Following correspondence with Archbishop Desmond Tutu over the past few months, we are proud to announce that he has agreed to share his experience creating social change with The Purpose Project!

Through this partnership, we will feature a portion of Archbishop Tutu’s story in one of the twelve chapters in our forthcoming book and use his leadership experiences as the basis for parts of the accompanying curriculum.

While the Archbishop has attained global recognition for his accomplishments, his story is a humble one. Tutu took his first public stand against discrimination as a schoolteacher in the late 1950’s, and then decided to pursue theology in order to enhance his voice on the matter.

Over the next 30 years, he worked steadily to denounce apartheid policy as “evil and unchristian” and to demand equal rights, including access to education for all of South Africa’s citizens.

Later, as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the then Archbishop brought together victims and perpetrators to foster a new future for South Africa based on forgiveness and cooperation rather than vengeance and retribution.

Archbishop Tutu’s story is one of persistence and dedication towards creating change—not just for those who have suffered from injustice, but for those who have committed it also. He has said of his inspiration to stand up for his country that, “The gist of what I realised was that the apartheid system was false, was wrong, was offensive, and had to be changed not only for the sake of black people but also for the sake of white people, because we were all trapped in it together.”

We will begin our work with Archbishop Tutu in May with an introductory interview. We’ll also conduct research and interviews later this year with others who were by his side in the struggle to end apartheid, and in the efforts to pursue reconciliation in its aftermath.

Stories like Archbishop Tutu’s have the potential to inspire others, and their struggles, successes, and lessons learned hold the insights that will equip a new generation of social changemakers. We are thrilled to be able to add his name to our growing list of partner changemakers, and would greatly appreciate your support of our work with him. Please click here if you are able to donate frequent flyer miles or lodging, or to make a tax-deductible contribution to The Purpose Project.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 9:16 am and is filed under Desmond Tutu, Partner Changemakers, Progress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.