A boy watches the sun set over the river near Korphe, Pakistan.
home economics, and several languages.”
Whether the schools in each country are
run by communities or the government, all
must comply with the national standards
dictated by each country. Greg is excited by
the progress from the early days of teaching
literacy to CAI’s ability to help women earn
Master’s degrees and Ph.D.s.
The most powerful gift people can give
each other is to believe in one another. Over
two decades of building schools in some of
the most remote and mountainous areas,
Greg learned that beyond the building materials, teachers, and schools supplies the
best way to support people and help them
succeed is to believe in them.
TWENTY YEARS OF LESSONS
Lasting Change Takes a Long Time:
“Change takes more time than most
people think, and there isn’t anything
bad about that,” says Greg. “I’ve learned
to appreciate the circular and nonlinear
process of creating lasting change. It’s OK
to fail and start over, so make sure you plan
time at the start of a project to go back to
the drawing board in case there is a fork
in the road.”
Patience, flexibility, and long-term
commitment are incredibly useful when
attempting to change something as
influential as women’s education. Working
in areas with limited resources, changing
Over the past 20 years Greg has learned
valuable lessons about working with other
communities, creating expectations, flexibility, and the true meaning of helping others. Looking back on his experiences, there
are four major lessons CAI and the people
of Central Asia instilled in him.
Empower and Believe in People:
“Once people have hope and they know
you believe in them, they can do anything. If
people don’t think you believe in them, little
will come to fruition.”
FALL 2016
environmental conditions, and cultural
and language barriers consistently requires
more time than Westerners usually plan for.
After 20 years CAI has learned to account
for unseen issues and adapt to different
circumstances.
Relationships are Essential:
Many of the areas CAI works in are dominated by thousand-year-old tribal customs
and traditions. Relationships are an important fabric of those cultures. Greg quickly
learned that he couldn’t build schools that
would last or succeed unless he took time to
build relationships with elders and leaders
of each village, region, and culture.
“You have to build through relationships,” explains Greg. “Sometimes those
relationships are circular, you have to gain
the trust of several people before you find
the original person you were looking for.
Each relationship brings you to another key
relationship. It all takes a long time, but you
can’t get anything done without them.”
JOURNEY OF HOPE | 3