Monthly letter – June 2021

alviraadmin — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 12:25:00 +0000

Hello everyone,

in the previous two letters, I’ve mentioned that Elena will be visiting us in July. I want to dedicate some reading time to give a bit of context for why this trip is happening and introduce Luchy, who is travelling down with her.

Lucía Calvo (Luchy) has been with us from the start of the foundation. She has acted as an external consultant over the past year, guiding us through the nuances of starting a foundation that is fundamentally reliant on the human spirit.

Currently, Luchy resides on the board of *Arenales Red Educativa* – an international network of associated educational centers. They seek to provide students with high-level academic training and promote values that support hard work and service to others. Their relationships with schools around the world allow them to implement improvements both technological and cultural, to expand and share expertise. Their educational process is carried out in a context of absolute individual freedom as we teach lessons on responsibility, social transformation, and personal development that seek continual self-improvement for each individual.

By partnering with the Arenales network, through Luchy, we have access to resources, knowledge and experience guiding and supporting us to building a solid foundation (double meaning intended) built to carry out its intended purpose.

Alvira school

If you recall on the May newsletter mentioned our proposal for two teams to help us with the Alvira schools project – the philosophy and business teams. Late in May, the philosophy had its first meeting. A team of fifteen people, all with some involvement in a school, as a teacher or parent were introduced to Alvira, and our core philosophy of teaching. Over the next few months, the team will break down the why’s, the how’s’ and the what’s of starting a school. Drawing on everyone’s’ heart, mind and will we are excited to see our most ambitious project lift off the ground.

Idea of the month

I have been told many times growing up: “it gets harder to make friends as you grow older” – and as much as I stubbornly disagree, I do feel a growing difficulty to make meaningful friendships. But, why? Why should that be – to just accept the common response “that is life, we get busy”, to me, is frustrating and sad.

Then, three weeks ago, something happened that I had experienced many times as a young kid, but never took notice of. Sitting in a small restaurant in the Karroo with some people I’ve known

from varsity, I looked at them and suddenly thought; these are my friends and smiled realising what just happened.

We had all just woken up in a small church turned hostel after arriving the day before. Groggy, poorly dressed and hungry we got out of bed and walked to the restaurant. Waiting for our coffee we started talking, but this was a different conversation. There was an ease to it; the kind that ebbs and flows between the ridiculous, the serious and the silent. No agenda, no “having to catch up” – just being. It wasn’t so much “what we spoke about” but how we felt while speaking – we spoke our mind and felt happy and comfortable to do so. Somewhere in the moment, my inner me showed itself, was greeted and warmly welcomed.

That morning gave me a renewed sense – maybe we still can make friends just like when we were younger. what we need isn’t simply “more time and more effort”, but to find spaces which encourage us to feel comfortable with who we are and feel comfortable for others to see us – like kids playing in the park full of mud and dirt. For me, those are mornings, for you that might be in your pj’s or maybe after a long sweaty workout; a place where we welcome our true, undecorated, selves. And so, I don’t think it is more difficult to make friends as we get older, but perhaps, instead, it is more difficult to feel safe to show our true selves as we get older, and as a consequence find it more difficult to make friends.

Kindest regards,

Luca Pontiggia

C.E.O

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Monthly letter – June 2021

Alvira school

Idea of the month