What's your 30-day challenge?

 I made a new commitment today.  Starting this evening, I will set aside one hour each day to WRITE for the next 30 days. 

The inspiration behind this decision came from a really cool TEDTalk I listened to recently.

 The speaker highlights some of the ways his personal 30-day challenges have impacted his life, from committing to taking a photo every day for a month to riding his bike to work, to completing a novel in 30 days.  I pondered the question, “what have I always wanted to do, but haven’t?”  The resounding answer for me right now is to WRITE with consistency.  (I tend to capitalize the word “write” because that’s how it often appears on my to-do lists!  But the idea is that writing will not be a chore, but might become a habit, and a habit I look forward to.). 

Who knows what the fruits of this labor will look like – perhaps more blog entries, perhaps the foundation of a novel, hopefully new insights and veins of thought…and quite possibly, pages upon pages of crap that never see the light of day.  But all of those outcomes would be ok.  The end result is not the most important thing, but rather the discipline, patience and process that really counts. 

Please wish me luck, ask about my progress and join me in your own 30-day challenge if you feel compelled!  

Unfortunately, right after listening to this TED talk, I listened to another speaker who informed me that telling someone about your goals makes them less likely to happen (oops)…BUT only if you receive social affirmation from telling people about your goals.  So, don’t pat me on the back until September 24^th, when the 30 days are up!  :)

 

 

Exploring Cali

This is Dani, my new friend from Cali (and Dolce)

The morning after the wonderful distraction of Dolce and friends went back to LA, I got to hop on a plane with my friend Natalia to visit the vibrant city of Cali.  We went for the purpose of visiting schools that are implementing the Aulas en Paz program but along the way, I got to meet a lot of Natalia’s family and also got to stay with my friend Dani and her family, who I met through Dolce’s volunteer team.  Natalia’s dad’s side of the family is from Cali and I feel as though I met about 50 members of the family in just 3 short days!  We were greeted at the airport by Natalia’s hilarious, sassy, and very kind aunt (or maybe cousin, I can’t keep it all straight!), Fani and an uncle (also, maybe a cousin?), Hernan.  From there, we visited four different homes of Natalia’s family where we were welcomed with hugs, good conversation, coffee, bread, juice and beer.    Every single person I met was warm, generous, and good-humored.  I was so happy and relaxed in Cali.  Natalia’s cousin Valentina is 10-years old and a phenomenal salsa dancer.  I can’t really describe it, so instead I’ll leave it to this video clip of her rehearsing one of her dances in her living room (I couldn't figure out how to rotate the video for the life of me!):

Apparently, many 10-year olds in Cali can dance like this!  Valentina gave Natalia and I a salsa lesson which made me feel old beyond my years and like I had two left-feet, but it was so fun and endearing. 

Natalia and I in a swarm of happy kids

During the days in Cali, Natalia and I visited the schools that are implementing the program Aulas en Paz (classrooms at peace), which was created by the professor that we’re working with in Bogotá.  We observed the lesson plans in action and interviewed teachers about their perspective on teacher/student relationships and the impact of the program.  The success of the implementation of the program seemed to be almost exclusively contingent upon the teacher (which did not surprise me in the slightest).  We saw classrooms full of happy, respectful kids, enthusiastically engaging in role plays with little paper dolls as ways to teach constructive problem-solving…and we saw (one) completely chaotic classroom where kids were being taught new ways to defend themselves and prey on weaker students (not by the teacher, but by the atmosphere in the classroom that had been created by her permissiveness and lack of structure).  The latter observation was pretty exhausting and downright sad.  The former was uplifting and enlightening.  I’m sure I’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of things I will learn and think about as I continue to observe Aulas en Paz in action.  More to come on that subject.  And in the meantime, google it if you want to learn more!  

Snapshots From a Week at the Hogar

Kiddos from the school

2 weeks ago,  I received a visit here in Colombia from one of my best friends and most wonderful people in the world, Dolce Wang!!  Dolce wasn’t just visiting little ‘ole me in Colombia; oh no, she brought with her a group of wonderful people from LA to work, serve and love kids in an orphanage called the Hogar, Luz y Vida (Light and Life) started by a feisty, passionate and inspired nun, Sister Valeriana.  I had the privilege of joining them.  On day one, Dolce, Layna (a volunteer from the East coast) and I visited the school that was also founded by Sister Valeriana.  If you look on facebook, the pictures of us with the kids in red or turquoise outfits were from our time at the school. 

Dolce had spent months preparing for her visit to the school.  She developed a vision that the students- some of whom are not verbal and thus communicate with sign language,  (in one case, a lovely young woman, Rosita, cannot speak or move and thus communicates with her eyes), and ALL of whom communicate with Spanish – would be exposed to the art and language of visual communication through a photography project.  Dolce hosted a camera drive at her work through which 10 digital cameras were donated to the school.  She developed detailed lesson plans and created a photo diary for each student to log descriptions of photos that had to do with the daily theme: day 1 was “interesting people and things”, day 2 was “a day at the Hogar” and day 3 was “love.” On the first day at the school, we taught the kids some photography basics and distributed the cameras.  On the fifth day, we threw a party for the kids and displayed the beautiful photography that the students had taken throughout the week.  And in between, a lot occurred.  Three main “snapshots” (in the spirit of photography, and I actually do have photos of all three to share with you!) stand out the most vividly in my mind.

One of these snapshots occurred on that fifth day, the party day.  While the kids were watching Monster’s Inc. in Spanish, a nine-month old baby named Ruth, suffering from spina biffuda was dying.  Ruth had been abandoned by her mother at the hospital once she knew the severity of her child’s defects and Sister Valeriana took her in to the Hogar shortly thereafter.  When I met Ruth on the second day at the Hogar, her skull had just split open from the pressure created by fluid in her brain and her vitals were not looking good.  By that Friday, her oxygen levels were depleting and her heart rate was gradually becoming slower and slower.  I walked over to the “baby floor” of the Hogar once I heard the sad news and found many staff workers, as well as Sister Valeriana, crowded around Ruth’s tiny crib.  Sister was bent over little Ruth, praying quietly and stroking her hand, which was white as a sheet and about the size of a postage stamp.  Ruth was absolutely motionless except for the sporadic shifting of her eyes, which occurred every couple of minutes.   What struck me so profoundly about this moment was the pure love and deep sadness in the eyes of the staff that surrounded Ruth as she slowly died. I thought about what would have happened to this little baby and the circumstances in which she would have died had it not been for Sister and the environment of love, care and acceptance that she has established at the Hogar. I was rendered sad and speechless as I observed the way in which this little girl had impacted the lives of the staff of the Hogar.  Ruth died about an hour after we left the Hogar and we thanked God that the pain was over.  I will not forget that day and that moment by Ruth’s crib.

Baby Ruth (photo taken by Susan Logie)

My second “snapshot” of the week was Heidy.  Shortly after we distributed the cameras to the students, I noticed a little girl, Heidy, balled up in the corner of the room, hiding behind the curtain of a window, sobbing.  Some of her friends were trying to comfort her and asking why she was crying but she was completely unresponsive.  I walked over to Heidy and one of her friends told me she was upset because she didn’t want to share a camera (we only had 10 cameras for 16 kids).  I sat down beside her and asked why she was crying, to which she didn’t respond.  I sat with her for some time as she cried and rocked before she suddenly stood up and ran out of the classroom.  I followed her downstairs and into an empty classroom where she put her head down on the desk and continued to sob.  I just sat with her and rubbed her back and said, “No llores, querida” (don’t cry, sweetheart). She wasn’t opposed to my presence but she still wasn’t responding.  Her sobs finally turned to sniffles and I told her I was going to check on the class upstairs, but that I would return in 5 minutes.  I asked her if that would be ok and she looked into my eyes and nodded her head.  As I walked out of the classroom, Heidy followed me and grabbed my hand.  She was half smiling now and we walked hand in hand back to the classroom where she got to take some really great pictures with her shared camera.

This is Heidy and I shortly after the “meltdown"

And from that moment on, we were inseparable.

 I don’t know all, or even most of, Heidy’s story.  I know that she, for whatever reason, lives in an orphanage, that she has deep scars on her hands and arms and that she thinks her neighborhood is ugly because “everybody is poor” (she told me that while we were riding on a bus together).  But I also know that she has a heart full of love, she loves to give and receive hugs, she loves to sing, she cares deeply for her friends at school and at the Hogar and she knows how to take fantastic photographs.  And that I’d probably adopt her in a second if somebody asked me to. 

My third “snapshot” from the week is best captured by the bus ride from the school back to the Hogar.  In a sentence, the kids all know how to take care of each other.  The kids from the Hogar are integrated with other community kids at the school.  The kids have a wide range of disabilities and special needs, yet all the kids know exactly what every person needs.  For example, there are a handful of deaf students at the school and because of this, every student at the school knows how to sign!  One student, Rosita is 18, very smart and wheelchair bound due to cerebral palsy.  She cannot move her body and thereby, communicates with her eyes.  Yet all of the students know how to communicate with her and care for her!  Rosita is the adopted daughter of Sister Valeriana.  She found Rosita stashed under a bus seat as an infant and took her in.  Therefore, the standard for the school and orphanage is based exclusively around the standard that Sister has for the needs and dignity of her own daughter.  Dignity.  That is the word that just makes these places tick.  Every child is valued and cared for by every other child and it melted my heart to butter to see kids thriving and meeting their true potential; especially when I think about the stark, heartbreaking contrast of what their lives could look like without the Hogar.  The school struck a special chord with me given my experience teaching special education at a very non-integrated public school in LA.  My kids were the ones who were expected to adapt to the expectations and culture of the school, not the other way around, and they were certainly not in an environment that encouraged the fulfillment of their potential.  It was a beautiful and inspiring day for me.

Helping a friend get off the bus

But the most poignant moment of this integration and “dignity factor” happened on the bus.  At the end of the school day, all the students who live in the Hogar, as well as many staff members, boarded a big bus to go home.  Along the way, we stopped at a few centers and facilities to pick up more kids.  Many of the kids were carried out of their wheelchairs or walkers (oftentimes by other kids) and onto the bus.  After the second stop, there were like 4 kids to each bus seat; the younger and disabled kids sat on the laps of the older and stronger kids, who wrapped their arms around them like seatbelts.  The staff members were standing in the aisle, busy wiping snot off of noses, comforting crying kids, readjusting paraplegic children who had slipped out of the bus seat, and replacing rubber caps over the PEG tube on the tummies of kids who are fed through a tube.  I smiled the entire 45-minute bus ride, feeling choked up at times, at the pure chaos of the situation, but simultaneously the environment and culture that had been created that made these things normal and acceptable.  

All the kids know how to care for each other. 

I truly cannot overstate what a gift it was to see Dolce and serve with her and the team that week.  This week was such a delightful and rich alternative from daily life and a powerful reminder to keep opening wider my own heart.

New Friends and a Research Project

Criollas in Villa de Leyva

My best friend here is Natalia!  She was born in Colombia and moved to New York with her parents when she was 5.  She is about to finish up her last year at Clark University in Boston with a psych degree and received a grant to spend 2 months studying with the same professor as me at Universdad de los Andes (more on the research project later).  We met the first week we were in Bogotá at los Andes and became instant friends.  Our third weekend here, we took a trip to the beautiful town of Villa de Leyva (pics on FB!).  Little did we know there was a huge festival going on that weekend, so our time there was supplemented by live music, fireworks, around the clock dancing, 75 cent beer, wonderful food and artisan markets, and tons of partying Colombians.  I am so thankful that Natalia is here and SO bummed that she is going back to the states on August 24^th!!  

 

Many people have asked me, “So what exactly are you doing there?”  The answer has fluctuated quite a bit over the past year and even since my arrival.  The most updated answer has two parts:

(1) I am partnering with a professor who is nothing short of an expert in the area of peace education, Dr. Enrique Chaux at la Universidad de los Andes, to conduct a follow-up study on a group of students and their families who received the intervention of a program called Aulas en Paz  (classrooms in peace) in 2006.  These students were 2^nd graders at the time and the idea was to reduce the amount of aggressive behaviors and increase the amount of pro-social behaviors in students identified as particularly at-risk to succumb to violence as a means of resolving conflict.  The results of that year of intervention were outstanding.  We will now be looking at the longer-term impact of the program now that these kids are in 7^th grade.

With a group of happy kids at an Aulas en Paz school in Cali

(2)  I will also be studying a handful of other programs and curriculums that, similar to Aulas en Paz, seek to teach school-children the Citizenship Competencies (these are guidelines for citizenship drafted by Colombia’s ministry of education) in the classroom.  I’ve learned that education in Colombia is highly decentralized, meaning schools and teachers have total autonomy over what they teach and how (high-stakes tests wouldn’t really fly here).  Therefore, these Competencies are not mandated – in fact, schools that are participating in these programs are doing so entirely on their own volition and are thereby super invested in these programs.  Mainly, I’ll be looking at the teaching methodologies that schools and teachers have adopted, the way the impact of these programs is evaluated and also the longer-term and community impact of these programs.

If you want to learn more about this work, google “Enrique Chaux” and “Aulas en Paz” and you’ll get more than enough reading material! I am SO privileged and fortunate to be working with Enrique.  Not only is he a leading researcher in his field and so knowledgeable, he is an all-around wonderful, compassionate person.

New Surroundings

After almost 2 months of being stubborn and confused on the issue, I woke up this morning and decided to start a blog.  I am living in  Bogotá, Colombia for a year and I really want to share this time and experience with you.  Without further ado, here are some snap shots of my time in Bogota, Colombia thus far!

      New Surroundings

It’s hard to believe that Bogotá has been my new home now for 2 months this week!   

It was kind of a process finding an apartment here…after negotiating my way out of a one-year minimum contract and the need for 2 local cosigners (psssh, yeah right!), I finally landed on a beautiful, furnished apartment in a great neighborhood.  I learned that Bogotá is divided up into estratos, or zones, from 1 – 6, 1 being the poorest and 6 being the wealthiest.  While this system says a lot about class division in Colombia (that’s another story), it was really helpful criteria to know when looking for a good neighborhood.  I live in estrato 5 and really wouldn’t have gone below a 5 since I’m living alone!  I was astonished at the difference between a 4 and 5!  I’m very happy with the apartment and feel I got so lucky. There is a wonderful grocery store down the street, plenty of beautiful, safe parks nearby and I’m also just a couple blocks from Zona Rosa and Zona T, which house most of Bogotá’s night scene and fabulous shopping.  

Park right next to my apartment

It seems that no update would be complete without some sort of commentary on the climate and weather - helps to really paint that picture or something. Well, to be honest, the climate is perhaps the one thing I would change about living here…it’s kind of cold for this California girl!  It probably averages about 63 degrees and rains at least a little bit each day.  Some days more than others.  But the sun also usually comes out at least a little bit each day and again, some days more than others. Plus, there is quite a pollution and traffic problem here too so it just makes things grayer.  I’m almost positive (and actually this observation is backed by research) that Sundays here in Bogotá are the sunniest days of the week and here’s why: every Sunday, Bogotá (and many cities in Colombia) close off major freeways to traffic from 7 am to 2 pm for bikers, walkers and runners.  They call it the Ciclovia and it’s seriously awesome.  Every Sunday that I’ve been in town, I’ve gone for a long run on the Ciclovia (which runs right next to my apartment) in the good company of hundreds of active Colombians. 

So far, I’ve taken two weeks of Spanish classes at a school called Nueva Lengua and it’s been a fantastic experience.  Classes are from 9 – 12 every day and many afternoons, they offer “cultural activities”; my favorite of these activities, of course, are the dance classes with Oscar every Thursday. :) The students are literally from all over the world; my class consists of a German guy, a Korean guy, a French, guy, a Swiss guy and me!  It’s a really diverse group of people and they are all a blast to hang out with. 

My Spanish is progressing somewhat steadily, but I can get so impatient when it comes to learning new things! I’m like, “Vamos, brain! Learn faster!” I have never had to rely so heavily on Spanish in my life.  It really is essential here.  The tour books will say that many young people speak English here and that many areas in the North are full of gringos.  I have not found these statements to be true at all!  I came across one woman at the gym yesterday who spoke English well.  I asked her, “How’s the stretching class?” in Spanish and she replied in English.  I was so surprised that I asked her where she was from and she said, “Colombia.”  Haha.   Pardon my assumptions.  As far as gringos go, I don’t really see them except at my Spanish school (and when I look in the mirror), and certainly not on a daily basis.   I did, however learn about “Gringo Tuesdays” hosted weekly at a club in Zona T.  Don’t get me wrong; I am NOT disappointed in the slightest about the scarcity of English or gringos.  Quite the opposite actually- the point of traveling to a new country as far as I’m concerned is to speak new languages, meet unfamiliar people and to embrace and grow from that feeling of being “displaced.”  That said, I've already frequented "Gringo Tuesday" with my friend Natalia. :)