WEEK 5 (4): Connected to Wisdom

           Connected Wisdom: Cooperation and Partnership  

1.    What came to your mind after reading the chapter and the story Stone Soup? What are 2-3 ways, if any, that the lessons of the story link to your real life? Please describe the connection(s). 

 

I have grown up in a family that never stopped sharing to find common well-being. We were always like that until my grandmother passed away. It seems like we have all been connected because of her and when she was gone, we sort of disconnected. My uncles -the direct descendants of my grandmother, kept together but the grand children and later generations did not get it. 

My country is unfortunately, full of people like this. You can see it in our Congress, people who are elected only to find the way to promote laws on their behalf without considering common well-being and what they do is just keep damaging and destroying the country and its economy. Laws to keep illegal mining ongoing, laws to keep low standard universities working, which sometimes serve as money laundry organizations for drug dealer gangs and organized crime. Laws to promote certain regulations to meet certain requirements only some companies can meet, coincidently, companies in which a brother or sister or uncle works. 

If we worked together for a common goal, as we do when Peru national soccer team goes to the World Cup, we all worked together: players, fans, trainers, government, organizations, students at school, universities, etc. We all got together to support, to contribute to the image as a country, our economy grew, we were more seen outside and the country got recognition for its union, for its sense of identity. This is what we need.

Right now, I am planning on living abroad with my kids, but tough decision since I am divorced and need permission of my minor kids’ mother to leave the country. However, after a long conversation and discussion on the important matters, we all agreed to use our individual resources to make it possible, so no more isolated efforts on each other’s side but all together working for one single purpose. My resources, my experience to find a good job where we want to live, my connections, my network together with my ex wife's experience, foreign work experience and living background and the monetary resources of both of us contributing to get everything ready to meet the objective. This is cooperation and partnership.

 

2.    What are 2-3  strategies have you used or would like to use in class to cultivate cooperation and partnership?

One of the things I do and works is asking students what abilities and skills they can bring to the class. What they feel they are good at, what they feel makes them outstand. Once I get that, I usually get students in groups together by affinity and ask them to do a task and present it using the skill they have. They later present it to the class. One or two days later, we do a very similar task in groups again, but this time, with diversified groups, in which they can combine their skills, so ask them to present the task combining skills. Later, they see the presentations are way better than the ones presented before since they combine different skills, they then realize there is a big difference when everyone with their differences contributes to a better outcome. The idea is that they understand that together, contributing with what the others know that I don’t know, we can always improve things. 

 

3.    How do cooperation and partnership play a role in creating sustainable and just a world for all?

Back two years ago, El Niño struck northern Peru and many provinces in the south too. It was probably one of the worst natural disasters my country has ever gone through. Rivers flooding, heavy rains, landslides every single day, destruction all over. It is then when the leadership of our president showed up and through his guidance, Ministers, mayors, regional authorities, the police, the fire fighters, the army and the population all together started working to help, rebuild, feed, provide shelter, save, give medical attention. I had never seen such a display before and I had never felt so proud before. The President went to every single province affected, the ministers visited and monitored every place that had been devastated, all together helping everybody. 

Here in Lima, my friends and I collected clothes and cooked some food and bought some groceries to take to some districts that had been affected and help the people who had lost their homes and everything inside. We could see lots of people working together with the Red Cross, the firefighters, TV broadcasting companies, etc. to cook for the affected people. Everyone working together to make a better world for those who felt they had lost it all.

One thing to keep in mind is that if we could do what we did in stormy times, can you imagine what we can do when everybody is at their full potential?