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Back in the USA: No Limits


A few of our end users!

With the school, there was a lot of "letting go." We had to let go of assumption. We had to listen to the end users: our students, their parents and their teachers. We had to let go of grand plans and develop a vision of a school that met real needs with a real small set of resources. Backyard veggie garden? Goats ate it, we couldn't afford a fence to protect it. Classes for slow learners and gifted students? No floor space for both - we had to pick one.

The school is now a collaborative, beautiful, resilient end product. It is far from the grand visions, but far better. The experience taught me how to think; letting go gives limitless creativity. Holding on too tight made for brittle thinking, it made me afraid of outside opinion and challenges.

Letting go is sad, it is tough, it was wrenching for a Westerner with control issues. But letting go gives freedom, it gives limitless possibilities. We found the best ways to serve our end users. An open heart led to an open mind.

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