My America of immigrants started to unfold when I had the pleasure and the honor of embarking on my #Eisenhower Fellowship at the grandiose opening seminar on 1–2 April in Philly. Grand not necessarily in size but more regarding the human potential in the room filled with 23 Global fellows, 12 USA fellows and nine Zhi-Xing fellows who will be visiting China in 2019. And also our organizers, speakers, and fellows from previous years who made these few days unforgettable for us (at least for me).
I have probably been to hundreds of conferences, workshops, annual meetings, and other forms of professional and human interaction since 2006 but hardly have I ever experienced the power of the participants, ourselves if we were allowed sufficient time to talk about our dreams, our ambitions, achievements, and our failures or fears. The agenda is usually packed with lecturers and keynote speakers who love listening to their own voice in the room.
This time, #EF staff allowed us time to listen to each other and learn. The effect was amazing, for two entire days you saw this 40 persons walking around, getting to know each other, exchanging with a genuine smile on their faces. It was like the best book you read and you cannot stop it. It was also a very deep emotional journey to be inspired by the other fellows in the room. Note to self: next time I organize an event, I will ask and let people (the audience, the participants) speak because this sensation is worth the time.
I highly appreciate that the fellowship is equally open to women and that women’s leadership is a powerful and important topic in many fellows’ endeavor. Successful African-American businesswomen came to work more for women’s recognition and leadership — and especially women of color.
This was my first slap in the face — these slaps shape me and make even more curious about this country and serve as a sensitization pathway to me (and I think to most of my friends-fellows with Eisenhower). How after some 60 years following the civil rights movement and MLK, we still struggle so much. And this time it was not the news or the social media but accomplished and fantastic people, Americans sharing their stories.
Stories of poverty, exclusion, and segregation.
Stories of female illiteracy defining generations of American or immigrant women.
The line of women who never set foot in a classroom had to stop with me.
Stories of mothers never wanting to go back to Mississipi due to the heavy heritage of slavery there.
But I also heard the power of hope in these stories.
Stories of self-development and hard work.
Stories of sons making up for their incarcerated father’s life mostly spent in and out of prison by establishing education platforms for inmates.
Stories of smart women searching for allies of men at the workplace to increase female leadership and in one generation being on the top of companies worth multi-billion dollars.
Education is the change maker.
Dreams that seem impossible are possible.
No one unit can accomplish the mission on its own.
So the best this is that even if my project is very broad — how to understand how immigration made America great so many times in the past and what factors could create a successful immigration model elsewhere — one thing is already proven: social mobility and inclusion make enormous contribution to our societies by liberating curiosity and the willingness to change.
The diversity of the USA is such an asset that I must say as cheesy as it may sound: this is truly the land of opportunities. If we believe in ourselves and exchange with others instead of erecting walls and excluding other human beings.
My red thread is that I help people find their voice.
Stories are what transcend culture.
From here on global fellows continue in the US, some of us first to Washington DC, others to New York or San Francisco. We have five weeks ahead of us of tons of meetings, panels, lectures and immensely interesting encounters in our own fields from green energies to public health / HIV to counter-terrorism and soft skills development. As for our American fellow friends, they will travel to two countries depending on their topic and project, from Sweden to India, from Rwanda to the Netherlands. (By the way in this latter lovely location you are all welcome to my home for dinner, we can have 8 chairs around the table!)
This last week has already shown that the questions I am here to learn about are perhaps more relevant than ever before.
Thanks for the kick-start Philly and accepting in us in this family of 1600 active Eisenhower Fellows around the world.
Let’s see how the #efjourney continues with more and more new friends around.
(The quotes above are from the introduction of the fellows in the course of this two days, I will not attribute them to each of them personally here, but I thank them for being so honest and inspiring.)