Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Roese.
Steve Roese is an out of the box thinker who wants to change the world by connecting dots and people to make things happen that others do not expect to succeed. He has traveled much of the developing world and is burdened for and amazed by the people he knows there. Steve has been married 32 years to a highly gifted and talented wife and has three kids who he happens to really like. Whatever It Takes for him is more than a tagline, it’s how things change. Impatient with the status quo, his focus is on both the haves and have-nots of society and whose cultural ethos is to do whatever it takes to collide the lives of both. Steve received a BS in economics and business from NYU Stern School of Business and an MS from Dallas Theological Seminary.
Steve is currently pursuing a DMin in International Global Leadership at Bakke Graduate University. He was Director of Development at RREACH International, where he worked to establish this new and growing organization in its role of training leaders in the developing world. Steve was the Executive Pastor for 14 years at Irving Bible Church in Irving, Texas, where he led the church to move to a community-focused, missional church. During this time, he led, designed, and completed a $15 million construction project of new and existing facilities expansion. This design was groundbreaking and has influenced church design nationally. Steve is one of the founding board members of ALARM Inc., an indigenous East African organization working on reconciliation and pastoral training and development. In 2005 peace was declared through the signing of the CPA, giving the South six years to determine her own fate, unity or secession.
At the beginning of this new peace, I had the privilege of leading a week of dreaming for local leaders. At the end of the week of intense dreaming and strategizing, a lone hand came up at our meeting. A tired-looking older bishop said with great wisdom, “none of these dreams matter if we cannot get clean water too.” On January 1, 1956, The Republic of Sudan was born as it gained independence from its British/Egyptian overseers. The largest country in Africa, Sudan, was deeply divided between the mostly Arab/Muslim North and the Black/Animist Christian South. For the Republic of Sudan, Independence was more than the birth of a nation; it was the birth of the Civil War that lasted until 1972. Nearly 500,000 southerners were killed during the first civil war, 80% of them civilians, leading to mass displacement of people from their homes. A very tenuous peace ensued for the 10-year period between 1972 and 1983, with constant oppression a reality for the South. In 1983 the entire country was declared an Islamic state and sharia law was impressed by everyone. Of course, war broke out again!
Over the next 22 years, of the 8,000,000 people that make up what is now The Republic of South Sudan, 2,000,000 were killed, 4,000,000 were displaced and the rest did everything they could to hold on. our people. Without water, we will all die. AND THUS WATER IS BASIC WAS BORN. In December of 2006, we raised more than $150, 000 to help solve this water problem. I traveled to Thailand to buy rigs and then to Sudan, over and over and over again. We were committed to resourcing THE LEADERS IN SOUTH SUDAN TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR DREAMS. Their country, their people, their dream, their work. On July 28th, 2008, Water is basically drilled their first borehole and we haven’t stopped since. Water Is Basic has currently completed over 1,100 water projects giving water to more than 1,500,000 people.
In a world turned upside down by technology, and social media, where new countries are birthed and old ones are transformed overnight, it’s great to know there are still places where a basic investment can return amazing results. The new nation of South Sudan is enjoying the heady days of nationhood so similar to the early years of the birth of America; it’s tumultuous, it’s exciting, it’s frustrating, its life-giving. In the midst of it, all Water is Basic and its teams of South Sudanese are providing clean, fresh water to hundreds of thousands, giving them a breath of air that fills their lungs with the air of hope. When clean water means health, successful births, an education, peace, hours of labor saved, that clean water literally is the mortar that holds together the bricks of a new nation’s foundation. It’s simple but it is profound. Its nationhood… one borehole at a time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth? Not at all. South Sudan has been in constant conflict, including its own civil war that again devasted the country.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My role has been focused on three areas: 1) Making organizations healthier and 2) Casting vision and building teams to move the organization into new territory. 3) Nation-building in South Sudan. I want to continue to catalyze teams and resources to change the plight of the world’s bottom half while changing the reality of the world’s top half. I believe over the next 20 years we will see the greatest changes in history. I plan to be right smack dab in the middle of the process. Whatever It Takes Specialties: Team Building, releasing talented folks to their potential, conflict resolution, cultural immersion, public communication, ideas… lots of them, coupled with can do! I am a catalyst for what can be.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
BOOKS: King Leopold’s Ghost Overstory The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
Pricing:
- Well Repair $1, 250
Contact Info:
- Email: steve@waterisbasic.org
- Website: https://www.waterisbasic.org/
- Instagram: Waterisbasic
- Facebook: Waterisbasic
- Twitter: Waterisbasic
- Youtube: Waterisbasic
