DFC Global Partners Meeting
Ahmedabad, India November 2011 

What did I learn in school today?

I had the unique opportunity to participate in a conference that is changing the lives of millions of people around the world and is in fact changing my life in particular.
I am a devout believer in the empowerment of youth and in the reach and relevance of “Open Architecture” – programs that are free and accessible for all. The concept of open architecture reflected in the program of Design for Change is manifest in the open architecture of the school itself. Programs that are designed with the user in mind excel in reach and relevance. The fact that the Design for Change program is so brilliantly designed and opens for the world to adopt is making it sweep across the globe.

   
I learned that true learning begins with the student who has been fortunate enough to be given the environment that values just that! The Riverside school is the living example of what happens to kids who “Stop Resisting, Start Submitting and Continue Learning”- the Ghandi  words that appear above each and every white board in each and every classroom. They don’t get homework.  They have what’s called “take aways” – bridge work that connects what they experienced at school with home.

 

 

27 people from 13 countries gathered in Ahmadabad to share experiences and observe the Design for Change process at the Riverside School where it all began and at the awards ceremony for the 20 stories chosen as the winners of the 2011 challenge. We were fed and fetched, carried and cared for with great care and love by Nilu and the wonderful staff at the Riverside school. Interns like Anshul and parents like Pranay avail themselves constantly with a smile offering tech and other support to the school and DFC keeping the system running and stunning.

While visiting the classes we were able to see the effect of this philosophy when it’s executed in full force from kindergarten on up, in every class- from math to economics, poli-sci and Hindu Literature. Design thinking is a process that involves introspection and research through involvement. We observed a class who held a simulation game testing the limits of rapprochement between North and South Korea, a Math Challenge where the kids made up the quizzes and games of the stations that the participants had to solve, a movie trailer competition where the kids entered their clips and posters and Vinu, their inspired and inspiring teacher and headmaster questioned them on how it feels when you are not chosen and challenged them on the question if kids should have voted for their creations just to make them feel good.
The constant reflection on the ongoing processes keeps the students in touch with themselves and with the subject matter so that it is fully integrated and internalized.

There is no office of the Principle because she is out there teaching, questioning, searching and involved with the kids- closing the loop on end of the day reflections, analyzing challenges undertaken by the students with them and providing guidance and cooperation to keep the many processes going on vital.

We watched plays, pantomimes, dances and performances prepared by the kids of all ages on the open stage, a central arena for learning of the school. When one of the kindergarteners found an unusual caterpillar, the science teacher pulled out her laptop and together they explored to find what kind of insect this was and learned together what kind of butterfly it would evolve into.

WE met leading celebrities, actors, Guinness world record Billiards champ Jeet Sethi, Parliament member Sashi Tharoor whose words of wisdom and presence graced us at several events. WE met Mr. Venkat-  who started Groonj, an NGO that has a collection drive and provides clothes, utensils etc. to villages and has mobilized 2 ½ million Indians on Joy of Giving Week to give themselves in whatever way they can to make their mark on their worlds. We met Rahul Bose and Aabijiate Joshi, actors and screenwriters who lend their celebrity status to the cause as they sat in on activities the school held for winning DFC story sharing and in a session assessing the “balloon challenge” held by the 10^th graders who planned and executed their models for selling balloons at the Street Smart event held during this week in Ahmadabad, where Ahmadabad’s main thoroughfare near Law Gardens is shut down and taken over by the kids of the city with games and fun.

WE had a “Design Thinking “workshop with Poonam Kasturi, Kiran’s sister and Design Thinker in her own right, on the meaning of true exploration and problem solving from a “clean slate” and open mind.
 

We had the unique opportunity of meeting the children who are making their mark on the world- and witnessing the pride and joy of India’s Design for Change winners who shared their stories of change with the world. Each and every story  that won from ending the use of chewing tobacco, organizing buses after school, designing cylinder devise for burning small twigs and dung which saves trees, raising money for hearing aids and educating woman for Rubella vaccinations by hearing and sight impaired youth who suffered the ignorance of parents who didn’t get vaccinated, stopping the use of plastic bags, Don’t be a goat-VOTE  campaign to educate for social responsibility, Just for Kicks - an initiative run by kids for kids to play ball, eradicating illiteracy, educating to stop hospital crowd visits, getting  girls to go to school, Keep the cool in School – don’t fight play, teaching parents to write and read, stopping desertification by planting trees, initiatives to provide two years of food for poor children and getting adults to embrace Untouchables even if it meant holding a hunger strike.

All of this would not have happened had it not been for the “little brown woman”, Kiran Sethi, who is indeed larger than life. The vision of this design student turned education philosopher is changing the face of citizenship in India and around the world.
 

However, for me, the most extraordinary part of this week in wonderland was meeting like minded people from around the world who couldn’t resist getting involved with the Design for Change program and bringing the message to their countries. People from all walks of life, students, parents, teachers and NGO’s who , upon seeing the Kiran’s TED talk were swept away and compelled to find a way to bring home the DFC message.
From each and every one of the people who shared this week with me, I had much to learn. Kola and Jitherin from M.A.D. , the young radical and brilliant kids in their 20^s who are helping thousands of children in orphanages, Madu in Singapore who has exposed the need for taking responsibility in a society whose government “fixes” everything for them, Suneina, a parent from Dubai who wanted to make her wealthy society better by giving kids meaningful social involvement and values, to Anjana in Bangeladesh , a country where the disparity between wealth and abject poverty and suffering demands attention, to Kate, Vanessa, Fox, Jasper and Jeff from Taiwan , 20 year olds ,who gave up their jobs to devote themselves to the DFC and have already gotten kids to  rock their worlds with projects like reviving ancient folk tunes and enabling blind kids to feel their friends faces so they’d feel more a part of their groups, Sandra of Mexico who blew us away with the extensive involvement of thousands and thousands of kids who are taking on the grave troubles of their country, Pedro of Spain who is working to formalize and institutionalize Design Thinking in his country, Richard of the UK who showed us not only that as headmaster his school has internalized the language of giving and volunteering but we could understand through his delightful bright son Sebastian who came on tour, how he himself  is a product of child centered education with heart and sensitivity not usually found in someone so young. I found a strong commonality with the woman from Helena of Sweden and her mates who are interning at Riverside to bring the full power of the system to their schools at home, Nandani of India – a sensitive, bright delightful educator, Anfernee of Laos and citizen of the world who carries the message with him around the world –not just as a couch surfer but being fully involved in any country where he settles, and Kelsy and Tram Le of Vietnam, two incredibly young entrepreneurs who are getting kids to think out of the box in a socialistic society that encourages block thinking, Nithen of India/USA who has created a significant base of activity in the United States and Carolina of Brazil , juggling her life to made the world for her toddler better than the one she grew up in, and Sylvia of Columbia who’s beginning to challenge the corruption of a country through the sincere involvement of kids in their communities.

Coming from Israel, a country very open to volunteerism and very keen on start up initiatives I felt honored to be in the company of all these young hearts and great minds. Our little country is filled with people who care. That is why DFC is so critical for us at this time. Volunteering is the buzz word yet the impact can be magnified if we adopt this simple and brilliant model for design thinking. Instead of telling kids what they need to do to make this a better world, we need to provide a model that connects them with what they care about, encourages them to research and understand those problems and then give them the tools to  execute the solutions they have imagined. Through this process, sustainability will be achieved.
When all of us go out on our Joy of Giving Week, or as we call it Good Deeds Day, in March, the buzz will resound. We will celebrate the change and change makers in June and hopefully revel in the accomplishments of kids, who believe in themselves, and of whom we are proud and to whom we are forever grateful.
It was Rabbi Hillel who said: If not now, then when, if not me then who.
This universal message is alive and kicking in us all and I join hands and hearts with all of you who have taught me that as citizens of the world we have more in common than I knew before I embarked on this fascinating and hopeful endeavor. I look forward to seeing faces light up when we present Design for Change to the scores of educators who have signed up for our workshop on December 15^th and am hopeful that our little country will be graced with the good will of kids pursuing their visions of a better world out of the belief that THEY CAN.
 

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