When do I sleep? "Freaking out" is keeping me up!

Over the years of partnership between Saint Mark's and eSibonisweni, I really and truly believed we were attempting to develop a relationship where we gave and received equitably with our partner school.  I also wondered what that give and take would really look and feel like when and IF it happened.

Today, I have an answer - at least one that resonates with me, personally.

A little context - we are "freaking out" at Saint Mark's.  The last couple of months have required hours of planning on the part of innumerable administrators, faculty, staff, and volunteers.  I don't know who is losing more sleep:

• The South Africans who will step onto an airplane for the first time to visit a community with different resources, norms, flushing toilets, and financial resources that they so generously share with them year after year.  They truly have no idea what to expect, despite our best efforts to make little YouTube videos to introduce them to host families, etc.  They may only see those videos at the airport internet cafe before boarding the plane.
• Saint Mark's Director of Special Programs who worries about whether the visitors will get the flu when they are here and lose an opportunity that they may never have again, and whether Saint Mark's teachers feel overwhelmed by all they are doing to prepare, and whether the traditional food for Passport Day will taste just right (so maybe she should make it all herself), and she worries about whether the guests have rehearsed their entertainment for Passport Day.  This is their moment to shine, and she want things to be just right for everyone.
• Saint Mark's Director of Technology who wonders how best to impart enough technology education and support to the visitors, so that when they return to South Africa they can begin to work on collaborative projects with our teachers here.  She needs to learn and teach the Sugar operating system that is on the XO computers, figure out how it interfaces with Mac's operating system, and answer all sorts of unexpected questions and concerns about both the technical and pedagogical aspect of teaching and learning with technology across continents and within very different circumstances.
• The scheduling team who wonders when will everyone tell us when they want visitors in their classrooms and what they'll be teaching when.  We only have a few days to figure this all out, and we want everyone at Saint Mark's to be able to connect with our visitors.  And, we want the visitors to have the experiences they want to have when they visit here.
• The partner/mentor teachers at Saint Mark's who will have guests in their classrooms for ten days with innumerable goals, questions, and a real desire to learn and share.
• The Saint Mark's teachers who will have buddy students in their classrooms with limited English skills and a desire to participate and learn.  These teachers are worrying about what to do when they give a test or teach a lesson that involves skills that the guests may not have.  Plans have to be made for these moments.  True to form, Saint Mark's teachers are losing sleep over this.
• Parent volunteers who have planned housing, clothing, activities, welcoming and closing activities, church trips, snow trips, Passport Day for the entire community, etc.  They ask, "Is there a warm coat for everyone?  Gloves?  A toothbrush?  Toiletries that they may not have brought and have no money to buy here? Are all the presenters for Passport Day lined up?  Is the lunch for 400 organized?  Is the benefit woman's breakfast figured out?"

The list could get a little longer.  If I have left you off the list, you should be a little more vocal about your "freaking out."  Had you been, I would have added you.  Lest I misrepresent anyone, not everyone mentioned on this list has told me that he/she is "freaking out."  I just know how hard everyone is working, and I suspect that means a few hours of less sleep and, at the very least, moments of panic.

Now, to my epiphany!  One of the gifts of this partnership to our community is that it offers us the opportunity to reflect upon our sleepless nights.  I argue: this visit may actually allow us to put much of what we think we should be doing in our daily lives into a broader perspective.

Should we be "freaking out?"  When South African teacher Janine Kaptein (who teaches in Cape Town in a township) visited Mike Fargo's classroom two years ago, she asked a question that really caused me pause.  To paraphrase, she wondered why we Americans run around so much.  She said, "It feels so competitive.  When do you just sit and talk?  Listen?  Observe?"  She was exhausted from all the scheduling we did to make her visit "Perfect!" 

So, while we should obviously plan and schedule and think about making the most of this incredible opportunity, we must also sit back, relax, and let things unfold naturally.  We actually don't really know exactly what will resonate with our guests, where they'll want to probe further, and where they will want to skip ahead.  We have to be flexible, open to change, and make time to sit and talk.  And this is a lesson that can stay with us beyond the closing assembly when the leave on January 21. - Stacey Kertsman