Chapter 2
Escape
“You’re going to see your Mom again.”
“What?”
Lopez nearly shouted.
“Shh,
not so loud,” one of his three teenage friends said. “You can’t tell anyone.”
Most
of the boys had settled down for the night, although one or two were up walking
around. “This is our secret, okay, Lopepe.” These three older boys – angels to
Lopez – chose to take this six-year old boy with them when they planned an
escape.
After
everyone fell asleep, the group of four worked their way across the room. Once
they reached the door, they stopped dead still. After what felt like an
eternity, one nodded toward another. They cracked open the door. One of Lopez’
friends poked his head out of the door. The coast was clear. The guard who
normally sat at the door had left his post. One after another, the four boys
crawled out of the hut.
For
the first time in three weeks, Lopez smelled fresh air. The four boys crawled toward
a chain link fence. Everywhere around them, guards smoked cigarettes, talked,
and laughed.
It
took ten minutes to cover the distance from the hut to the chain link fence.
Once they were at the fence, Lopez noticed a very small gap in the bottom of
it. One of his friends crawled under the fence. Lopez couldn’t believe that the
guards could not hear the clanking of the fence. Once all four were under the
fence, they ran for their lives.
None
of the boys wore shoes. Rocks cut into the soles of their feet. They kept
running. Bushes suddenly appeared in front of them slapping them in the face.
They kept running. Thorns tore their legs open. They kept running. They do not
know how they could run so far, so fast, and so long. They did not run with
their own strength but with strength from God.
Management Lesson #2 -- Protect The Weak
In this day of lean staffs, it is easy to
leave the weak behind. Yes, we can always fire the weaker team member and
replace them with a stronger team member. Or, we can coach and mentor the
weaker team member. What would have happened to Lopez had the three teenagers
left the six-year old boy with the rebels? Their gift of including him in the
escape was finding out that he was able to keep up with them! Why not see if we
will similarly be surprised by the younger, weaker employee who we bring along
for the ride.
The
boys ran for three days, with little food or water. They rested in the middle
of the day and ran largely at night. They valued caves, trees, and the rare
oasis with muddy water.
Suddenly
they came upon a tin-roofed building. A couple of trucks were parked next to
it. Before they could escape, soldiers rushed towards them. They were caught!
The questions the soldiers asked made no sense. They spoke in a language that
the boys did not understand.
They
had been arrested – not by Sudanese rebels or Sudanese soldiers. The whole time
they thought they had been running towards their village, they had been running
straight to Kenya. These soldiers were Kenyan border guards! And the soldiers knew
who the boys were. They’d come to recognize the rail-thin build and the rags on
their backs as distinguishing marks of boys escaping the civil war in Sudan.
Management Lesson #3 -- Perseverance
It is easy to quit when the going gets
tough. Lopez’ three day running odyssey is a picture of perseverance. Likewise,
we as managers need to mimic this perseverance. We need to persevere…..
