11: Accompaniment: Facilitating Transformative Change in the World

I saw it first in their eyes: a handful of Zambian leaders “switched on” when working alongside Gonzaga University engineering students to build a more effective and sustainable cooking stove in Zambezi, a rural African town. After three lessons on heat generation from our students, our Zambian partners were ready to get their hands dirty. Using bricks and other locally sourced materials, we developed a stove together. Then something really interesting occurred. One day while we were out gathering new materials, the Zambian leaders made another, improved stove. When we stepped aside, they used their new knowledge and took ownership of the project. With each additional iteration, the stove and our global relationship improved.