Day 4

Today was another incredible opportunity to learn more about the educational context here in Mumbai. We visited a municipal school that served about 250 students. The students and staff were so receptive and warm in their welcome to us. In the very first class we visited, there were two students, one young man and one young woman, who stood up to tell us about their school. We learned about their favorite subjects, why they desired to learn English and some of their favorite activities in school. They radiated hope and optimism and spoke with more confidence and pride than many adults I know. At some point, the Principal interjected and reminded us that all of the children in this particular school were living below the poverty line. At first, I thought this remark was slightly inappropriate, especially because it was audible enough for the students to hear. However, through learning more about the school and hearing more of his perspective, it became clear that there was a correlation between the school’s consciousness of how serious poverty was on student learning and the school’s intentionality around educating “the whole child”. The school worked hard to ensure that “whatever needs to be done to help the children, will be done”. His entrepreneurial spirit inspired me. He constantly set goals and strived to rally his team to accomplish them. He constantly identifies issues and works toward developing innovative solutions. He takes risks. He leverages the minds and gifts of his teammates to ensure that every child is provided a quality education. Despite being given a hand of adversity, he has figured out ways to counteract anything antithetical to student achievement and student growth. Is there a way to capture this essence of his leadership and teach it to others? Imagine if all educators saw problems the way he did, sought creative solutions, built coalitions and worked tirelessly until these solutions yielded results. After being inspired by this site visit, we returned to campus. There were a bunch of firsts that happened. I went out in the town for the first time tonight and I crossed a Mumbai road for the first time as well. That was an exhilarating experience at the very least. I tried this gin, chili pepper, lemon and sprite drink (so good). I got in a three-wheel taxi for the first time and got sniffed by one of the neighborhood dogs for the first time (smh).