Jen Hetzel Silbert

November 28, 2011

I recently heard from a longtime friend and colleague in Guyana, South America.  His name is Samuel, and more than a successful businessman, Samuel is a father, husband, son and devoted Guyanese citizen.  Like many Guyanese, Samuel gained an appreciation for democracy the hard way – growing up in a country where principles of free speech, inclusion and transparency were a rarity, if they existed at all.

Guyana’s 1992 presidential election was considered the first reasonably free and fair election since its independence from the British in 1966. But in 2006, with presidential elections on the horizon, most observers anticipated that the two ruling parties would mobilize their bases through fear, and that violent inter-ethnic clashes would result. This was the stage on which I met Samuel.

In Georgetown, May 2005, a conflict resolution and peacebuilding initiative led by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Guyana Democratic Consolidation and Conflict Resolution Project (GDCCRP) utilized a form of direct democracy known as the Appreciative Inquiry Summit, which I was fortunate to facilitate.

After the summit, Samuel participated in numerous United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and USAID-funded follow-up AI trainings and summits led by several Innovation Partners International colleagues and myself. These efforts engaged over 350 Guyanese civil society leaders, government officials, educators, activists, and interested citizens, including three Amerindian villages – just prior to the presidential elections of 2006. Samuel’s experience led him to co-found Georgetown’s “Partners for Positive Change,” and later he led a successful appreciative strategic planning rollout for his company, one of the largest furniture manufacturers and distributers across the Caribbean.

Below is an excerpt from Samuel’s note, sent to me on November 28, 2011, more than six years after we first met:

“I voted this morning and remembered the contribution you, USAID and my organisation played in bringing peaceful elections in Guyana. Something for ALL GUYANESE TO CELEBRATE… My regards to you and the rest of the AI family.”

I’m moved by Guyana’s high [and so far peaceful] turnout of 2011 voters, but more so by Samuel’s selfless, persistent servant leadership in his community, at work, and at home. A now avid practitioner of AI, Samuel lives and breathes organizational democracy, something he embraces as created and preserved in choice-full human interaction—be it conversations among concerned citizens, employees at work, or parent-child chatter at the dinner table. Samuel models democratic principles in action, leading and engaging others in a manner that is inclusive, transparent, fair, and fosters free and meaningful choice.

Against all odds—centuries of colonial domination, inter-ethnic clashes, and deeply rooted skepticism of a country’s ability to sustain a free and fair elections process still in its infancy—a new kind of conversation continues to emerge across Guyana.  Few [even the sponsors themselves] thought we could pull off a strength-based, collaborative approach to peacebuilding and community development; and yet the will and way for democratic dialogue lives on in Guyana.

Samuel’s note reminded me of the importance of civic engagement for seeding and preserving democracy where it is needed most—not just in government, but everywhere humans flourish.  Cheers to Samuel and to others like him who, rather than demanding change, choose to BE the change they wish to see in their home, their places of learning and work, their community and their world.

“It is no use walking  anywhere to preach unless  our walking is our  preaching.”

St. Francis of Assisi

Related articles

• Guyana Elections Expected to Break Down According to Racial Lines (ibtimes.com)
• Ruling Party to Lead Guyana’s First Minority Gov’t (abcnews.go.com)