Three years ago I had to make a decision about how much I wanted to change the world. Still drawn to Zambia after returning home from 2 1/2 years of service with the peace corps, my first thought on how to continue to make a difference was to raise money for the community school in my old village who was struggling after an NGO pulled their support. It would have been simple. Raise a few thousand dollars, build a school and feel good. As is often the case however when we contemplate what kind of an impact we want to have, an itch quickly began to grow that told me to think bigger.

After witnessing so many well intentioned but misguided development efforts, a rebel side of me wondered what would happen if I created an NGO that would reflect the values of personal growth, transparency, economic sustainability and the environment I always wished were more prevalent on the ground.

So I started CMI. Luckily in the States all you need is access to information and intense motivation to create an organization. We formed a starter mission unique to Zambia and began supporting soft loans and tree planting with the few resources and gifts that could be inspired from others. If I had known how hard it would be over the ensuing years to keep our small NGO breathing and stay personally sane, I would have let out a much larger sigh when signing the papers of incorporation or even thought twice about my decision. The past three years have been a blur of day jobs, long work weeks, dwindling personal funds, miscommunication with our partners in Zambia, unfinished projects by interns who left to work with a larger organization and begging for money from everyone I know.

Not fun. Before September I was questioning how much longer CMI should go on. We have a pretty impressive portfolio and some say that we have been able to accomplish an amazing amount in only 3 years. But we needed money, I was tired, results on the ground were uncertain, and I was conscious of some people close to me who felt that this charity effort was nice and a wonderful thing to do, but soon it would be time to focus on a real career.

Today I write to you more stunned and blown away by the results on the ground here in Zambia of all our hard work than I would have thought possible. People are paying loans back, people are planting trees, professionals in Zambia believe in what we are doing and want to see the services expand, and happily groups we are working with are being honest about what has gone well, what has not and what they want to see change.

Below are some personal highlights:

• 180 women outside of Kabwe central province sent their kids to community school and each started small businesses to pay their loans back at 8% interest over 6 months (96% repayment rate)
• An orphanage in Central Province realized a 25% profit margin on growing soya from a $4,000 loan this past year and is returning the principal this month
• A fish farmer realize a 300% increase in profits from their loan and together with their group has panted over 2,000 trees. The same group was also honest about some members who misused their portion of the loan and we have worked out group-set accountability with the headman
• 5 community groups in eastern province have learned from a disease that killed off their chickens last year and diversified into keeping pigs, sheep, baking and buying/selling agricultural products to minimize future risk.

There are 100 more stories like this radiating from my visits on the ground and I wish that everyone else who has been working so hard with us over the years could be here in person. There is no doubt now that the mission and services that CMI has initiated in the rural parts of Zambia has value and is making an impact. And I am most excited because we are able to learn from the challenges that have risen with each group, and will be able to apply lessons learned in the healthy process of reflection and self-improvement.

I want to send a sincere, and monumental thank you to everyone who has worked with us over the years. There is no doubt in my mind that we will continue to work hard, to listen, to experiment with how to best support opportunities for community growth, and to help good people improve their lives in Zambia. I accept now that when you decide to think big, the challenges will also be big. We are excited and ready. Bring it on.