18 Courses, ~400 People, 1 Newspaper Article, 1 TV Spot, 2 Concerts and Many Smiles Later….

[warning:  this is a longer blog post than the ones in the past - if you feel like you only have time to read one paragraph, please skip to the end and read the highlighted paragraph]

Reflections and gratitude are what’s on the mind as we write this blogpost.  We are now back in California and we get that strange feeling that one gets after being away for a while.  It’s that feeling that nothing has changed and yet everything has changed.  It has only been a week since we’ve returned and I’m not sure we've processed all that we’ve learned yet.  In any case, we wanted to capture key learnings for our benefit (and hopefully yours) and also express deep gratitude to the many people that enabled this wonderful journey to happen for us.  Let’s start with the learning:

• Connecting with people – Starting with Justin McGurrin (see earlier blog entry), experiencing how to connect with people is one of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned in the past two months.  Human connection is the very fuel of life.  Oftentimes in our day-to-day lives or even in our social interactions with others, we tend to feel that making a connection with each and every person we meet is not so easy.  We tend to look for commonalities…like common backgrounds, geographic proximity in living, having similar families, etc. as the food that feeds connections with individuals.  Our experience in Jamaica has told us that none of that really matters.  Being able to look into the eyes of some of the arguably most ‘dangerous criminals’ and see the humanness, and the child crying out for help was incredible.  The only commonality that really matters is that we all belong to the same race – the human race.  To embrace someone who has murdered, someone who’s background couldn’t be more different and to see that really, we are all the same; this been one of the most profound lessons of our lives.  We all have the capacity within us to care for others and give love and respect beyond our judgmental minds.  This capacity is limited only by our own intentions.  If we have a pure intention to make a positive difference in the lives of others, there are no barriers or differences that can hold back from connecting.  The power of this kind of intention can change lives, move mountains, and shift continents. 

• Intention, Attention, Manifestation – The aforementioned is the title of a talk given by Sri Sri Ravi Shanker on the power of our intention and attentions in life.  In Jamaica, we saw this full force.  Dushyant Savadia, the International Director of the Carribean for Art of Living is a great example of this principle in action.  Dushyant has only been in the Caribbean for a year, but what he has been able to accomplish with a help of a few key people has been amazing.  Through events like the historical Shaggy concert at the maximum-security prison and another smaller scale event at Haile Selassie, he has been able to generate a tremendous amount of press for Art of Living.  Due to Dushyant and his team’s work, Jamaica’s Minister of Defense honored Art of Living in front of the entire parliament.  When we asked Dushyant how he is able to do all he does and manifest big things he says he first puts a strong intention towards what he wants to do, prays, and then puts his attention on it.  And sure enough…poof…it happens!  It has been a great experience watching him and realizing that it is only our own thinking that limits what we can accomplish in life.  The next time we have an outlandish idea or are faced with a task that seems unachievable, we need only to reflect on Dushyant’s example to draw the inspiration to put our intentions and attentions toward manifesting the ‘impossible’.     

• Faith – We spoke about faith in the very first blog, so we will make this point brief.  Faith gives us courage to do things we would not normally do if we left it to our intellectual minds to decide.  And very often it is these things that faith has supported us to do that make our lives so rich.  Faith is also self-perpetuating.  The more faith-based decisions/actions you take, the more your faith tends to grow.  The more our faith has grown, so have our feelings of gratitude and fearlessness.  It has been a great gift.

• Purpose – There has been no other time in our lives when we have woken up every day and never doubted our sense of purpose.  During our time in Jamaica, almost every day we woke up with the knowledge that we have the opportunity to really change a life that day…what could be a better use of our day???!!!  We feel so fortunate.  Many people go their whole lives without feeling that sense of purpose.  In fact, we have gone many years of our lives not feeling it either.  Now that we have a taste of what if feels like…we are hooked!  What we have experienced is that finding something you enjoy doing and then doing in the service of others is what gives a sense of purpose.  The joy in what you do and the component of service go hand and hand and one cannot really find purpose if either are missing.  We as human beings need to be of value to others and we need to express ourselves/our creativity to feel fulfilled.  Finding out what ‘that’, the thing that makes your heart sing (as one woman put it), is for each of us is certainly worth the pursuit. 

Lastly, this journey has taught us that we all can take this step to help others.  Even those of us with intense career paths and/or family responsibilities can spend cycles doing this.  What’s amazing is that the rewards are generous - we just need a little courage to take that first step.

Now to the gratitude:

First and foremost our deepest thanks goes to ‘the man’ – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.   This experience teaching the knowledge he so brilliantly put together over 30 years ago helped us get a deeper understanding of his true genius.  The knowledge itself has so much power to help people of any race, age, gender, background, etc. have a better life on the one hand.  On the other hand, he has so graciously allowed simple people like us to become teachers and spread this knowledge, providing such an amazing growth opportunity.  Teaching challenges you and makes you face your own flaws while it also feeds your soul with the gratification of putting smiles on people’s faces and even healing their broken hearts.

Second, we owe much gratitude to Dushyant Savadia who decided to take a chance by letting us come over to Jamaica.  He was brave enough to entrust the reputation of Art of Living to us while we were teaching.  We hope we have benefitted him and AOL Caribbean even half as much as we have gained.

Third, we have to thank mom/mom-in-law Santha and our girls Zara and Sana.  Without their sacrifice of being cooped up at home, losing a measurable amount of freedom and comfort, we would never have been able to impact all the people we did in Jamaica.  Their service was behind the scenes while we received the personal gratitude of the people we were teaching, they had to make sacrifices without much direct reward.  They have been, without a doubt, the wind beneath our wings.

All the people in Jamaica that helped us along the way with offers for housing, transportation, and logistics assistance have been angels to us.  Most of all, their warmth and hospitality made us feel at home and welcome.  Specifically from we’d like to thank:

From Kingston

-       Manisha and Sundeep Shah who were our go to people for all questions, they helped us find an apartment and car we rented for many weeks

-       Sundeep’s parents Sudha and Deepak who were across the street from our apartment and always so helpful and great with the kids

-       Liz and Richard Oliver from whom we rented an apartment, who were so helpful in different ways everyday and who’s 2 year-old son Logan became Zara and Sana’s adopted Jamaican brother (he even called Devan ‘daddy’)

From Montego Bay

-       Tammy and Blaise Hart who were so generous is housing us and lending us their car; Tammy Hart has one of the biggest hearts of anyone we have ever met and she just exudes love, Jamaica and Art of Living are lucky to have her

-       Katherine Maye and her husband Frank who also housed and fed us for days in Montego Bay; their house became a real second home to us and their generosity of spirit and openness made us feel so close to them is such a short period of time

We also want to thank all our friends, family, and colleagues who have supported us throughout this process whether it be by sacrificing seeing our girls for two months (which was pure torture for some!) or by simply reading our blog and encouraging us along the way. 

Only a chapter of this journey has ended.  We will continue to be involved in helping improve conditions at Haile Selassie High School and provide financial assistance to educate some very high potential children in impoverished local communities.  In fact, we have decided to personally sponsor a few children for their education and are working on a proposal to help raise funds for the many projects needed at Haile Selassie.  The children of Jamaica are in great need.  Please find it in your heart to make a contribution and change a life for the better.  You can contact us by email to make any donations.  We have seen first hand how very far our dollars can go. 

With Much Thanks and Love

The Beautiful Children of Jamaica – ART Excel in the Caribbean

We've had the pure pleasure of teaching some of the, arguably, most adorable children on the planet over the past couple of weeks.  The children, aged between 8 and 11 years of age, from the RISE Foundation in Kingston and Unity Primary School in Good Hope are so full of innocence and enthusiasm, it was infectious.  Jamaicans are very affectionate as a people and these kids exemplified this quality.  Within the first hour of our 4-day, 8-hour courses, we received several hugs and kisses.  They never wanted us to leave at the end of each day’s session and truly had trouble understanding why the class had to end at all after the fourth day.  They were also very bright, eager to participate and answer questions in the class.  This was a refreshing contrast to the most of the older teenagers we had been teaching in Kingston. 

Many of the kids displayed confidence, strong leadership potential and maturity for their ages.  Particularly after teaching the course at the RISE Foundation, we felt compelled to find out more about some of the kids and see if we could help them.  Rise Foundation (www.risejamaica.org) is an organization that adopts impoverished communities in Kingston and helps them through a variety of programs – social services, violence prevention, educational services (after-school and study programs), addiction disorder services, etc.  It is a well-known and respected organization established in 1989.

During our course at RISE, there were three kids in the group that we were teaching that struck us.  We decided to approach RISE about creating a scholarship program for kids within their purview that showed promise in four key areas:

• ·      academic excellence,
• ·      leadership potential,
• ·      demonstration of human values,
• ·      and reasonable family support structure at home

After our experiences in Jamaica teaching kids at schools like Haile Selassie and juvenile detention centers like Metcalfe, it was clear to us that having some stable and supportive family structure would be critical to make these kids successful.  No matter how much funding we could drive, it seemed very difficult to be able to realize the benefits without family support.   The experts at RISE agreed.  They were excited about the idea of the scholarship program and within short order we had face-to-face meetings with the three children that we identified and their parents.  As we learned about the family situations and heard about the ambitions and desires of the children, our hearts melted.  Though we thought we would initially pilot the program with one scholarship recipient this year, after hearing their stories, we decided we would have to work out supporting all three.  RISE gently nudged us to add a few more kids to the list that had similar characteristics to the kids we identified but couldn’t meet in person.   This brought out a dilemma as we’re working with limited funds and we very much envision supporting these children through their education needs for the foreseeable future and not only helping them get through school in 2013.  This includes finding a way to provide strong mentorship and build these kids into role models for the future generation in Jamaica.  We believe this is one way to create a self-sustaining culture if we were to empower those that demonstrate human values and carry those values to the next generation(s).  A small ripple can lead to waves of change in ways we haven’t even imagined.   

With RISE’s help with administration of funds, accounting for expenditures, and monitoring the children’s progress, we feel that this scholarship program has legs, as long as we can show success in these first few kids.  Though our visit is coming to a close, it seems that our connection and responsibilities in Jamaica are far from over.  The nice thing about Jamaica is that there are a lot of opportunities to make a difference.  A little goes a long way if it’s channeled well.  This is something we are learning more about every day that we are here.

The Boys of Metcalfe Street Secure Juvenile Center

After a few tough weeks at Haile Selassie High School, we get ready for the worst when we walk into Metcalfe Street Secure Juvenile Centre on Monday June 2^nd.  This facility is the only transitional facility for boys awaiting sentencing in Jamaica.  This means the boys here come from all over the country and aren’t here for a long period of time.  Metcalfe is a sort of purgatory where boys arrested for crimes stay while they await a court date. 

We arrive early to sort out details of the course, get a tour of the facility, and find out more about the boys we’d be teaching.  We learn many things in the 1-hour.  First, according to the superintendent, the boys at Metcalfe have committed every crime you can think of – this really gives us the warm fuzzies!  The thing we found most fascinating is that some of them have been turned in by their parents and held for being ‘uncontrollable’.  Parents can have their children arrested if they are considered uncontrollable - if their children are not obeying them, not going to school, staying out all hours of the night, demonstrating reckless behavior, etc.  You see, in Jamaica, if a child is hurt or gets killed, the parents are liable (even if they are not the direct cause of the injury or death).  So, in order to protect themselves from being liable for the child hurting himself or getting himself killed through reckless behavior, the parents have him arrested under this ‘uncontrollable’ charge.  We couldn’t believe this!  Truth is stranger than fiction! 

The facilities at Metcalfe are the best we have seen to date…much better than any of the other prisons and certainly better than Haile Selassie High School.  The facility has manicured lawns and gardens, well-painted buildings, a small gym and even a small farm.  The government opened this new facility in 2011 as a response to public outcry on the poor care that juvenile offenders were receiving from the state.  There was a terrible incident back in 2009 in which 7 juveniles died at a state-run facility and it generated a great deal of negative publicity and pressure on the government to improve conditions.  According to our experiences, Metcalfe was something like the Ritz compared to all the other facilities we had visited so far and the ratio of staff to inmate boys was substantial.  The facility even had a computer lab which we haven’t seen anywhere else (not even schools).  Nevertheless, being aware of the attention spans of most teenage boys, much less juvenile delinquent teenage boys with literacy and other social issues, we were unsure about how this class would go. 

As we do more and more of this work, it is amazing how all our experiences just contribute to our growing faith…faith in the value of what we are doing, faith in the goodness in all people, and faith that love and compassion can move mountains of any size.  We begin the class explaining why we are here.  We talk about having left everything back in the states, giving up our time and money to be here with them and genuinely wanting them to have a better life.  We express we want nothing from them, we only want to give them something that may help them live better lives and be happy.  And then we ask them to give us their full commitment to be there and participate in everything for the next 5 days.  And much to our surprise, they commit.  

We can see that many of them have not received this kind of care and they are craving it.  As the days move from one to the next, the boys enjoy themselves, they put their full effort into all things and we experience hardly any disciplinary issues at all.  Now, granted, there are officers in the room to maintain order.  But even then, the amount of cooperation and respect we received, really surprised us.  When we asked one of the officers how he thought the class faired, he said that he had not seen the boys respond in this way – “there was 100% participation, complete participation.”  He further commented there were many organizations that came to Metcalfe but could not capture the boys’ attention and solicit their participation.  This was a good sign.

As the week continued, all we could see before us was a room full of sweet kids who were starved for some attention and affection.  They walk in with smiles and ready to do what we ask.  One day, it was one of the boy’s birthdays - Romario commented that he came into class rather sad because no one came to visit him on his birthday, but he left feeling happy for the first time that day (the super heard this and was stumped for words).  A few of the boys had missed a day of class because they went to court.  When we spoke to one of them named Nickoy about how the court day went, he was despondent.   It seems his mother never showed up, so the court didn’t hear his case.  He now has to stay at Metcalfe longer while he waits for another court date and hopes that his family shows up.  Hearing these stories, the compassion in us grew more and more.  These boys were simply a product of their environment.  When we thought about how preciously our children are treated (and the children of most of the families we know) it broke our hearts to see how many of these children were being neglected and even abandoned by their families.  These boys (only 12 – 17 years old) seemed so lonely and lost.  A few of them asked why we weren’t coming on Saturday and we looked at each other and responded, “now we are.” They gravitated to us and latched on because they starved to experience even the smallest amount of unconditional love.  Some say it is luck, some say it is karma – to be born into the lives and families we are born into.  Either way, we couldn’t help but feel that these boys deserved better.    

We also feel blessed to have experienced this week with them.  The YES program is amazing in short, it gives so much to these kids including bringing smiles to their faces and we feel lucky to be the ones delivering it.

A Prison Inmate From Tower Street Motivates Kids at Haile Selassie High School (HSHS)

It is always nice when an idea comes to its fruition and this was the case on June 5.  From the very first week we were teaching at HSHS in the mornings, we spent the afternoons at Tower Street maximum-security prison.  It was on a drive from the school to the prison, from teaching one class and to another, while gobbling down a sandwich and keeping eyes on the road when the idea hit us – how can we bring an inmate from the prison to speak to the kids and have him create the right motivation towards non-violent behaviors. 

Little did we realize how much prep work is required to move an inmate from one place to another!   As a starting point, it requires the consent of the commissioner of prisons.  Luckily the prison commissioner has witnessed the success of our work at the prison (i.e decrease in infractions etc.) and thus supported the idea.  This led to having a team from the prison scope out the property – this is because an inmate could have enemies on the outside that might want to hurt him and the authorities are responsible for his safety.  Correctional officers are also required to be present at the school on the day of the event. 

Jah9 rocking it in front of 750 students

The idea was to have an inmate speak to the entire school about his mistakes in the hopes that it would deter the kids at HSHS from making the same mistakes.  We were hopeful the message would make an impression and give them something to think about when they are faced with doing the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ thing.  This was our simple idea.  Of course, in the hands of Dushyant Savadia, International Director for the Art of Living in the Caribbean, a simple idea can often take on much grander proportions.  This was no exception.  The event, held at HSHS on the afternoon of June 5 included a speech by the HSHS' principal Lorenzo Ellis, performances by two up and coming local Jamaican artists Jah9 and Jesse Royal, 

a dynamic Martin Luther King-like speech by Mr Reuben (the inmate from Tower Street prison who has now completed 20+ years at the prison and is still not done)

Mr. Reuben, an inspirational speaker

Seema announcing the scholarships

, and most importantly an announcement to award 63 scholarships (5 per month for the student body and 2 per month to teachers) equivalent to one year’s tuition.  The scholarship titled Leadership in Human Values will be awarded to a student from each grade every month that not only demonstrate diligence in academics but also exemplifies human values such as kindness, honesty, and respect.   

The scholarships are a fabulous idea as it brings the community together.  It easies the burden on parents who cannot afford tuition fees but also drives the students to create change in the school and the community around them.  They not only have to show acts of non-violence but also demonstrate they are driving the notion of non-violence in school, the neighborhood and the community.  These scholarships are a great way to incent the behavioral change we teach in class every day.  

Hanging with the kids and teachers at HSHS after the program

In addition, Seema has been asked to be the Art of Living overall project lead at HSHS for the coming year – including taking responsibility for selecting students for the scholarships, helping with fundraising, and running other programs.  If we thought our work would come to an end in July, we were mistaken!