Are you part of the Revolution?

Today is Earth Day and I continue to wonder where the world will be and how will things be different in say 20 years. More importantly, what part are you playing in the digital revolution? In the last few days there has been a lot of discussion (read blogging) about "being here for the learning revolution."

I have been involved in technology for many years but only recently has it seemed as if the world has suddenly opened up to me about the power of what I sit in front of, my laptop. After the last two weeks, I can no longer refer to this piece of equipment as merely a tool. I can no longer say that I am alone in Dallas, TX., writing for myself, I can no longer ignore the fact that we are all called to make a difference, and yet I am almost at a point of not knowing what direction to go.

Last week we met with a Sister of St. Mary of Namur by the name of Immaculee Mukabugabo from Rwanda. She was visiting the school for several reasons but the biggest was to make connection with us as we try to put together what we refer to as a "Global Partnership" with another SSMN school in Rwanda. We asked many questions and were having a wonderful discussion when the question of the 1994 genocide came up and how this had affected the children who are at the school.

Sister talked at length about how at certain times of the year the students struggled with just getting out of bed because of the memories of that period, or the loss of family members. Then Sister took the chance of trusting and being comfortable enough with us on only the second day of her visit to tell her story of what they went through trying to protect innocent people as well as save their own lives from the horrible destruction. I truly felt as if I were standing on Sacred Ground while listening to Sister tell her story.

With the help of Wes Fryer's posts about the Celebrate Oklahoma Voices Project, we decided we needed to start our own voices project. In the next few days we hope to have posted to our school site a section called "Voices." This will be voices of people that have spoken to the students on different subjects with Sister's being the first one. We also hope to include many others who have stories to tell. The power of the voice will truly be something for us to be a part of, continuing to take us further down the road of revolution.

Our next hope is to help bring the revolution to our global partner in Kibuye, Rwanda. They exist in a situation where they hope to get equipment to bring not only TV to their school but also Internet service as well. I continue to look for ways to help make that happen.

So many voices to listen to and so little time.