Kid's Play - Enterprise

There is this trusting little girl who never locked her school locker. Nothing had been lost, until one day when she left some sweets in it. The sweets disappeared, but some money was left there, presumably, by the taker.

Curious, she again left sweets in the locker, and then again found some money left there the next day, apparently in exchange for the sweets. 

Amazed, she repeated the process, but this time , leaving more sweets there, and voila, she found more money left in her locker.

She then thought this could become a business and bought more sweets to leave them in her locker, and true enough,  money flowed in and a business quickly flourished. Her locker soon became the popular de-facto candy store.

Then came a new student from a financially poor family who needed money. Realising that, she transferred her business to the new student and even bought the new stock.

And so, a social enterprise and micro-economy is born.

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A Break, A Move, and an Enlightened Builder

I was taking a break from the packing and meeting up with my Australian builder friend.

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The location was a local coffee shop. The kitchen chopper went a-chopping at the Hainanese Chicken Rice stall and the aroma of coffee was in the air. It was a little too sweet to me, but such is the norm - coffee here are sweetened with condensed milk.

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My friend told me that a local organisation had asked him if he could volunteer to build a church in Mongolia. While he is a Christian himself and loves his own church, he told them that it is more important to build basic shelters, schools and hospitals for these people, rather than churches. Also, he feels that it is not necessary to convert anyone, but rather just to live an exemplary life, and if the natives like you, they would want to follow you.

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At that point, I realised that some of the architects and builders in the Middle Ages in Europe had lived their life surrendered and as volunteers to build churches. Some did not even live long enough to see their churches complete. In effect, they pledged their life to the church.

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"I wouldn't do that to the church," said my friend, "... as I know there is an authority much more powerful than that."

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