President Telmito
June 22, 2025
Sued by God
July 3, 2025
After starting strong with a parenting seminar in March, our 2025 program of father-daughter activities faltered in April when insufficient turnout forced the postponement of our game day. I’m happy to report that God answered your prayers: ten fathers brought their daughters to the rescheduled event, where the three hours packed with fun and laughter passed far too quickly.
From 2022 through 2024, I managed the father-daughter activities myself. But I recruited a steering committee of fathers to help run this year’s events, because I believe that African-led sustainability is superior to perpetual dependance on a foreigner. There’s definitely a learning curve to the transition, but sometimes the freedom to fail is what gives someone the courage to rise up and lead. To whatever extent negligence on the committee’s part may have contributed to the poor turnout on the initially-scheduled game day, I hoped they would improve their coordination for the next item on our agenda: a picnic on June 21 at a resort outside of town.
For my part, I reminded the president two weeks before the event that it was time to send out text reminders and arrange for transportation to the resort. Four days later, I realized that I hadn’t yet received a notification message, and when I tried to check in with him, he didn’t respond to my text or calls. Frustrated, I texted the other four committee members with my doubt about whether the picnic would actually happen.
Thankfully, my fears proved to be unfounded. Though the president was away from his phone that day, he had already begun transportation negotiations and asked the communications manager to text the participants about the picnic. My subsequent conversations with him and other committee members convinced me that they were preparing sufficiently for the event. I completed my task of preparing and printing five pages of activities for fathers to complete with their daughters while strolling the scenic grounds. Though I elected not to go on the picnic as part of my strategy to back down and let the locals lead, I met the robust group at the assembly point where they boarded the rented van and wished them well as I handed them the activity sheets and entrance fee.
Additional dads and their girls boarded the van along the way or drove separately to the site. To my surprise, our 2025 picnic turned out to be our best-attended father-daughter event to date, aside from our hallmark annual banquet! Thirteen men and their 27 beautiful daughters, most of whom are pictured here, spent hours exploring the expansive nature reserve in their respective family groups while relishing one another’s company.
Along with photos, the committee sent me a video they took at the end of the picnic. In it, one dad observed, “Spending our day with you, our daughters, is worth it.” A teen commented, “For me, it was good. I learned a lot.” Their smiling faces evidenced a fruitful investment in family relationships.
