Musings from Montevideo
We’ve reached the halfway point for my SAP Social Sabbatical cohort’s time in Uruguay. The breakneck speed of week 1 gave way to a sense of settling in, growing roots and getting down to business in week 2. This time next week, we will be putting final touches on our deliverables and presentations, and 12 days from now I’ll be shutting off the lights in my hotel room for the last time.
What an adventure!
Before any more time slips away, I want to share a bit more about what exactly I’m doing here in Montevideo.
The 12 of us taking part in this cohort are divided into four sub-teams of 3. In my case, my trio is assigned to work with Anima, an organization that introduced the dual studies training model (think vocational training) to Uruguay. More specifically, Anima provides youths 14+ who are from underserved communities and at-risk to not complete their education with the chance to learn while also gaining professional experience with cooperating companies.
Think back to when you were a young teenager (or emerging adult, however you’d like to put it). Was your path populated with options? Were you surrounded by a support system that pushed you towards your future with intention? Did you have the luxury of delaying “grown up” realities (getting a job, being a caregiver, contributing to a household) while you enjoyed the typical rites of passage that come with an ideal high school experience?
My answers to all of the above are yes — and I was never fully aware of how blessed I was to have that storyline until now.
While Uruguay is a beacon of stability and success for South America as a whole, the country struggles with a significant high school drop-out rate. This isn’t due to a lack of interest in education; in many cases, it’s due to necessity. The allure of leaving school to enter the workforce and earn immediate money is hard to ignore for many families. Combine that with the low volume of entry-level positions in the workforce, and one’s dreams of a professional future can be hard to justify when the need for income is much more tangible.
With that being said, you should meet some of the students we’ve been privileged to connect with over the last few weeks. Their intelligence is surpassed only by their warmth and excitement. While plugging away at our project in our designated workspace, we often hear the sounds of cheering during a classroom contest, laughing in the hallways or a nervous buzz when preparing for a big event (like the class debates they held in the courtyard recently). They are using agile methodologies in their projects, learning Kanban as a project management tool and studying topics like software development while working 12 hours/week in real companies.
I don’t remember much about what I was learning when I was 16 years old, but I certainly didn’t know what a scrum master is.
Anima is a school built entirely around the dual studies model. Its students — 50 accepted per annual cohort, out of hundreds of applicants each year — have a rigorous curriculum where theory and practicality intersect, and they literally apply what they learn daily. These students, whether they go on to university or enter the workforce upon graduation (both outcomes are considered a success), will be positioned for a level of success that previous generations couldn’t even dream about, thanks to the doors and windows that Anima opens for them.
So, how does my team fit into this picture? We are working on helping Anima multiply the benefits of a dual studies model by spreading the word of its success. The more students, companies and schools that know about this alternative path to a future, the more this platform can expand its reach and change the lives of Uruguay’s future generations. Our hosts Ximena (Founder and Executive Director) and Mercedes (oversees the tutor relationships with the participating companies) have asked us to combine our collective expertise and create a plan for them to elevate the reach for dual studies. And after four weeks on the ground, that’s what we will hope to leave behind.
Has it been fun, exhilarating, amazing? Yes. Is Uruguay exceeding all expectations as a month-long home country? Yes. Does that mean it’s been easy? Newp. Not by a long shot.
I miss home. More than I expected to. Tomorrow is the first Halloween in my daughters’ lives that I won’t be there, helping them get in costume, doing their makeup and trucking it through the neighborhood for candy — and it’s killing me. And as fun as it is to try new restaurants, I’ve never missed grocery shopping and cooking so much in my life.
Also, remember my second blog post where I talked about freedom through boundaries? And how I needed to learn to let go and trust that I could fully immerse in this endeavor without feeling guilty about what I was leaving behind? If you don’t remember, here’s a reminder to give it a read :-). Anyway, here’s what I wasn’t anticipating: the eery feeling after you do lift yourself out of your “normal” and everything keeps on moving just fine. That’s all I wanted when I was preparing for this experience, but I’ve had moments here (a few fleeting moments, but still) where I’m wondering if it was TOO easy for me to be replaced lol. I guess that’s a psychoanalysis for another time, but it’s an emotion I’ve experienced here so why not share with the world?
ANYWAY…it’s been awesome, life-changing, but also hard at times. That said, in 12 days, this all becomes a memory. The huge smiles from the students and staff as they proudly practice their English and greet us with “hello!” every day, the new insights I collect daily about this country’s past, present and future, and the 11 colleagues who were strangers a month ago and are slowly becoming family. This once-in-a-lifetime journey, and this incredible platform with which I can make an amazing impact, are a finite story with a dwindling number of remaining pages.
So I’ll finish this blog, meet with my cohort in the lobby soon for another night out filled with translating Spanish menus and sharing stories of the day, wish my kids goodnight via Facetime and go to sleep with a tired smile. There’s more work to be done, and it’s the privilege of a lifetime to be here doing it.
#SAP #SAPSocialSabbatical #Uruguay #Montevideo #LifeatSAP #SAP4Good
