Can personal passion make a lasting difference?
My latest podcast guest is the model Noella Coursaris Musunka. She is used to gracing the pages of magazines such as Marie Claire or photo-shooting for Max Factor and equally, she enjoys stalking the corridors of the Davos World Economic Forum or the UN General Assembly.
Delighted as I was to see Noella, and trying hard not to sink into cliches such as beauty being skin deep or not, I got more intrigued by getting to think more deeply about the nature and purpose of beauty. But that is a whole different piece to write about. Meanwhile, about Noella:
Of Congolese-Cypriot heritage, her back story is that of childhood loss and long separation from loved ones. But this did not hold her back and instead sparked a life-long passion to make a difference to others born in difficult or deprived circumstances.
And so she now also runs Malaika, an education and philanthropic foundation. When she speaks on that, her eyes have an additional sparkle that you will, I am sure sense, in this audiocast. She is a living example of the adage that what’s important is not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you.
What I found fascinating was the matter-of-fact way she talks about what she has seen and done – and perhaps, that is why her compassion seeps through so naturally. This is precious in our much-troubled world of jaded senses and blunted emotions, as she asks us to confront the harsh realities faced by children growing up without parents, without schools, without clean water—but also to dream of what happens when one determined heart refuses to give up.
However, how much can one person’s passion truly make a lasting difference? Perhaps only aid bureaucrats would ask this question… as the people making a difference are too busy doing just that.
Listen above or via SPOTIFY and wherever you get your podcasts.
