This adventure began at Maryknoll at Jim Madden's golden jubilee celebration a few years ago. My Mk Affiliate friend and fellow psychologist, Renate Schneider, and I were catching up and I indicated a possible future interest in doing trauma work in Haiti, where she has lived for most of the past decade or more. Renate has created several programs and is managing an array of enterprises. See her impressive website at www.haitianconnection.org.
So this past June, I became a freer agent by completing my full-time job as a high school psycholgist and continuing with just my private clinical practice. My initial plan was to visit Haiti for a week or so and take a look around. The options, I learned, were to do a couple of workshops, conduct an Open Space experience, or teach a 3-week college course, the last out of the question since I've never done so.
In June, along comes my friend Dr. Betty the Greek, a former Northeastern Univ. professor of Developmental Psychology, who says, "I'd love to do that!"
Great. Betty will teach her course and I'll assist. With that, she takes off for her annual summer in Greece.
Then Dr. Schneider the dear says she'd like a Psych. 101 course instead. More my bailiwick. Oy vey. No textbook, no syllabus, 4 hours a day classtime for three weeks, 60 hours in all. In Creole, via a translator. With a blackboard and powerpoint projector and electricity for resources. One or so computers on campus, no wifi. Xeroxing is possible in town, given a day's notice. 50-65 students ages 20-35.
A look-see has turned into an uncharted course! And so it begins. The review of my once-fluent French so I can converse outside of the lectures. Gathering resources. Mastering Powerpoint. Getting my scanner to work. Setting up a blog. And waiting for Dr. Pezaris to return from Greece. One day at a time. Take deep breaths. Have faith.
