For the Love of Conflict and Why I am not a Big Jerk

April 27, 2012 Leave a comment

(Image Source)

It may sound strange—perhaps even alarming at first—but I love conflict. Let me explain by outlining what I do NOT mean by that statement: I do not love fighting, I do not love violence, and I do not love avoiding disagreement. It’s the rich creative fire that conflict brews that gets me so excited. Too often we regard conflict as a signal to calcify our position and refuse to acknowledge or hear the “opposition.” Is it too abstract? Eh, let me lay it all out with a personal experience. (Oh, the vulnerability!) First, some context.

R and I have just finished our second semester as facilitators for Soliya and our first semester working together as co-facilitators. We are friends—close friends—and we both anticipated that working together as co-facilitators would be a breeze and that the semester would move along swimmingly. We were wrong.

All facilitators are assigned a coach. The coach watches recorded sessions (these recordings are not made available to anyone else unless all participants give their permission) and provides facilitators with detailed feedback about dynamics he sees emerging in the group, what the facilitators are doing well, how they may be missing the mark, and so on. In short, if you want to facilitate for @Soliya you must be open to constant feedback, critical self-reflection, and global reflection (that is, regarding the larger process). Therefore, we are not only reflecting on our own behavior in each session but also the way in which we approach ALL interactions throughout the process, how our behavior is affecting others, recognizing their responses, making efforts to identify misunderstandings…oh and so on. It goes on. This is what it takes to really engage in the process.

Bear Traps and IEDs

Well, it’s not so bloody but indeed there are many “traps” that threaten to disrupt the process. (When I say process, I am referring to steps required to successfully facilitate the group’s process to achieve the Connect Program goals. You can read about those goals here.) Here, I’ll list a few traps I’ve recognized. Some, I’ve avoided stepping into, others, I’ve set off and was snapped nearly in half (figuratively, people) by its snarling grip. The final trap I’ll identify comes with the personal experience I promised to share!

Go through the motions by following the online curriculum to the ‘T,’ without integrating observations you’ve made in your group and their direct requests. This is usually how that works: A particular session is a terrific success and all or the majority of participants explicitly request to continue the discussion about a particular topic the following week. The planning session for the following week arrives and the co-facilitators (for whatever reason) simply overlook their participants request and plan to follow the suggested outline in the online curriculum. What happens when we fall into this trap? We send a strong message to our participants that their input does not matter, that we aren’t listening, and that the group is not theirs. These are obviously not the messages we want to send, nor is it the dynamic we seek to create.

Forget that everyone is involved in the process. Who is counted among “everyone”?! Facilitators, group members, tech support, paid Soliya staff members, coaches, and …who am I forgetting? Also, participants’ university professors, anyone who is in the room from which a participant signs in (such as the noisy cafe’s background noise, the peers that a participant is seeking to impress by performing for them rather than focusing on the group process, etc.). Any one else? Let me know. What happens when we forget that we are all in the process? Simply put, we each must remember that we are all in a constant state of “figuring it out.” That means, a lot of humility, patience, and trust that our colleagues mean well. Why is this so important? There are myriad opportunities for misunderstandings when working with others from various cultural and linguistic contexts, most of whom are communicating in a non-native language (English), a small number of whom are employed by Soliya, and the majority of whom are volunteers. When we forget that we are all engaged in the process, we miss out on invaluable opportunities for learning and growth. We also risk compromising our particular group’s process.

Forget, overlook, or “give up on” our co-facilitators. This is closely related to the forget that everyone is involved in the process trap but deserves special focus. How exactly do we overlook or “give up on” our co-facilitator? Well, I’ll tell you how I fell into this trap. R and I, as I mentioned, are very close friends. R is Egyptian, a non-native English speaker, and much younger than me (seventeen years younger than me!). She is also coming of age in the midst of national and regional revolutions, recently engaged to be married, and also working full-time, attending graduate school, and volunteering for Soliya. By week three into our semester…I pretty much forgot all of that.

I’m sorry…who are you?

This is how it started: During our first session I was worried that R would have  a hard time creating an abbreviated transcript–as the session was unfolding–by typing main points of the conversation into the chat box. (Typically, while one facilitator is asking questions, making observations and so on by speaking, the other facilitator is typing main points into the chat box. Facilitators are meant to switch back and forth so that they have an equal presence and status in the room.) Indeed, she was having a difficult time and was able to catch much less of the conversation than I did. (Of course, she was listening to people speak English with ten different accents…there is no way I could EVER do this if the tables were turned and the group was communicating in Arabic.) So, out of concern for my friend, I began typing and talking at once. Essentially, I pushed her out altogether because I didn’t give her the space to fulfill her role in her own way. This pattern continued into the second session but was eclipsed by tech issues, one especially disruptive participant, and general awkwardness. As a result, when we reached out to our coach for the first time, we were so focused on seeking his advice for working with the disruptive participant that we didn’t even recognize the imbalance developing in our co-facilitation.

We focused on applying our coach’s advice during the third session and were really pleased to shift the dynamic in terms of our one participant who was making it difficult for others to participate. By session four a resentment began brewing between R and I because–I don’t think either of us really recognized what was happening on a conscious level–R felt pushed out of the process and I felt abandoned! (What a jerk I am! At first, I wanted to “help” and then I ended up taking over, which then led me to be mad that she wasn’t helping!) Around the same time, R and I both had packed schedules and were finding it difficult to meet–we both missed or arrived late for scheduled planning meetings, and well, we sort of lost our respective grips. At this point, I was starting to feel like I was doing all the work…but, yet again, I forgot many things and arrived at a place in my own mind in which I figured it would be “easier” to do this on my own than go through the hard work of communicating with R about our conflict. Arg! How did we both forget something so BIG!!

In comes our coach with an email notifying us that there is an imbalance in our facilitation and that we must all three meet to discuss how we can work it out. I wrote back almost immediately and shared my perspective, “You bet there is! I feel like I’m doing all the work!” (Oh, what a jerk I am!!!) I was hoping for our coach’s help and support but at the same time I was buckling under the pressure of my packed schedule and also wanted to avoid a long meeting (our last meeting with our coach was nearly three hours long). Needless to say, his insistence that we all have time as long as we’re committed really ruffled my feathers. Sorry for the cliche, but my emotional response was so pedestrian in its predictability it doesn’t merit colorful or original language. :-) Basically, I felt as if I was already contributing a tremendous amount of time and energy–as a volunteer–but was being told that I simply was not giving or doing enough. Oh, the humanity!

Finally, R and I talked–without our coach–and together we stepped back and reflected on the entire semester up to that point. We reiterated our love and respect for one another and brainstormed about how we could rectify the imbalance in our facilitation. We each shared our frustrations, admitted mistakes we each made up until that point, and clarified our goals and intentions. Since R had tech issues during sessions four and five (which made it difficult for her to hear much of anything and also added to the imbalance and my feeling that I was carrying the bulk of our shared responsibility) and I was absent during session six, we decided that she should be the “front” facilitator for all of session seven, during which I would type the main points of the conversation into the chat box and facilitate the closing round during the last ten minutes. This required R to be more assertive and I was made to step back and stay back while she did her thing. It worked well, the group noticed and we explained to them that since R had tech issues in weeks 4 and 5 and thus didn’t have the opportunity to participate that it was important for her voice to be more prominent in this session. The group seemed to appreciate it. We both feel that the session went well.

The planning meeting for our final session also felt much more balanced. Happily, in our final session, R and I achieved a nice balance–we haven’t perfected it yet but we’ve made great progress. Too,  I have definitely traveled from a feeling of intense frustration leading me to think “I never want to facilitate again, especially with R!” to “hmm, I really wish I had time to facilitate next semester…R and I are finally starting to develop a nice partnership.” That, in my opinion, is a successful process and why I love conflict so very much.

The moral of the story is…the minute we step up to the challenge of recognizing our own weaknesses, exploring miscommunication, and bridging understanding is the moment we can cast off our jerkiness. So, I’m not such a big jerk after all. Alhumdulallah.

Note: This reflection is dedicated to RR, SS, and RG, who have each contributed so much to my personal and professional development through their unyielding and passionate commitment to the Soliya process in addition to their compassion and friendship. I love you all!

Filed under Intercultural Exchange, Professional Development Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Skating to Kabul~Half Pipes and Whole Hearts

February 27, 2012 1 Comment

(Image Source)

Erika got to Kabul via skateboard. In 2009 she and a few other women friends were passing around an article they had read in the New York Times. The women—who regularly produced a women’s skateboarding zine—were all avid skaters. Erika’s friend Rhianon got in touch with Oliver and volunteered to join Skateistan. In May 2010 she set off for Kabul to help build a skate park and education programs for boys and girls. She is still involved with the organization today.

As Rhianon sent updates from Kabul, Erika began to understand that the “reality on the ground [in Kabul]” was more complex than the IED-centric news reports. “Hundreds of girls going to skateboard once a week,” Erika said, “I knew that had to be something special.” And so she found herself reminding people in her life—many who strongly opposed her decision to move to Kabul for six months to help provide Afghani youth with opportunities to play and learn—that “the plane flies both ways.”

The pressure to not go was fairly strong. One of Erika’s professors at university wrote her an email in which he strongly advised her to cancel her plan. Her father cried. Her mother, however, supported her choice and wished her the best luck. “My mom really trusts my judgment and knows I know how to take care of myself.”

Once there, she was overwhelmed by beauty and disaster. “Never before in my life had I met kids who had so much energy and so much joy. There were hard times too, which totally broke my heart, but I guess that is the point of the program—to create a space for kids to be kids.” When asked about the pervasive violence in Kabul and how it affected her, the program, and the kids, she told me, “The attacks seemed few and far between but the poverty is widespread and constant.” Living in a “regular house” (rather than a compound filled with foreign diplomats and aid workers) in Kabul and interacting with Afghans day-in and day-out, Erika “found the day-to-day stuff much more difficult to deal with.” The tent cities, abject poverty, and children running through traffic to sell chewing gum to help support their families…this was the stuff of constant suffering and it was hard for Erika to bear.

It doesn’t take too long to see and feel Erika’s expansive heart. She’s open, thoughtful, and powerfully sincere. She’s the rare sort of character who takes in her environment, processes it, and gives back love. Talk to her and you’ll feel it. This wholeness clearly informed her work at Skateistan. She taught “tons and tons of skateboarding” as well as environmental health classes that included lessons about safe drinking water and sanitation and a neighborhood clean up, during which kids collected trash and pulled from it materials to make recycled art objects.

There was also a theater project—kids wrote their own scripts, made their own costumes, and put on their own plays. The theater project was an excellent way for kids—those with and without the ability to read and write—to express their concerns. “The girls wrote a lot about not being able to go to school or to Skateistan and the boys wrote about things like having to work to make money to support their parents’ drug habits.”

As Skateistan’s Education Coordinator, Erika made sure that all programs were accessible to all kids. Most Afghan children have had no schooling at all or have had irregular access to school. Skateistan’s approach to teaching and learning is conversational—it’s built on two questions: What can the international staff teach the Afghans? What can the Afghans teach the international staff? A radically different approach than that taken by traditional aid programs, which implement programs from above and behind the walls of a heavily guarded compound. “I think the fact that people working with Skateistan were amateurs was a good thing. We’re really flexible and we want to learn from our experience.” Erika reflected.

(Image Source)

Before traveling to Kabul in June 2010 to work at Skateistan “I never knew or thought about development—skateboarding brought me there….I did do a lot of volunteer work…but I never thought it was a way of life” or a job. However, after arriving in Kabul, Erika says she realized “what development is doing and how ineffective it is.” Her main complaint was the fact that most aid workers she observed or encountered in Afghanistan rarely left their compound. They would spend months, even years, in country and might know one or two Afghans at work but would rarely interact with Afghans outside the walls of the compound. “They don’t really know the guy in the veggie stand or at the bakery, and they don’t know their neighbors or go to the market. They’re disconnected from the activities and the struggles of daily life.” She says.

Erika’s experience was very different and a powerful testament of what can happen when we deconstruct the walls that divide us and prevent us from connecting with others. “I’m really grateful to have had this opportunity,” Erika cried, “I really love the place and the people. I really had the chance to see not what’s different but what’s the same. I never before met kids with so much love. For a lot of them it’s the one thing in their lives that’s constant and a source of happiness.”

These days Erika is studying for her master’s in Berlin but she continues to support Skateistan and her kids in Kabul. “I’m married to this organization. No matter how upset I get sometimes, my heart is there and it’s something I’ll always do.” She continued, “I learned so many things from it and that’s the best part of education…you learn so much more than you can ever teach anyone else.”

Who needs a schoolhouse when you’ve got a skate park?

Filed under Change-makers Unite!, Informal Education, Intercultural Exchange Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Tumblr Weeds (slowly) Blowing into Kandahar…

January 19, 2012 3 Comments

Teaching English twice a week via Skype to a girl in Afghanistan is exciting, enlightening,…and slow. It’s slow. Sometimes, we (volunteer teachers) spend a lot of time waiting. We wait for the center to sort out a variety of issues: Internet problems, a malfunctioning generator, and–more often than you can imagine–missed classes as a result of bombings throughout the city. Our girls are brave and dedicated students who quite literally risk their lives to come to school and learn.

They are also quite effusive when expressing their gratitude. For example, this is fairly common (an excerpt from our Skype archive:

(highfive) (inlove) (h)
bye dear miss very nice

thank you to my kind teacher
have a good night

i love you
my dear teacher
(h)

For those of you who don’t have your Skype emoticon translation service at hand, (highfive) means just what it says, (inlove) is a smiley face with bursting heart bubbles, and (h) is a heart. This might not seem so strange to those of you who work with young kids, but my student is fifteen! My other student was equally expressive. At first, I was a bit surprised but I rolled with it. The fact is, it’s a pretty big deal for these kids–a big exciting deal–to even have access to a computer. To have access to a computer and teachers is even more exciting. In short, they are looking to us to help them “support my family” and “become my wishes” and “one day become a doctor or a professional teacher of English.” The stakes are high. “My parents want for me to get all the education since my older brother is dead.”

When my current student told me “Miss, I wish I could talk to you every day” and “Do you think I will become my wishes?” I thought about her walking with her mother an hour each morning to school, about her diligence and intense focus during our lessons, and the fact that she’s a kid who deserves an education…I tossed and turned thinking…how can I do more for her? Two hours a week simply isn’t enough! As I tried to drum up ideas that I could translate into practice that would create more learning opportunities for my student, I worked to recruit new volunteer teachers for AIWR, I pledged a monthly donation the Afghan Canadian Community Center (the school that AIWR partners with to provide Skype classes to the girls), and I kept on thinking.

Typically, the students at ACCC have very limited access to the Internet. In fact, most of them have access only for the two hours per week they are working with their English language teacher on Skype. This, of course, makes it difficult to link students up with a variety of online opportunities for further study.

Luckily, my student has a bit more access to the Internet…about one hour each morning before school starts. She comes to the center early, hangs out in the computer lab, and if there is space she works on the computer. Aha! Why not carry over our exchange to a Tumblr blog? And so,…I am trying…to get this Tumblr weed rolling into Kandahar.

We haven’t chatted in a long time because my student had to cancel classes for two weeks so that she could focus her time and energy on preparing for and taking her exams. During that break, we have occasionally run into each other on Skype and chatted briefly. During one of those chats, I explained to her that I would like her to use this blog to practice reading and writing in English on the days that we do not have class together. Our coordinator at the center, a wonderful young woman and brilliant communicator, further explained to my student what the blog is, what I’m asking her to do, and how to upload her response. This obviously wasn’t ideal…I was hoping she’d catch on quickly and post something, anything, so I could see that she understood how to reply and post.

It’s been six days, which for me–because I am online constantly–seems like ages and my student hasn’t managed to post a reply. It will be interesting to see how…if at all…this works. We will start meeting again this Friday for our English lesson. It should work a bit more smoothly if we go over the blog idea together while we are talking (rather than sending instant messages via Skype). At this point, I am wondering if she is reluctant to write on the blog for other reasons (does it feel too public, dangerous, confusing, etc). She hadn’t heard of a blog before when I mentioned it to her over Skype last week, so we might just need to work on it together, bit by bit. Insha’Allah, once we are up and running with this added opportunity for reading and writing in English, my student will find it useful, educational, and fun.

Got any ideas? Have any of you taught English (or anything else) via Skype? Have you used blogs with students who have bery limited access to the Internet? I’d love to hear from you here, on Twitter, or Tumblr.

Filed under Intercultural Exchange Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Extra Credit: Revise Your Facebook Status Update

January 6, 2012 7 Comments

Your grammar is terrible. Get off Facebook | ZDNet.

Amen! Amen! Amen!

A few days ago, I met a young mother and her two kids on the N train. We were all headed to Manhattan. Her five-year-old son was obsessed with the subway map and reading it and any sign in sight. His eyes were bright, playful, and with a noticeable dash a mischievousness! Her daughter–a second grader–was very observant and shy.

“Wow! What smart kids you have!” I gushed.

“They’re obsessed with Google. They’re always Googling things.” She said.

[This, oh my age, reminded me of the ways in which technology aided my early education...Speak and Spell and Speak and Math were my go to devices when I was his age.]

“That’s fantastic! It definitely requires a basic level of literacy (literacies) to search. He must be a pretty good reader.” (I don’t have my own kids so I’m forever impressed by other people’s.)

“He asks a lot of questions. ‘MOM! How do you spell TRAIN?!” She giggled, her eyes sparkled much like her kids’.

***

It amazes me that so many of us are STILL blaming media platforms for users’ poor writing skills. (Oh! Did I make any errors in this post?!)

In a recent interview, Margaret Atwood–an avid tweeter–applauded the proliferation of digital venues for self-expression and self-publishing (from e-books to blogs to Twitter). People are writing more and more. Are the platforms causing the degeneration of proper usage? I’d say that it’s more readily apparent that many people are lazy writers who can write well when they take the time and make the effort. Of course, many others are still working on that skill set and their current lack of fluency is more obvious–and much more public–than it would have been 15 years ago. BUT…among all the frivolity…there’s also a heck of a lot of learning going on.

New media platforms have made it possible for me to teach English via Skype to Afghani girls, to help some of my Egyptian friends refine their English language skills, and to work on my proficiency in Arabic and Farsi. My Afghani and Egyptian friends and I routinely correct each others mistakes on Facebook and Skype. Not because we are annoying pedantic language dorks but because we are each interested in building our ability to communicate in English (and in my case, Arabic, Dari, and Farsi). Indeed, our language exchanges have deepened our friendships.

Google Translate has actually GENERATED my ability to communicate in Slovak! I type a message directly into the “from this language” box and cut and paste the translated result from the “to this language” box and voila! I am able to communicate with my sister-in-law, who speaks Slovak, Czech, and Russian but no English. And my, ahem, Russian is very uh…rusty (is that a good synonym for non-existent?!).

All of this to say…it’s not the platform…it’s how you use it.

Filed under Informal Education, Intercultural Exchange Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Strolling in Kandahar: A One Hour Walk to School

January 5, 2012 4 Comments

The InterWebz is a fascinating place. There, as we all know, time and space shrinks as we encounter up-close images and real-time exchanges with strangers and friends situated around the world. This general form is nothing new–it’s regular old-school Web 2.0. What changes, what is new, are the details of such encounters and how they make–or don’t make–an impression on users while they are on- and off-line. If we can take a step back and give ourselves a minute to reflect and process even .5% of the information we encounter online within an hour, throughout the day, or even within a few minutes…we are guaranteed to have a richer experience and we might even change our minds.

Disclosure: My tried and true methods for creating the space and distance to reflect are: a regular meditation practice, unplugged sport, and–following Kurt Vonnegut’s advice–”farting around.” Each morning–before checking any gadget–I sit in the same corner of my room and meditate for at least 20 minutes. At another point in my day I run–outside–with nothing plugged into my ears. (To this day I cannot understand the desire to run on a treadmill while watching TV…) At the end of day, I read books only–no gadgets–and giggle and goof with my husband before drifting off to sleep tangled up in jokes.

It was during my offline reflection that I realized a sort of poem that arose from encounters online yesterday. It started with an article about the deep budget cuts suffered by Pennsylvania public schools in 2011. Here are some details that lingered in my mind (until they later connected with a far-flung image from the other side of the world and an encounter with a young Afghani):

This budget is bad for students. This budget puts the state’s budget problems on the backs of students,” Ron Cowell, a former state legislator who is president of the Education Policy and Leadership Council in Harrisburg, said after the state budget presentation in March.

And:

As a result, the board was forced to cut 47 jobs, eliminate the freshman academy at the high school and the team teaching approach at the middle school, and consolidate bus routes and stops, resulting in students having to walk up to four-tenths of a mile to catch their bus.

(Emphasis added.)

A bit later in the day, I came across this powerful image of an Egyptian boy studying while sitting on the street and selling tissues. How far do you think this boy would walk to get to school–any school?

Image source

Nobody Likes to be Tricked

Last night–before signing off for giggles and goofing–I ran into my Afghan student on Skype. We typically meet for our one-hour classes, twice a week, on Friday and Sunday nights at 9:40pm EST time, which is Saturday and Monday mornings at 7:10am in Kandahar. During our informal chat, I asked my student if she still had the sniffles (and we quickly reviewed that new vocabulary!). She told me that it’s hard to get rid of her sniffles because she is very tired. Each morning she and her mother walk over five miles together to the school. Her mom continues on to her work place after leaving S at the school. Later in the conversation she told me “Everything is so hard for me” and then asked, “Do you think I will become my dreams?” (Translation: Do you think I will achieve my goals?)

Dear Pennsylvania, I am sorry to read that your public schools suffered a $900 million budget cut in 2011 but…well…this might not make me very popular…oh, well, here goes: It is outrageous to whine about children walking LESS THAN a half mile to catch the bus. Let’s be honest, American kids need A LOT more exercise. It’s good for them. Let’s be more realistic about what we can and should trim and what we really shouldn’t.

How, if at all, do your online encounters change your perspective? Is four-tenths of a mile really too far a distance for a school-aged kid to walk? 

Read this for inspiration!

Filed under Intercultural Exchange, Unlearning Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yay! S and I Won the Soliya Innovation Award!

December 14, 2011 1 Comment

Image source

S and I spent between ten to twenty hours per week working together for eight consecutive weeks. We’ve known each other since last summer. The vast majority of that “togetherness” took place on Skype. S is my first co-facilitator in the Soliya Connect Program. We first met in our advanced facilitator-training course, which was held online in a Soliya session room last June and July. We were surprised to be paired up as co-facilitators–because we are both Americans based in NYC and typically pairs are made up of two individuals from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds–but were both super excited to delve into our first semester as facilitators. Truth be told, we immediately connected and hit it off. Our first session, on October 17th, was off-the-charts amazing because we were blessed with the most amazing group of participants. You can read my review of our first session here.

As we completed our session notes and reflected on that first session, we knew right away that we were working with an extraordinary group of young people and we committed to work hard to ensure that each session would be challenging and worth waking up for early on a Monday morning! (Two of our participants were based in California, where it was only 6:45am when our sessions began! After we dropped the clocks back, our meeting time did not change, our guys in California woke up at 5:45am to meet us online! Now THAT’S commitment. How many college kids do you know who voluntarily attend a class being held THAT early on Monday mornings?!) Some sessions were stronger than others, and we both certainly learned a lot about facilitating cross-cultural dialogue in an online environment, but there were definitely some very notable positive moments throughout the semester.

Our favorite: After our second session, S and I had a sense of who was very talkative, who was a bit shy, and we had some exposure to participants’ respective worldviews. Every Sunday night we would ask each other–as we planned our Monday session–how can we really push them tomorrow? How can we challenge them and bring them into new territory? How can we facilitate a situation that will enable them to expand their comfort zones? Our participants were so seemingly starstruck by one other (they all were very sweet in their enthusiasm to interact with peers from around the world) we wondered if they would ever move past that honeymoon stage and uncover points on which they disagree or ways in which their linguistic and cultural backgrounds shaped their perspectives. As we mulled over these questions the white noise of the interWebz was filled with stories related to the Arab Spring, including innumerable editorials and articles about “What happens if the Islamists are elected,” and other such conversations about secularist versus non-secularist governments.

Note: S and I are both media junkies…neither of us are young enough to be reasonably categorized as Millennials (uh, sorry about that S….OLD-HEAD. ;-) ) but we are both consistently at risk of suffering from information overload–especially when events in Egypt have flared up. (S and I both lived in Egypt–for four and three years respectively–and found it difficult to peel away from Twitter, FB, Al Jazeera live stream, among other sources when people rose up again en masse to protest the SCAF.) In light of these ongoing debates in the media and what we had observed in our group, we developed a pretty nifty activity: The Constitution Activity. Eh? Let me explain.

Our eight participants were divided into two groups: one group was asked to argue for a secular constitution and the other was asked to argue for a non-secular constitution based on Islamic law. Each group went into a breakout room (the Soliya platform has a main room and breakout rooms to support activities like this) to brainstorm with their delegation about how they would revise or leave in tact the following articles in order create a constitution in line with their group’s agenda. (As you can see, S and I pulled these articles from three different living constitutions–can you guess to which constitution each article belongs?)

Article: Islam is the religion of the state. The principles of Islamic law are the chief source of legislation.Article: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Article: Citizens have the right to form associations, unions, syndicates, and parties, according to the law. It is forbidden to form associations whose activities are opposed to the order of society or secret or militaristic in nature. It is not permitted to directly engage in political activity or form political parties on the basis of religion, race or origin.

Article: The state guarantees the freedom of creed, and the freedom to practice religious rites. Freedom of opinion is also guaranteed, and every person has the right to express his opinion and publish it in spoken, written, photographed, or other form within the confines of the law. Personal criticism and constructive criticism are a guarantee for the safety of national development.

Article: The president of the country will appoint within a maximum of 30 days after assuming his/her duties at least one vice president and determine his/her responsibilities, so that in the case of his/her stepping down from the position of president, another will be appointed in his/her place. The conditions that must be met by the president will apply, as will rules governing the accountability for vice presidents of the country.

Article: The family is the kernel of society, and its members shall be brought up on the basis of the Islamic faith, and loyalty and obedience to God, His Messenger, and to guardians; respect for and implementation of the law, and love of and pride in the homeland and its glorious history as the Islamic faith stipulates.

Article: After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Once we got in the breakout rooms, it was fascinating to see that some participants had considerable difficulty arguing in favor of something (secular or non-secular) that they did not personally support. This was a surprise to other participants. In short, there was a lot of intense learning going on and–I’m so proud to report–throughout the process our group remained actively committed to the ground rules they established during the first session. That is, the discussions were always civil, based in mutual respect, and supported honest inquiry.

After spending about thirty or forty minutes in the breakout rooms, both groups returned to the main room to engage in dialogue with the opposing delegation. They each presented their suggested revisions along with reasoned arguments in support of each revision. It. Was. FASCINATING. Seriously, I nominate AT LEAST three of our participants for the young diplomat corps. They were wonderfully bright, articulate, respectful and reflective. As usual, S and I were blown away by our group members’ character and intelligence. The two-hour session flew by and all participants were shocked when we stepped in to notify them that it was time to do our closing round. They each gave positive feedback and requested to repeat the activity–but on the opposite delegation–the following week.

S and I found, throughout the semester, that the deeper we dug within ourselves as we planned for upcoming session, the more intense and engaging those sessions ended up being. We knew we were blessed with an amazing group and are so psyched to have had the opportunity to work with them!

Thank you Soliya for recognizing our efforts with the Fall 2011 Soliya Innovation Award! Thank YOU to our awesome group!

P.S. After months of intensive collaboration, S and I FINALLY met in person last weekend! She’s much taller than I imagined!

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Program | WISE – World Innovation Summit for Education

November 9, 2011 1 Comment

Program | WISE – World Innovation Summit for Education.

Oh! How sad that I was not able to participate in the WISE conference…indeed, I am just discovering it now! A quick review of the website will put you in contact with a handful of exciting projects. The longer you hang around, the more you will discover. A few cool examples:

Smallholders Farmers Rural Radio educates farmers in Nigeria by delivering 8 to 10 hours per day of agriculture-related programming. The programs are hosted by former/current farmers and feature insights and best practices shared by other local farmers, whom the radio hosts typically visit on location. The program regularly reaches over 250,000 listeners on a daily basis!

The projects selected for the WISE Award are also worth exploring. You will find the winners from 2009, 2010, and 2011 on the website. According to the folks at wise, projects were selected according to the following criteria:

The Winners were selected for their innovative approaches and positive impact upon societies and education, within the perennial theme of Transforming Education: Investment, Innovation and Inclusion.

The following projects won this year’s WISE Award:

Al-Jisr School-Business Partnerships–This Moroccan initiative brings businesses and schools together to collaborate in effort to improve teaching and learning.

BBC Janala–Providing English language lessons through radio, television, CDs, and mobile phones.

Connexions–This project focuses on creating personal learning networks for students around the world by compiling open source learning resources and organizing the into content-based modules.

Creative Partnerships–This project connects young people with creative professionals with the aim to “raise aspirations, skills and attainment levels and prepare young people for the world of work.” I know a high schooler that would LOVE to have such an opportunity!

SuenaLetras–This Chilean project provides literacy instruction and support for children with hearing disabilities.

Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA)–TESSA is a network of universities and organizations, and led by the Open University, who are committed to collaboratively creating materials to be used for teacher education in order to address the critical shortage of qualified teachers in the region.

Interested in exploring how people around the world are designing and implementing creative solutions to a variety of issues from agriculture, teacher training, and social inclusion? Keep your eye on WISE. Get inspired, get connected, and get to work. ;-)

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Today’s Top Four Reasons I Heart Zuckerberg

October 27, 2011 2 Comments

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Hearts and stars and good vibes to you, Mark Zuckerberg. Why? Facebook is influencing my life–and others–in an increasingly and positively transformative way. In the last three days the following Facebook-related magical moments shaped my relationships and my work in digital cross-cultural exchange.

A young Egyptian in the Soliya Connect Program shared with our group that people in Egypt believe that their revolution was successful because of Facebook, and therefore many joined Facebook in order to keep informed. The numbers certainly back this up. A bit of quick research into the number of Facebook subscriptions in Egypt shows the dramatic increase in registrations. Here is a quick glance at those stats:

Background: Internet penetration rate in Egypt in June 30th, 2011 (Source):

 Population (2011 estimate): 82,079,636                                                                                                                                                                    Internet users in December 2000: 450,000                                                                                                                                                          Internet users latest data (June, 2011): 20,136,000                                                                                                                                      Penetration (% population): 24.5%                                                                                                                                                                                Users in Africa at large: 16.9%

Registered Facebook accounts in Egypt by date:

  November 2010: 3,951,440 (Source)                                                                                                                                                                         January 2011: 5,079,367 (Source)                                                                                                                                                                                 June 2011: 7,295,240 (Source)                                                                                                                                                                                   October 23, 2011: 8,929,740 (Source)

I connected with many Egyptian activists and linked up with two on Skype to talk about our respective ongoing peacebuilding efforts and explored how we might collaborate and support each other in our work. It was a great thrill, honor, and inspiration to spend two hours chatting with two very bright, active, and courageous women committed to positive change-making in Egypt. Our conversations focused on education and educational efforts, what is working and what is S*&% (want to assess your new friend’s command of English slang? Simply introduce the topic of education and you will soon get a very clear sense of the number of four-letter-words at her disposal!). Both women offered to connect me with friends of theirs who are working in the NGO sector, in schools, or independently working to address various social needs across Egypt related to education. That is, addressing the major issues that are keeping kids out of school, causing them to drop, or preventing them from learning even if they are attending classes.

A young woman from Pakistan sent me a message and asked me about my work with AIWR, Soliya, and other education projects I’ve posted about on my profile and how any of those projects might be brought to her village in Pakistan. This was perhaps the most exciting and inspiring Facebook-related exchange I’ve had today. Out of the blue, a young Pakistani woman wrote to me and said, “I added your profile because it looks like you work for an NGO.” In response, I shared a bit about some of the projects I am working on (Soliya, AIWR, and Girls Can!). She wrote back immediately:

Thank’s for your nice reply .I am student of 3rd year of business studies in Pakistan .I don’t work with an n.g.o yet but i am really interested on such project’s .Moreover ,i want you to guide me on your project GIRLS CAN so that i can promote the girl’s of my community as i belong from a small town of Pakistan but which is full of such potential people that if given a chance can do alot .

and isn’t Alliance for International Women Rights having any English language classes for Pakistani girls? do u have any idea

Is anyone else blown away by this energy, drive, and eagerness to connect and make real change happen? I am buzzing with excitement. I heart you Mark Zuckerberg!!!

An old friend of mine–who I hadn’t heard from in some time–reconnected with me to share her interest in the peacebuilding projects I am engaged in and to share an update about her work in protecting girls from the modeling industry, which exploits them by commodifying, sexualizing, and putting them at risk. You can learn more about this by checking out the documentary Girl Model. She wrote to ask if I could put her into contact with anyone working in child protection or anti-human trafficking work. And I’m suspecting that any minute now I will get a message from someone, somewhere, who is doing such work.

How has Facebook changed your life and your work?

A few of my colleagues at Soliya and I will be talking about opportunities and obstacles for collaboration and positive change-making in post-Mubarak Egypt at the Global Washington Annual Conference. Good times!

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We Need To Talk!

October 24, 2011 1 Comment

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Imagine meeting with peers from around the world, once a week for two hours, to share ideas, reflect on current events, and build friendships. “Oh, but the price of plane tickets!” you might lament. Or, “Might be nice for you folks living in Paris, New York, and Cairo! What about those of us living in less cosmopolitan joints?” another might pipe in. “I’m thinking about the logistics of this and, well, if we want to have a conversation with a group of folks from Qatar, Tunisia, the USA, Morocco, and Egypt all at once…well, it looks like the best way to do it is to….

JOIN the Soliya Connect Program. Why?

In an increasingly interdependent world, cross-cultural education and exchange should no longer be considered a luxury for the privileged elite – to succeed in the global economy and address complex global challenges, all young people will need to develop a basic level of cross-cultural awareness and understanding. Soliya’s Connect Program is a new approach to cross-cultural exchange that has the potential to dramatically increase access to intercultural education. (Source)

Why do I spend nearly 20 hours per week on Soliya-related work? As a VOLUNTEER?!!?!

I am passionate about cross-cultural exchange and dialogue. Many of us are baffled and frustrated by the ways in which our differences create conflict and misunderstandings. Unfortunately, those misunderstandings can and often do escalate into violence or ill-feelings. In my opinion, conflict is a positive thing, we simply must learn creative, productive methods for working with conflict. Differences allow us to approach ideas from different perspectives. When we allow ourselves to listen and take seriously other’s perspectives, we learn, grow, and develop a deeper understanding of the world we inhabit. Soliya is an ideal platform for this type of exchange. Yay!

What is the downside of the Soliya Connect Program?

My sleep schedule has changed…a lot. In fact, I am bursting with energy and so I wake up earlier and go to bed later. If you count this as a “down side” then this is it but I must admit….I’m PSYCHED.

How does it work?

Two Soliya-trained facilitators join eight to ten participants from around the world in live online classrooms to engage in dialogue about various issues. Soliya provides a suggested curriculum for facilitators that outlines various activities designed to help participants acclimate to the platform and begin to develop group cohesion. My colleagues at Soliya (I’m just beginning my first semester as a facilitator) tell me that the initial sessions can at times be a bit awkward and slow moving but as the semester progresses, participants become more engaged and develop stronger connections with their peers in the “room.” (We refer to the live online session space as “the room.”) That wasn’t the case with our group!

The atmosphere in our group’s first session reminded me of the horse races (ahem), not that, uh, I, am a regular at the…(cough) horse races…moving on. What I mean is this, my co-facilitator and I had dutifully planned a session during which we would welcome folks into the room, deal with the inevitable tech issues that were likely to arise, address the power dynamic related to language (the sessions are conducted in English but half of the participants are not native English speakers), do a language exercise to experience that language issue more personally, provide an introduction to the program, develop an agreement (aka ground rules) about how we will engage one another throughout the process, and finish with an identity activity. Would we run out of time, would we have to pull teeth, do backbends, and deploy Yogi mind powers to encourage participants to engage?

Holy Irresistible Urge to Connect Batman! As we moved through (uh, raced through) the introductory activities there was a palpable sense of urgency, passion, and enthusiasm for connecting. It wasn’t just a feeling. Each participant articulated plainly in his or her own words, “I want to hear your ideas! I want to experience different perspectives!” There was also an instant connection through language–Arabic native speakers volunteered to help English native  speakers learn Arabic. The English native speakers offered to help the non-native speakers improve their English language skills. Two participants communicated in Spanish during the language exercise and there seemed to be an overall feeling of “Yeah, yeah, language difference, varying world views, we get it…Can we move on to the CONNECT part now?!”

By the end of our session, my co-facilitator and I were BOTH blown away by the intensity and pure beauty of the exchange.  All participants regularly agreed that they’d appreciate interacting in a Facebook group. We established the page and watched as the exchange spilled into the FB group. We got messages from participants letting us know that they are meeting each other to chat on FB and really enjoying the exchange. It’s only been one week! I am eager to see how our second session will unfold.

Two Soliya colleagues and I will be sharing our experiences with Exchange 2.0 and our ideas about educational opportunities and obstacles in post-Mubarak Egypt at the Global Washington Annual Conference. My next post will explore Facebook as a medium for cross-cultural exchange and dialogue.

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