Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
February 2012
January 2012
- Offensive Advertising, Increased Sales?
- I Sold Out For Millions, Then Worked At McDonald's
- Steve Jobs on Failure
- The Famous Western Failure
- Thank Goodness for Drug Addicts
December 2011
- It's a Wonderful Failure
- Stadium Destroyed, Reborn
- Failure to Trust the Astronauts
- Failure and the Baggy Pants Tradition
- Failure at The Happiest Place on Earth
- Saving What Was Lost
- FailureBank: A Social Learning Utility
November 2011
- A Thanksgiving Failure
- Harriet Tubman's Clever Lie
- The Failures of Lemieux
- Failed to Return a Text
- Admitting Failure
- A Leaders Job: Support Failure
October 2011
- [VIDEO] Mistakes with Tasty Dum Dums
- Failure and the Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Failure Goes Digital
- Using AIDS to Fight Cancer
- Victory Despite Obstacles
September 2011
Failure in Bulembu
The book Failure: The Secret to Success is mostly about the mistakes of people and corporations. One small village, however, has its own story of failure.
Bulembu is located in Swaziland, which is one of the smallest countries in Africa. For much of its modern history, the dominant activity in the town was mining. A series of owners established a highly successful extraction operation. They not only employed many locals—they also built a comfortable, first-world infrastructure in a third-world nation.
But in 2001, the mine was finally exhausted and the company closed up shop. Ten thousand residents left to find work. They were surrounded by the rest of Swaziland, which was facing terrible poverty and among the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. For the past eight years, 40% of the population of this tiny nation is facing the horror of AIDS.
It might sounds like this is the end of the story for Bulembu. Indeed, many other communities elsewhere in Africa and the world have faced similar fates as a result of economic disparities. It’s a phenomenon experts call the resource curse. Places that have incredible natural assets tend to be exploited and abandoned, leaving the situation not much better than it was originally. It seems like the financial success will lead only to local failure. Indeed, for many Africans, this is the only story they know.
But in Bulembu, something different happened. Instead of failure piling onto failure, a group of entrepreneurs decided to reinvest in the town. They raised funds and bought the land, with the ambitious goal of creating a healthy, self-sustaining vibrant community by 2020. Now they are documenting this effort in an incredible online journal updated from Swaziland. Among those being helped are thousands of children orphaned by AIDS. The Bulembu project is truly inspiring.
Not surprisingly, this effort has attracted widespread interest. One such interested group is the Canadian Tenors. In 2009, the Tenors worked with the Bulembu Foundation to create Voices for Bulembu. The many components of this endeavor raised nearly $1M for Bulembu and was an incredible success. Enjoy this video montage of the Canadian Tenors singing as they personally experience life in this small town:
The failure in Bulembu can only be rectified through dedication and generosity. Help make the 2020 project a reality by supporting Voices for Bulembu in any way you can, even if just to share the story. Our success depends on understanding our failure. Give back to those most in need of our support.
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