Celebrating Endings & New Beginnings

Growth happens when something ends and another begins. For our organization, as for many others, this has been a time of many endings, as well as many beginnings and much growth. As the world of international education as we know it ends due to the COVID19 pandemic, we re-imagine what quality, just education looks like in virtual and online spaces. As we say goodbye to this semester’s international students, we welcome them into our growing family of Rehearsing Change alumni. This month, we want to celebrate and express gratitude for some of our processes that are coming to a close, as well as update our community on some exciting new beginnings. 

Image: Our Spring 2020 cohort looking over the pyramids at Cochasqui Archaeological Park (March 2020).

Celebrating the End of our Spring 2020 Semester
 
Our Spring 2020 semester ended last week with final classes, presentations of the international students’ incredible independent study projects, and tearful goodbyes at our final Zoom celebration. While we were unable to celebrate the classic Pachaysana way-- with music, dance, and food-- we wanted to maintain some of that spirit in our online celebration; each participant brought a symbolic “offering” of food, music, or a significant object to share with all. Even online, we were blown away by the feeling of community and family, by the powerful bonds we have formed and inspiring work we have created. While we, as well as the students and local counterparts, were disappointed that the in-country portion of the semester had to end prematurely, we are grateful for the opportunities it gave us to grow and re-imagine education from yet another perspective. Together we have treated online learning as another opportunity for "rehearsing change" in our world.

We want to express our deep gratitude to all who helped make this semester happen, and helped keep it going in moments of crisis: our Ecuadorian counterparts, international students, university partners, and Pachaysana staff. This semester brought many challenges, from our largest international student cohort thus far to the global health crisis, but, working together, we turned challenges into opportunities for growth, lemons into lemonade.

Image:  Our Spring 2020 cohort smiling for a group photo (March 2020).

Innovation in Online Programming Finalists

We are excited to announce that we have been recognized as a finalist in the Innovation in Online Programming category of GoAbroad’s Innovation Awards! After transitioning to online classes in the second half of this past semester, we had the opportunity to explore our decolonial, arts-based model in an online setting, turning the virtual classroom into a creative, intercultural space for healing, learning, and community. Taking advantage of widespread internet access in our Spring 2020 partner community, Pintag, we remained faithful to our fair-trade learning model by including daily participation from our local counterparts. In the end, we were blown away by the success of this online program, especially in its ability to build community and engage in meaningful dialogue online, and are honored by this recognition. 

Image: Learning online doesn't have to be boring! In this photo of our Identity and Pacha course, students present a creative group storytelling project on their relationship with the world around them (April 2020).

Join us in Re-Imagining Online Programming! 

As the world of international education, and higher education overall, continues to be impacted by the current public health crisis, Pachayasana has entered into a process of re-imagining our work to both adjust to the new realities of our field and find ways we can continue to contribute to the healing & creation that is so necessary during this crisis. 

We believe that our revolutionary online programming is how we can best contribute in these times, as well as continuing to grow the relationships that are important to us & to build our Pachaysana family. This fall, we will be offering a variety of online webinars and interactive workshops at a small cost, as well as free class interventions, to our university partners and other interested educators. If you are interested in collaborating with us, or would like more information, please reach out to us at info@pachaysana.org. We look forward to continuing to re-imagine education together. 

Image: Celebrating the end of the in-country portion of our Spring 2020 semester (Pintag, March 2020).