Breaking Through

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lighten Up!

Delight with Humor

“I’LL GIVE YOU TWO COWS FOR HER,” THE ELDERLY MAN said, pointing his knotty wood walking stick in my direction.

Wait. What? Was he really making an offer to trade a couple of his skinny bovines for me? Yes, he was.

It was 2013. I was leading a small group of Pfizer colleagues to see our philanthropic work in maternal clinics in the United Republic of Tanzania, an East African country known for its vast expanses of wilderness. We had arrived by van that morning at the medical outpost to tour the small treatment rooms. It was afternoon now, and hot. We were sitting with some of the local leaders right outside the clinic in the scant shade, trading pleasantries. As we wrapped up the meeting, an elderly ...