GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018 - 6

it's never 2 late

When in doubt, go to Cameroon!

BY JACK YORK

W

hen you reach a certain age (in my case 58) you have
two choices when asked how you wound up where
you are in your life. You can spout out a well-honed
story of charting and planning your career step-by-step, or you
can tell the truth, which for most of us is the reality that random
coincidences have put us in a position and a place that we
never could have dreamed of.
I was having that exact thought on April 22nd of this year in
the tiny village of Mbemba in northwest Cameroon as around
3,000 Cameroonian villagers rhythmically danced and chanted
my mother Dorothy's name while they sang praises to me. The
event was the dedication of a senior center, named for my
mother and funded through generous donations from close to
a 100 Americans. It was a surreal event that I could never have
dreamed of nor planned. It became a reality because a remarkable man in Cameroon named Francis decided to do something
with a $500 donation.

"

When you reach a certain age you
have two choices when asked how you
wound up where you are in your life.

"

My journey with Francis began in Perth, Australia in October
of 2015. We were both invited to speak at the Global Aging
Network conference, and either through coincidence or destiny
we wound up on the same panel. I am fiercely proud of the work
our company iN2L does. But when I heard Francis' story, how
he successfully, and almost singlehandedly, has stood up against
policies that oppress women and the elderly in Cameroon, I felt
a sense of awe and insignificance. We spoke briefly after his
presentation, said goodbye and went our separate ways. But his
6 GRAND

JANUARY FEBRUARY 2018

Jack York going with the flow with happy senior village women singing and dancing.
spirit floated inside of me. He touched me in a way that I didn't
fully realize at the time.
After I returned to the US, I sent Francis a brief email of thanks
and appreciation of his work, and had our company send a
modest check of $500, to honor his work. There were no strings
attached and no expectations. It was just a small gesture of kindness for a man who has given up his life for the greater good.
Usually donations like that generate a return form letter (attempting not to look like a form letter) but Francis' response rocked

my world, and will ultimately rock the world of thousands of
Cameroonian people.
Six weeks later, I received an innocuous email from Francis
along with several attachments. To my amazement, Francis had
taken the $500 and established the "Jack York Elderly Woman's
Sustainable Goat Rearing Project in Northwest Cameroon".
He went to nine distinct villages in Cameroon and delivered
each one of them a goat designed for long term sustainability, to
help foster his mission of people taking care of themselves and
Continued on next page


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GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018

Contents
GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018 - 1
GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018 - 2
GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018 - 3
GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018 - Contents
GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018 - 5
GRAND Magazine - January/February 2018 - 6
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