From big bucks to Burkina Faso

I've just met with a successful professional speaking colleague of mine called Craig Goldblatt...and he's just blown me away with what he told me and how his life has changed so drastically.

Craig, who's been earning a six figure income as a top sales expert, speaking to and training those from all sorts of businesses around the UK, has decided to dedicate himself to starting a schooling system in one of the world's poorest countries, Burkina Faso.

The charity he's set up, Giving Africa, is aiming to obtain as much financial and other forms of support for this small West African country where malaria is a consistent and ruthless killer. Craig will be holding 7-day workshops in the country so people from the Western world can learn about leadership from the tribal elders who manage to foster a successful sense of community despite the unrelenting hardships that they and their people face.

Craig's decision came after much soul searching and being honest - truly honest - with himself about who and how he wanted to be. It takes a lot of confidence to commit to something so profound and life-changing. He has a wife and two young children. He also has a lot of courage. This is borne out of a heartfelt desire to do something of practical and selfless substance - very much redolent of the philosophy summed up at the end of Rudyard Kipling's seminal poem If:

"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"

Truly inspiring and equally thought-provoking...for all of us.