In Search of Quarries and Waterfalls!

I am walking back to the dorm with a certain sad feeling – the 2nd Dialogue Education Institute just finished and most have left. Then there is Mary coming from the other end, and so I pause and pay my respect – "Good day Princess!" And she plays along and said, “Good Day!” and we go on our separate ways. After a short while, Mary calls back, “Hey Boyet, Beth and I are going for a hike, and would you want to join us?” I readily said yes as the thought of seeing another dimension of Vermont seems very enticing.

It took us a while driving around before we found Hunger Mountain trail. The sun is already touching the mountains and about to call it a day but the clear sky seems to resist it. We sign-up our names by the entrance to the trail and start our way up. Then a lady with her dog comes out and tells us about a nearby 30-minute-walk waterfall. “Wow! That’s a good goal for this hike!” Mary, Beth and I all agree and so we move on.

It is my first mountain hike in 10 years and my legs just get heavier by each step. I am also panting a lot but the thought that two ladies are leading the trail, and talking along as if it is a walk in the park, pushes me on. Oh see what pride can do! I focus my attention instead to the colorful canopy above us and enjoy the beauty of autumn at its closest.

After a good 20 minute walk, a couple walk pass us with their dog. We ask them about the waterfall and they couldn’t agree if there is one. Talk about intuition! Still we go on for another 20 minute or so. When we encounter the first spring, (actually more of a canal to me) with a few drops – about 5 inches or less, all three of us agree that it is the waterfall. We found it and achieved our goal. And the timing is just perfect, as the sky is beginning to change her skirt to prepare for the night.

The hike down though challenging is more relaxed. You see, unlike the waterfall, we knew exactly where our car is.

We tried redeeming that quest for the waterfall. And so on the last day of SURE Fire Meetings Workshop, we went to look for the quarry site near the college. Guess what? The waterfall is a relative of the quarry – never got to see it either! Oh well, I guess as far as I am concern, I found them in Mary Waterfall and Beth Quarry.

Dialogue Education Institute: A Gathering of Passionate Learners

2nd Dialogue Education Institute – On the Move! A gathering of 80 people from across the US and some other nations – Haiti, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Australia and the Philippines. A collection of minds set to engage and be engaged; of hearts ready to shape and be shaped; and of bodies willing to move and be moved. A movement standing by and gathering energy to be instruments of peace and justice.

What is unique about this gathering? Aside from the people who came, the processes and approaches used from October 5 till it concluded in the afternoon of October 8, lived up to its name – that of dialogue.
I have 3 expectations by the end of DEI. And they are that I would have:

Reconnected with Global Learning Partners – GLP;

Experienced a conference using Dialogue Education principles and practices;

and Established networking relationships

By the end of the 3 ½ day gathering, all expectations were met, and plus two more. First, the gathering demonstrated consistently that the essence of DE is to empower and transform people. I have seen that many times over in the past and once again made more evident these three days. And secondly, that when the same people uses DE for a period of time, what usually starts as a sharing of ideas end up to be a sharing of lives. As such DEI builds community and intimacy among those who came.

During the closing learning event, we were asked, “How we see Dialogue Education in the near future?” And I wrote in my SNOW card, “I will work towards having a Dialogue Education Institute in the Philippines by 2007.” It was good to have Jane Vella right next to me as what she wrote made me rethink my plan – Stillness. Back porch.

Jane Vella: My Autumn Lady

“Boyet, I have heard so much about you and your work in the Philippines. There are many stories and we will have time to listen to many of them. They just got to be told”- these words came out of Jane during our first face to face encounter. Then a welcome hug – a fitting exchange of warmth, affection and respect that begun five years ago.

My first encounter with Jane is through the course - Learning to Listen Learning to Teach. Her thoughts on adult learning – providing safety for the learners, treating them as subjects of their own learning, etc – gave meaning and order to most of what I believe and do as a teacher. She strengthened my resolve to go against the strong tide of “content-based teaching” where learning often has been set aside. This was in December of 2001.

Then it was her book - Learning to Listen Learning to Teach - that further echoed the learning from the course – for she was not simply writing from ivory towers and passing on principles that sounded good. She is a teacher, who is doing her craft in the field, with so much experience from various nations and across cultures.

Then in 2004, I got a phone call from Peter Noteboom, the other Main Man in Jane’s Life, while I was in Davao leading a curriculum development workshop on Peace building. Peter suddenly just passed on the phone to Jane and we were talking. The Jane Vella on the other end of the line! I can’t remember what we talked about but remember vividly her voice – warm, friendly and very articulate.

Here are a few lines from Jane during the conference:

One of the ways we give respect is through the pace of our speech. If we talk fast, and some how make it difficult for others to catch up and understand what we are trying to say, the learners will feel unsafe. Likewise, if we are too slow in our pace, others may get bored and loose interest. The challenge is finding the middle ground.

Impact maybe something that we can’t see, but is happening. Like somebody is pregnant and we don’t know, but she is pregnant. And yet there is already impact. Impact may be happening NOW, but we can’t see.

My Time in Montpelier Vermont can’t be anything better. The trees are at its best as their colors add richness to the place. Truly autumn has come and I met a colorful person in the name of Jane Vella. Yes, I am her “Main man”; and she is my Autumn Lady!

http://www.globalearning.com/

HSD and DE: a Powerful Convergence!

I signed up for this course on Introduction to Human Systems Dynamics not fully understanding what the nature of this two-day course is. The pragmatist in me was saying, “Why not make the most out of your time in Vermont and learn what ever is there. Besides you are already spending a great bulk to travel expense.” Not up until I was going through the reading assignment while in the plane that I actually got curious and excited. I thought, “Wow, this is perhaps the next major learning experience after Dialogue Education!”

There are eight participants and I am the only Asian; and all but one, are dialogue education practitioners. Darlene (the DE specialist) and Glenda (the HSD specialist) carefully lead us through the learning module that is a product of their collaborative efforts. The result: a learning experience that epitomizes how adult learning should be, and sufficient working knowledge of what HSD is.

So what is HSD? It’s a collection of concepts and tools that help make sense of the patterns that emerge from the chaos when people work and play together in groups, families and communities. This “new way” of looking at groups as a collection of agents who contribute to shaping a group but at the same time are also shaped by the emerging patterns, is a major revelation. A “Aha” phenomenon! Such understanding is critical particularly when we begin to look at individuals in the context of the systems that they are in.

Dialogue education values the need to get to know the learner in order to develop and implement learning designs that are learner-based. Hence, a Learner Needs and Resource Assessment (LNRA) is an imperative for any serious DE practitioner. The value of HSD is that it introduces a new dimension in the process of “getting to know the learner”. That the learner is not just an individual with learning resource and needs, but an active agent of a given system who is pattern forming and formed by patterns.

As an illustration, if I am to understand a community development worker with the end view of developing relevant and engaging learning designs, aside from the LNRA, I should look into the immediate system (as well as other systems) in which he/she operates. And then identify both the behaviors that form the pattern and the patterns that reinforce the behavior. The objective then now is how to “empower” the individual to move from a less acceptable pattern and into a more desirable one.

The two day course finish this afternoon. All of us agree that our experience is a blast! I stumble once more into another learning experience that is comparative to the one I had with dialogue education. Like DE, HSD is a seed planted that, I believe, will slowly shape the way I do capacity building. Such powerful convergence of DE and HSD in enabling groups to move towards relevance, dynamism, and life-transforming impact!

http:://www.hsdinstitute.org/

http://www.globalearning.com

New York: A second time around.

I never thought I’d be given another chance to visit the Big Apple this soon. My first time was last January where I joined the other National Facilitators of Micah Challenge for a week-long of planning and orientation workshops. At that time we were mostly “confined” in various meeting halls and the closest to a NY experience is taking the subway.

Determined to see more, one evening after dinner along with a few co-participants mostly from Africa, we braved the cold night to visit Ground Zero and ride the ferry to see up-close the famous Statue of Liberty. We were chilling as the cold weather was even made colder by the strong winds. Later we were told it was below 10 degrees centigrade. But we enjoyed seeing the “nothingness” of Ground Zero, No wonder it was named so. There was this eerie feeling knowing that something big as the Twin Tower used to occupy this spot. We had fun riding the ferry back and forth and see for ourselves this famous lady statue. Though our feet and legs hurt because of the long distance walks we had, for a moment we were satisfied and smiling tourists. We had pictures taken in known tourist spots of NY other than generic-looking meeting rooms. For all its worth, my first time in NY will long be remembered.

And so with this opportunity to visit NY once again, I planned and set aside a time to be a tourist. My priority was to visit Central Park. And I am especially grateful to Estella – my best friend in High School – and her husband Henry for making my dream come true. The icing on the cake, so to speak, was a string quintet from Julliard School of Music who played such lovely classical music by the pool of Betsaida. I could have stayed all day just listening but soon they had to leave. We got there towards the end of their repertoire. Sayang! Still my first Central Park experience will long be remembered. And to think we only managed to cover a little over a fifth of its entire area!

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=bongkiko

Decision-making: Who do we decide for?

My time here at Michigan State University with the Alociljas was a time of renewing and deepening. Renewing ties that bind us over the years, as Kuya Rex and Ate Vangie were an influential couple for both me and my “sleeping” wife Ivy during our early married life.














I am amaze of their commitment to live life as simple and modest as possible so that they can give more towards God’s work. This explains why Kuya Rex mostly wears white shirts – a color that is never too fashionable yet also never goes out of style. Once Ate Vangie – while working as an internationally-hired scientist of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Philippines – had difficulty getting her paycheck as the cashier wouldn’t believe that she is who she claimed to be. She doesn’t look like a “typical” a scientist because she prefers jeans and simple blouses. I wasn’t surprise yesterday for that’s how she still is when I peeped in her class.

Manong Rex and Ate Vangie – simple and yet deep; warm and very friendly; unpretentious and very sincere. No wonder many people are drawn to them. And in MSU, they are the best couple to initiate and sustain a ministry among internationals - a ministry they have been with since 1982.

Last Friday night, I was privileged to join them in their weekly bible study. It was kind of nostalgic as these are the kinds of gathering I and Ivy used to have while in Los Banos. The following nations were represented – Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Korea, USA and of course the Philippines. We had a discussion on Decision-Making based on Luke 12:13-34 and here are some of our thoughts:

The key to any decision making is in knowing your heart. For where your heart is, there your treasure is also.

A treasure is what you value most - what you live for and ultimately gives meaning to you and your life.

For anyone who claims to be a child of God has found the greatest treasure of all. As such, this treasure becomes the central focus of our lives – every moment therefore must be lived consistently with value we give to this treasure.

Jesus is my treasure. He is the only thing that really matters. And no person, possession and position will ever take Jesus place in my heart.

All that is me and all that I can be find its meaning and purpose only in Jesus. On the basis of this truth, decision making becomes decision surrendering. A surrendering of my will to Jesus.

I therefore resolve to seek the mind and heart of Jesus in all decisions that I must make.

I am glad I made the decision to visit the Alociljas – even if my “possession” says otherwise. I have been enriched many times over again.