CEO Report I recently read a statement by an author called Richard Rohr who says, “Transformed people transform people”. It immediately struck a chord within me because I feel that this is what has always been at the heart of The Sozo Foundation’s story. For the last seven years, we have had many straplines that have guided us in pursuing our vision of transformation. Our original motto, “We help people to help themselves so that they can help others”, later transformed into, “We help people to know they are loved so that they can love others” and we have finally landed on, “Collaborating for transformation through unconditional love”. In all of these statements, there is a work that needs to be done on the former for the latter to become a reality, which is the story of The Sozo Foundation! At Sozo we are on a journey of transformation as a Tribe. We believe that people in the workplace need to have a healthy work environment. It is also imperative that we have functional systems in place. This past year we have spent much time improving our financial, accounting, logistical, and operational systems. We have ensured that we have more capacity on board by developing a General Manager position for somebody who has the gifts, skills, and abilities to conduct the well-oiled flow of day-to-day business in the organisation. I can genuinely say that I have seen the fruit of these strategic decisions. I have seen the Sozo Tribe grapple with tough conversations in a transparent and vulnerable way, fully committing themselves to the journey of transformation. I wonder what the answer would be if I had to ask every single staff member, “Who were you before you came to Sozo?” I know what my answer would be: “A different person than who I am now”. I am grateful to have been on this transformational journey as we collaborate to see change in a community through unconditional love. This unconditional love spills over from our staff into our programs, into the lives of our beneficiaries and into the community that we are working in to see real transformation. Anton Cuyler CEO
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