Political Archives - Alvira Foundation

Monthly letter – October 2021

alviraadmin — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 08:36:19 +0000

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

The post Monthly letter – October 2021 appeared first on Alvira Foundation.

Monthly letter – September 2021

alviraadmin — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 05:16:34 +0000

Hi all,

Last week (the 18th September) we had our birthday – Mexican themed – bash. I was chatting with Angela and laughed,– we are not actually sure what counts as the “official birthday”. But hey, who can say no to more than one birthday! There was a mammoth amount of effort that went into organising this – huge, huge, thanks to the events team, Nella in particular, who really went out of her way to put everything together on the day.

We had around 20 people attend all of whom chatted, played games and caught up around a fire later on in the evening – I think… I was unable to stay for the full duration, so I just came, said hello, ate, guessed how many sweets were in a jar and left. Despite my short appearance I got enough of a sense that everyone was sharing laughter and stories – amazing.

In October I will be going to Spain for a month. It is mainly for personal reasons (part of a longer 2-month work-cation). But Elena and I thought that If I do come to Spain we can use it as an opportunity to move forward with several Alvira related matters. I will mention more in the next newsletter, but for now, I can say it entails speaking to potential donors, meeting various people in Spain that have been supporting us from afar and, of course, meeting with Luchy and Raphael (Thomas’ son) and Pepe (institute) in person.

General update

Over the past few months I’ve had a number of people saying that they really want to help and if there is anything they can do, to let them know. At the time, although very grateful, we just said – “hold that desire, we’ll find something”. Well now, we have those “somethings”. We created a document (a bit rough for now) listing various tasks that we would need help with.

The QR code you see on the right is a link directly to the google sheet with all the information. In it you’ll see 29 tasks spread across our various areas – from finance to marketing to research. For every task there is a description giving a bit more information and adjacent to it the relevant contact person (see the second tab)

One example is for the research institute; to compile a summary of all the various educational research institutes in South Africa. This allows us to get an understanding of who is doing what – aiding us in potential networking and/or collaboration.

This will be a maintained list where we will add/remove tasks as needed. In time, it will be hosted on the website with a better and friendlier user design (possibly with embedded sharing functionality for social media and or friends). I have below the three tasks with the highest priority.

Thought of the month

This month has been a pretty intense one for me, and so I haven’t really had any particular thoughts and or experiences that I feel are worth sharing here. So instead, this month, I will share a video – for no other reason than I think it is nice.

I recently found the channel Great Art Explained. It explores the famous historical artworks and what makes them “great”. I have found the channels’ videos genuinely interesting – well explored and insightful. I recommend watching the other videos, but for now, I want to share one on Monet’s Water Lilies. It is a piece I’ve seen referenced many times, but knew nothing about! For example, in person, they are over 2m long! Hope you enjoy it – and if there are any YouTube channels you find yourself telling people about, please pass them onto me, I’d love to watch.

Kindest regards,

Luca Pontiggia

C.E.O

The post Monthly letter – September 2021 appeared first on Alvira Foundation.

Monthly letter – May 2021

alviraadmin — Sat, 01 May 2021 03:55:00 +0000

Although a monthly newsletter is not bound by when in the month it is sent, it is, however, bound by the month in which it needs to be sent. And so, considering my time restrictions my aim is density contained in brevity.

Our third calendar event – the amazing race – was an extraordinary event. Executed in a manner described by its own self-referentiality – amazing! What a race it was; after 4 checkpoints two teams were running to the final stage. Winners separated by mere seconds. To Daniella, Claudia and Daniella, thank you. Your effort, ideas and creativity were wholly felt by all those who participated.

A quick note, with Elena and Luchy’s arrival in July, we ask if everyone can keep Sunday day 25th July and Monday evening 2nd of August free. More detail will be given in next month’s newsletter
.

Umazisi

This month saw some important events for the Umazisi project. The core team had their first meeting – passion, ideas and desire were evident within everyone. Going forward, Robyn and Tshepo will lead the project and self-organize in terms of executing all necessary actions to move forward. Tyra and Elena will lend their vision and commitment to seeing that the project maintains its purpose

Last week I met with Greenside and learnt that they are undergoing a change in leadership. Despite their interest and desire, their position means we will not be able to use Greenside as a school for the mentorship in 2021. Discussion, as asked by them, will resume for 2022. A disappointing outcome, yes, but a reflection of our hard work, no. The Umazisi team will continue to look for schools, to create content, to train mentors and to develop its own identity.

Idea of the month

An experience which also shaped my desire to write this letter with succinctness was that of the movie “The Prince of Egypt”. A movie that reminded me of how the power of a story, told with purpose and beauty can, in a single moment, express a feeling or idea shared by generations of humans. In one second, one lives a millennia of shared experiences – a spiritual ear listening in on the echo of life.

Which movies, stories have had these igniting effects within you? What about the story connected you to something greater than yourself? And, what life within you is asking to be heard? Such moments are powerful and special, listen to them and share them for you might ignite something in someone else.

Kindest regards,

Luca Pontiggia CEO

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