Notes from the Road: Eisenhower Fellowship - Philadelphia and Washington DC

March 30^th until April 26^th 2013, Nearly 4 weeks have past since I have left Bangalore and embarked on this learning journey called the Eisenhower Fellowship Program. I believe my first week in Philadelphia was the best and most transformative so far in the trip. Meeting 22 very inspiring people from 21 different countries and listening to their stories or narratives (as Salvatore would put it) was absolutely awesome. We spoke, we shared, we let ourselves be authentic and vulnerable and in all that we bonded at a very deep level.

Discovering Benjamin Franklin was truly amazing as I learnt that there is no age to participate in nation building. To follow our purpose in life, to serve, to enhance the understanding of our world and to know that we are each capable of doing amazing, amazing things in our lifetime was just inspiring. 

The opening week in Philadelphia gave me hope for the world and inspite on my jetlag, I was driven by passion and inspiration. Then, we went our ways to explore, meet, learn from and with other Americans and in the process to reflect and discover ourselves once again.

As I hear stories from the past few weeks from other Fellows, I have realized, that we have indeed discovered ourselves in more ways than one.  In our anger, in our frustration, in our disturbing questions, in our wow moments, we have discovered more about ourselves than we have ever known. We are exhausted but come alive when we share our stories of insights and discoveries. Mine has been no different.

Washington DC was challenging. My jetlag was kicking in and I was finding it difficult to find my emotional and mental balance. I was finding It difficult to give it my all as I began my quest for answers.  The highlights were meeting with Vipin, Clara and Sachin and spending time with Jerry White. My meetings with Aspen Institute and Mala were insightful and validating. The visit to Anacostia reared its ugly head around racial discrimination and continuing questions of what will it take for us as human beings to learn to live together with respect for our differences.

I learnt,

Our work is actually quite awesome. We have an inspiring story. We have understood and articulated our problem well. The questions I stay with does our story match with the actual delivery of our services and their quality and the ground level. How do we connect with the facilitators more actively. How do we recognize and capture those moments when a child’s soul lights up with a life changing insight. How we make that happen session after session. A deep process of continuous reflection and mentoring of the facilitators is needed. More visits to the sessions. More time with the facilitators. More investment in continuous training. They are key to keep our quality alive and ensure that the story in my head is true to the story on the ground.