Garland Smith is one impressive entrepreneurial changemaker!  I was fortunate to meet Garland and his family during his childhood schooling at Margaret Beeks Elementary in Blacksburg, Virginia where I was principal in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.   I hadn’t seen him or talked with him in years until I saw a recent ad for his socially-minded enterprise, The Omushana Company. 

As soon as I saw this inspiring video, I knew I had to talk with him about his mission to bring light to villages in Uganda.  Please read, listen and watch to learn about Garland's Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World.  This soccer star turned Peace Corps volunteer turned entrepreneur is converting his belief in the power of community into real change.   























Homegrown Garland
Garland gives a lot of credit for the man he has become to the Blacksburg community where he was raised.  He describes his hometown as “a very comfortable nest of a community in the US where everybody that lives in Blacksburg has this aura of positivity.”  As a soccer player from a very young age, Garland was surrounded by love and appreciation for his talent as well as coaches like Shelly Blumenthal of Blacksburg High School and Marc Reeves of Radford University who were extremely influential to his development both on and off the field.    
His belief in the power of community seems to have been solidified when he was in the fifth grade. Friends of the family applied for the Extreme Makeover Home Edition on behalf of his mother, Carol Crawford Smith, who has MS (Multiple Sclerosis).   The whole town, including the Virginia Tech community, came together in the effort to rebuild their home to make it functional for her needs. 



































“I believe that provided my foundational understanding of power and people power in numbers and how you can achieve so much more working together… That's what helped me grow as a person.”
















Solution-Focused Garland
Garland has faced tough challenges in life including his mother’s degenerative illness and the untimely loss of his older brother when he was in college.  Through it all, he has shown extraordinary strength and wisdom for such a young man.
When you go through life, there's going to be so many different road bumps and hurdles, and you have to find a way to move over them, pass through them, whatever it takes to continue on.  
By necessity, Garland had to be a resourceful and responsible kid and rely on folks outside the family to help with his mom’s needs. After the passing of his brother, Garland became the main support system for his father who lived alone as well.  He continued his college career, playing soccer and at times working three jobs in order to sustain himself and pay the rent.  Rather than discouraging him,