Building Servant Leaders to be World Changers

by Ron Wiley, PhD, REI Central Asia Regional Leader

When Jeanine and I were invited to Uzbekistan late in 2021 to help launch the new Samarkand International University of Technology (SIUT), there were two things we knew we couldn’t leave totally behind in Kazakhstan: Kazakh American Free University (KAFU) in Oskemen, East Kazakhstan and the teaching and culture of servant leadership that characterized this unique university.

Servant Leadership Academy participants from five countries sketching their countries' flags together

From the outset of our Samarkand sojourn at SIUT, whether I was teaching a Foundations of Engineering course or a Human Values & Ethics course, I integrated servant leadership principles and values into my teaching and into my REI responsibilities. With Jeanine assisting in some of our more ambitious group activities, these principles included the great value of people and relationships, the meaning of service, the unique purpose of each person, and the importance of serving in community.

Although Jeanine and I had both completed an MA degree in the early 2000s in organizational leadership, which Jeanine often referred to as “a degree in servant leadership,” we were also borrowing elements of a curriculum regularly used at KAFU, where the motto is “Training Future Leaders.” Throughout our more than three years living and working in Uzbekistan, we also made regular journeys north to maintain a close relationship with KAFU and continued to steep ourselves in their servant leadership culture.

As the REI work in Uzbekistan began to develop and mature, we sensed an increasing burden to return to Kazakhstan and to make our home in Oskemen, a city we had only visited in the past as adjunct faculty at KAFU. When we made that move in May of 2025, the first thing on the agenda was joining in to help lead KAFU’s Servant Leadership Academy.

With 25 participants and six leaders from five countries (including eight REI student and young interns from a U.S. university), the goal of the Servant Leadership Academy program was to show students real-life examples of people and communities practicing servant leadership. We joined the participants in growing in our awareness of the character and practice of a servant leader, visiting organizations and businesses around Oskemen and East Kazakhstan who are modeling it, often led by KAFU graduates of previous academies. Two weeks of living, learning and working together in the Academy, followed by two more weeks of service in the community left us all with deep friendships and rich lessons to ponder and apply to our lives.

Ron Wiley with KAFU President Yerezhep Mambetkaziyev, who founded the university and leads the university as a servant.

As our focus transitioned from the summer Academy to fall classes and university activities, Jeanine and I found ourselves caught up in the culture of servant leadership that so beautifully characterizes KAFU. From it’s 88-year-old president, Yerezhep Mambetkaziyev, to the administrators, instructors, custodians, and security personnel at the front door, service is modeled and then emulated by the student body. We see how they work as a team and empower each person to carry out their areas of responsibility. They see themselves as a family (often jokingly referring to “Kazakh American Family University”) ready to help and support each other, avoiding blame when mistakes occur, but rather constructively working together to solve problems.

We were soon invited to begin mentoring students who were completing a fall Principles class, helping them to reflect on and apply what they had learned utilizing the same curriculum we had used in Samarkand. We also began hosting book clubs for alumni of the KAFU program who wish to continue growing in their leadership practice. And we recruited our REI Kazakhstan teammate, Randy Bruins, and several of the REI professional volunteers who have served as visiting faculty at KAFU over the past several years, to join us in mentoring KAFU students in their ongoing leadership journeys. Currently, seven REI mentors are meeting with servant leadership students.

Servant Leadership Academy participants teaching leadership principles to local Kazakhstan high school students

REI’s servant leadership work in Uzbekistan didn’t end with our departure. Our REI Uzbekistan teammates recruited a couple of SIUT students into an online version of the Principles course, which they recently completed and will soon enter the mentoring phase of the program. When our two new teammates arrive later this spring to join us at KAFU, we anticipate quickly integrating them and any potential REI summer interns from the U.S. into the life of the university, which will include participating in the Principles course and in this summer’s Academy, along with KAFU students, the two SIUT students. and several from other countries.

The Academy program operates as an intensive, two to three-week, experiential learning process that brings together participants from around the world. These participants experience a series of servant leadership communities and reflect daily together on what they are learning. One outcome of the program is that participants develop their own personal mission statement as a servant leader.

Similar to our experience last summer, we anticipate our new REI co-workers will get a jump start on some deep and meaningful relationships with KAFU student leaders, enhancing their years of REI service here in Kazakhstan.

KAFU, REI and servant leadership…building future leaders who will change the world!