Friday, August 18, 2006
Leading the Journey Forward
By Bridgett Perry, Director and Founder
Since my return to the US, I have spent several days quietly reminiscing. This trip to Ecuador is neither my first journey nor my last. But my personal experience this summer merits some reflection. I knew that to lead a group, I must provide purpose and direction. I had been clarifying our purpose for years, raising the funds, planning, and implementing. I had my sight on Ecuador since our visit last summer. Surely, I was prepared to set the pace and guide the way. Yet, as I set out on the road, I couldn’t help but notice a signpost that read “Empowerment, this way!” How could I resist? As assistive technology specialists, our creed is to empower others to live up to ones potential, regardless of the barriers. Then it became clear. Where the road led was on a quest for my own empowerment. The ability to live up to my own potential. With 16 people in tow, I pushed forward.
Expanding from a small team to a tribe in one year did not happen without its growing pains. Granted, they are the kind of aches one gets when working out new muscles. A bit sore, but it feels good. Expanding the team this year meant more. More talent, more insights, more perspectives. It also meant extra accommodations, larger restaurants, and a bigger bus. It meant being personally responsible for 16 fellow travelers. It meant staying present and open to the process that 16 people were each forming and shaping. It meant being accountable for the things that were said and the deeds that were done. It meant exhaling at the relief of assembling a remarkable group of people. Not once did I wince!
There is a great deal that goes into the success of a project like this. It goes beyond the logistics and event planning. For the CITTI Project to be successful, I knew from the beginning, it must be community based, culturally appropriate, and ultimately sustainable. It’s one thing to envision the outcome, another to live up to it. I attribute the success of the CITTI Project to these guiding values, but also to those learned along the way. I learned about the meaning of respect as I was greeted by friends made a year ago. Last year, I was seen as a North American who had good intensions, like all the others. But then I came back! With 16 friends! A lifetime of lessons fulfilled me as I looked evenly into the eyes of the parents acknowledging my return.
Ultimately, the empowerment, success, and respect are for all of us to share. They belong to the families who have taught me how to cope with so little, and yet thrive so graciously. They belong to the teachers and therapists who model enormous commitment, compelled by their own personal desire. They belong to the children whose unconditional love was shared without measure. They also belong to those of us who came to share of ourselves, without knowing exactly how deep that would go.
It’s incredible to imagine the affects of Tungurahua on our friends throughout Ecuador: Banos, Quero, Pelileo, Salasaca, and our dear Huambalo. Since we have come home, the volcano has transformed the land and possibly the lives of our “community.” What is it that I can do from so far away? Short of aide, relief, supplies, we continue to find ourselves at a loss when such natural disasters take place. It is especially so when we were just standing there on the soil, among our friends, only a week ago. Our hearts are still there.
I find myself in transition. This past week feels like a metamorphosis. I am in a cocoon, waiting for what will emerge. I am not the same person as when I started this journey. I am incredibly grateful to be empowered and touched by the world around me. I am thankful to the talented team who joined me in this vision and gave their all to this effort. I welcome the ongoing challenges and pleasures of transforming my dreams to reality. The successes of the CITTI Project are just the beginning. And just as a gloating parent, I couldn’t be more proud.
Un fuerte abrazo,
Bridgett
“…as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” Marianne Williamson
Since my return to the US, I have spent several days quietly reminiscing. This trip to Ecuador is neither my first journey nor my last. But my personal experience this summer merits some reflection. I knew that to lead a group, I must provide purpose and direction. I had been clarifying our purpose for years, raising the funds, planning, and implementing. I had my sight on Ecuador since our visit last summer. Surely, I was prepared to set the pace and guide the way. Yet, as I set out on the road, I couldn’t help but notice a signpost that read “Empowerment, this way!” How could I resist? As assistive technology specialists, our creed is to empower others to live up to ones potential, regardless of the barriers. Then it became clear. Where the road led was on a quest for my own empowerment. The ability to live up to my own potential. With 16 people in tow, I pushed forward.
Expanding from a small team to a tribe in one year did not happen without its growing pains. Granted, they are the kind of aches one gets when working out new muscles. A bit sore, but it feels good. Expanding the team this year meant more. More talent, more insights, more perspectives. It also meant extra accommodations, larger restaurants, and a bigger bus. It meant being personally responsible for 16 fellow travelers. It meant staying present and open to the process that 16 people were each forming and shaping. It meant being accountable for the things that were said and the deeds that were done. It meant exhaling at the relief of assembling a remarkable group of people. Not once did I wince!
There is a great deal that goes into the success of a project like this. It goes beyond the logistics and event planning. For the CITTI Project to be successful, I knew from the beginning, it must be community based, culturally appropriate, and ultimately sustainable. It’s one thing to envision the outcome, another to live up to it. I attribute the success of the CITTI Project to these guiding values, but also to those learned along the way. I learned about the meaning of respect as I was greeted by friends made a year ago. Last year, I was seen as a North American who had good intensions, like all the others. But then I came back! With 16 friends! A lifetime of lessons fulfilled me as I looked evenly into the eyes of the parents acknowledging my return.
Ultimately, the empowerment, success, and respect are for all of us to share. They belong to the families who have taught me how to cope with so little, and yet thrive so graciously. They belong to the teachers and therapists who model enormous commitment, compelled by their own personal desire. They belong to the children whose unconditional love was shared without measure. They also belong to those of us who came to share of ourselves, without knowing exactly how deep that would go.
It’s incredible to imagine the affects of Tungurahua on our friends throughout Ecuador: Banos, Quero, Pelileo, Salasaca, and our dear Huambalo. Since we have come home, the volcano has transformed the land and possibly the lives of our “community.” What is it that I can do from so far away? Short of aide, relief, supplies, we continue to find ourselves at a loss when such natural disasters take place. It is especially so when we were just standing there on the soil, among our friends, only a week ago. Our hearts are still there.
I find myself in transition. This past week feels like a metamorphosis. I am in a cocoon, waiting for what will emerge. I am not the same person as when I started this journey. I am incredibly grateful to be empowered and touched by the world around me. I am thankful to the talented team who joined me in this vision and gave their all to this effort. I welcome the ongoing challenges and pleasures of transforming my dreams to reality. The successes of the CITTI Project are just the beginning. And just as a gloating parent, I couldn’t be more proud.
Un fuerte abrazo,
Bridgett
“…as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” Marianne Williamson
