JOURNEY

• March 1, 2023 – In a recent Leadership Development Workshop, we explored the question, “How can you make sure the pain of your past doesn’t determine your future?” What stood out and meant the most to you in this workshop? Erickson said: “Well, in this workshop what stood out and meant the most to me is that my past is my past and however painful it may be, it has nothing to do with my future. In that workshop I learned that sometimes if you have a bitter past you have to make sure that your future is bright either by learning from your mistakes and developing a positive attitude, or by making a decision that will facilitate your personal recovery from the pain of your past.”
• September 8, 2022 – Erickson discussed the biggest changes in his life since the end of the COVID restrictions: “Well, the biggest challenge I faced as an individual was adapting back to a life where hand hygiene is not at its best like before. After the end of the COVID restrictions, washing hands wasn’t as mandatory as before, and I was really used to this practice. It kinda impacted me because I was not motivated to shake hands anymore, because not only can COVID-19 can be transmitted through handshakes, other infectious diseases can as well. The second biggest challenge was to see people behave like COVID is no more. I was really reluctant to socialize with people as I did before because I thought that although the COVID restrictions are no more, the COVID-19 virus is still alive and it could spread easily again.”
• September 13, 2021 – Erickson shared his favorite song and what it means to him: “My song is called “You Blessed Me Still” by The Williams Brothers: https://youtu.be/wWUVMSZeaOo. It reminds me of the countless blessings that God has given me in my life. I love it because it reconnects me with God whenever I feel I have strayed away or even feel weak spiritually. It reminds me how God has walked with me through thick and thin. I really like it.”
• July 16, 2021 – Erickson shared what resilience means to him: “Well, to me, resilience means the ability to keep moving forward, even in the hardest times you can ever face. Through resilience, one is able to recover when they fall, to regain strength when they are hit hard by a challenge, and to come back into race when they have already given up. Resilience is the strongest tool I use for recovery once I happen to have given up.”
• March 1, 2021 – Erickson shares his biggest lesson from 2020: “Without devaluing all other lessons I learned, “HUMAN SOLIDARITY IN TIMES OF CRISIS” is the biggest lesson I learned in the year 2020. In 2020 the whole world happened to go through closely common conditions brought by COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these condition among others included; total lockdown where most people in many countries were locked up in their homes, no working, no going to school, no public body exercises and others. Taking an example from my country Rwanda, many people became victims of hunger due to lockdown measures that have been put in place to curb the spread of the virus. I have learned that in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic people need to come together and support each other in different ways. For example in Rwanda, different individuals, organizations and government institutions did a great job of supporting the people whose lives have been affected by the pandemic by providing them with food, hygiene items, free health services, etc. Had it not been this solidarity, many people would have died due to hunger, others due to poor hygiene infections, home-based conflicts would have gone higher in numbers, many businesses would have shut down, many students would have dropped out of schools if it wasn’t free to study online and more.”