A moment to change your life

Indulge me for a moment or two while I tell you how my life changed three years ago this week.
I was in Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, with a pack of twelve Scottish journalists, several government colleagues and a First Minister.
We were there for the visit of Jack McConnell, who as Scotland's leader had decided to strengthen old ties between our two countries. Ties that stretched back to the days of Dr David Livingstone and had been kept alive for one hundred and fifty years by generations of Scots - medics, teachers, missionaries, engineers and others.
The First Minister was speaking at a welcome ceremony, next to a feeding station where young children, many orphans, came to get their one meal of the day.
I had spent the last hour or so talking to the children, while keeping an eye on the hacks.
One of them, who will remain forever nameless, was showing a group of young boys their image on his digital camera.
Their shrieks of delight, pure, undadulterated, human happiness, suddenly brought a tear to my eye. I had not cried when visiting a maternity hospital where young mothers-to-be lay on a concrete floor waiting to give birth, and perhaps die in the process.
I had kept my professional poise when visiting schools where children had walked five miles, some barefoot, to attend. And again when speaking with women whose life expectancy was half mine.
But the sight of those wee boys, laughing with joy at their faces in a camera which would have kept their family in a maize for year, made me cry.
And the nameless hack cried too.
It was at that moment I knew that somehow or other, my life would never be the same again.
One of the purposes of this trip is to help me decide what I will do with the next phase of my life, but whatever decision I reach, Malawi will be a factor.
Jack McConnell had his critics during his five and half years as First Minister. Most of them either didn't know him, or were simply playing politics.
He is one of the best people I know. He cares about his country, about its people, and his ambitions for Scotland were motivated by a desire for all of us to be the best we can be.
I am biased of course, as I used to work for him, but I am old and wise enough to know the difference between a good heart and an monstrous ego. He has a good heart.
He did many good things while First Minister, and one of the best was to renew the friendship between Scotland and Malawi.
Cynics in the development world pooh-hooh people like Jack McConnell, Sir Tom Hunter and Professor Jeffrey Sachs who say that the solution to global poverty is for us, together, to roll up our sleeves and simply get things done.
This can-do approach is seen as naive, when in fact it is the only way we are going to support countries such as Malawi meet their many development challenges.
A partnership with Scotland is not the miraculous answer to Malawi's prayers, but our friendship and our practical support will make a difference. A big difference. It already has.
And that is down to one man. A man who had the courage in the face of national cynicism to do the right thing. Not for himself, not for Scotland, but for those wee boys.