[NIFL-WOMENLIT:3214] Re: WE LEARN Conference

From: Ujwala Samant (lalumineuse@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Mar 30 2005 - 12:48:44 EST


Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov>
Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j2UHmhG00279; Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:48:44 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 12:48:44 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <20050330174738.51195.qmail@web30808.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Errors-To: listowner@nifl.gov
Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov
Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov
Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov
Precedence: bulk
From: Ujwala Samant <lalumineuse@yahoo.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:3214] Re: WE LEARN Conference
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Status: O
Content-Length: 3000
Lines: 82

Dear Laurie,

Thanks for those very kind words....

>   It was very powerful for me, and I think for
> others, to hear of such
> promising and hope-inspiring work even in remote
> corners of Pakistan,
> and to be reminded of how much we have to learn from
> women's efforts in
> other countries.   And, in these times of budget
> cutbacks and political
> setbacks, how much important and significant work
> can be done with so
> little.   We need resources, but they aren't
> everything.  Passion, will,
> organizing, and the work of women accomplish so much
> regardless of
> resouces, don't they?<<

Yes, they definitely do. Learner voice and ownership
of knowledge, participation in the truest sense by a
community is really what matters and it is a privilege
to be witness to such immense social change, despite
it's slow and gradual effect. I wish Paulo Freire were
alive to see this work.
 
> It was absolutely wonderful for me, as a relative
> newcomer to this
> field, to have the privilege to meet you and other
> women who have done
> pathbreaking work in this field, and actually to get
> to know you a
> little.  Thank you for making the effort to be
> there, and for sharing so
> much of your work and hopes.<<

I enjoyed your workshop as well, it was impressive to
see all t he resources that you had so painstakingly
put together. As Sandra Cuban said, they were a great
collection for adult learners. I think we get
inundated by so much material in the media, that we
don't always put in the effort to collect and archive
them. So what you and your colleagues did was very
perceptive.

I think the conference was very well thought out. The
themes were represented from every angle and I am
sorry that I could not attend every single one of
them. The conference, from the opener by Silja and
Andy, all the way to the finale with Klare, Klaudia
and Mary Belenky, left me with lots of material to
digest. That's the one reason I have taken long to
respond to the start of this thread. I never know what
to say when I leave with information and knowledge
a-buzz in my head. 

Learner representation was high at the conference,
compared to most places. Learner voice and opinion are
very important to me and so this was a great
opportunity to hear them at different sessions and in
the audience. This was not just the usual providing an
award to an outstanding learner, it was a solid
presence of the people we serve and that made it very
special for me, personally. I would have given
anything to be able to invite learners from Learning
for Life's projects and have them share, or learners
from the places in the US I worked in. A special
Afghani woman, a young man from Sierra Leone, an older
woman from Haiti, all come to mind.

Thanks again, Mev, Nancy, Lorna, Sally, everyone who
made this WE LEARN conference happen!
regards,
Ujwala


		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. 
http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Oct 31 2005 - 09:50:24 EST