Monthly letter – October 2021
Hi all,
I write to you from the vivacious and beautiful city of Madrid. I think I have met more people and undergone more new experiences in this month than I have in the past 2 years. I am not going to give a whole account of my trip; that would be a bit cheeky of me given the context of these newsletters. However, I think I can share two reflections thus far:
The first being the difference in “living hours”. At 9pm in the evening, life in Madrid is only starting, whereas back in SA, I feel like life is ending. I could walk around at midnight on any night, and be almost guaranteed to find restaurants filled with couples, friends and families (little children included). It is a style of living which I feel suits people who seek more social interaction in the evening, I have discovered that I am one of them.
The second being the underlying unity of Spain vs constant tension I feel in SA. In Madrid, people who are mainly of a single culture and religion, are operating at a level which is far more conducive to “joyful freedom”– compared to in South Africa where are constantly working hard (or fighting) to agree on basic viewpoints and ensure total inclusion. My point is not to say one is better than the other; but, how they offer different things. For Spain, a sense of belonging and safety; for South Africa, solidarity and conscientiousness. I often wonder; imagine a South Africa where people feel safe – truly safe – feel cared for and feel heard. To heal and release of all the fear and pain that so often blocks us from moving forward in basic areas – all the hard work spent on the most basic of issues. Imagine how South Africa could move if it reached a level of fundamental unity and safety to then use its deep reserves of resilience, diversity, and hard work on innovation, art, science, culture, economics and, in our case, education. This would be a country of the future – a country founded and moulded by the suffering of the human spirt and transformed to achieve things we could only imagine.
I’ve added a few photos at the end of the letter for those who are maybe interested.
Updates
It has been a slowish month for Alvira. Myself, Tyra, Angela, Elena and Jason are experiencing far greater workloads than ever, and so, to balance all the ideas, operations and actions of an NPO we need time to manage our priorities. We want to move with certainty and, when possible, move swiftly not because we feel like we “need to”, but because we are fit and ready.
With regards to my networking and meetings – I will reflect in more detail next month when I have finished all of them. But out of interest, I am giving a talk on mentoring and the importance of it to
various teachers at the school whereby Elena works. I will be presenting a version of the presentation at the beginning of December when we have our mentoring workshop.
The school’s philosophy team met for a discussion on human anthropology to discuss if the human-centric view of the Alvira school is really what we want, or it’s just something that “sounds nice”. One of the major post-reflection outcomes of this meeting was that; when talking about the “type of school” the debate isn’t about what religious or cultural association it should have (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, agnostic, African, European) as we could, in theory, have any one of them. We might have 5 schools and each one with a different religious or cultural layer – they could each be an Alvira school. The point is that the school’s philosophy should educate at a more fundamental level – the anthropological one – and this should be compatible with any school. It is a bit like language; we all have a fundamental desire to express love, the language we use is just the filter by which the desire passes through. So, it is the same within the school; the “type of school” is irrelevant as it is just the filter through which Alvira’s anthropological education of the human being is expressed.
Thought of month
I suppose, in a way, my intro holds a little bit of a “thought of the month” kind of feel, but It felt more appropriately placed in the introduction.
Thus, for the here, I want to share another video from a channel called Mark Rober. This video is about a drive to clean up the plastic from all the rivers, seas and oceans.
His is a really incredible channel as his videos are entertaining, informative and heart-warming. His channel has grown to be one of the largest YouTube channels, reaching over billions (yes billions) of people. Him and another YouTuber giant, Mr Beast, are using their clout to create social change on a scale that no single government could ever do. It absolutely amazes me at how – when used in a life-giving way – a connected system (like YouTube) can create incredibly powerful change. I hope, that one day Alvira might have the same clout and use it to assist change, transformation and growth in government and countries so that they can effectively rally behind the human condition.
Kindest regards,
Luca Pontiggia
C.E.O