Day 5 - 11th May 2017 (Day 4 of WEF)
Presence
I find it hard to fall asleep because I have a bit of a
belly ache. I try to stave it off but I eventually have to initiate my long
night of Delhi Belly.
Phionah, my roommate, begins to worry but I good humouredly
calm her down. She says she has never seen anyone sick and happy. To me, a
physical ailment is no cause for despair and feeling miserable will certainly
not help me get better faster, so all I do is accept the circumstances, listen
to my body and stay patiently Present – this too shall pass.
Inasmuch as we are living in a human body, both pain and
pleasure shall always be part of the kaleidoscope of possibilities produced by
physical reality. The tipping point depends on whether we stay attached to
either one or the other – or on the other hand realise that life is made of
moments, and all moments pass.
Hence we experience either freedom or bondage. I
choose freedom.
I have a session today - Valuing Human Development andEmpowerment in Teaching and Training (starts at 1hour 7 minutes). Phionah starts wondering if I will be
able to pull it through. I, on the contrary, have no doubt.
The only time I ever take medication is as a last resource
and Immodium is the only thing I decide to bring along with me, giving in to
Pedro’s insistence that no one goes to India without it. Thank goodness,
because now it saves my day!
I take two pills only after many trips to the bathroom, for
I believe that diarrhoea and throwing up are the body’s way of purging anything
it does not need and if it has created this reaction to either something I ate
or drank, or the overall energy of many people together going through
transformational processes, then it is both necessary and appropriate and I am
not going to take pills to stop the discomfort before I really have to.
Sure enough I get better in a jiffy and though I feel weak
and dehydrated I am ready for a new day.
I am on the panel with Dr. Nazneen Akhter, Paulina LawsinNayra and Diana Skelton and once again
learn a lot from my co-speakers and enjoy sharing experiences about education. Someone even unexpectedly comes up to me at the end of the session asking whether I would be willing to come back to India and share what I have just spoken about with their students, how much I would charge considering they would be paying for my plane and accomodation. I am so surprised I just have no idea at that moment. Let's see how this turns out :) I will keep you updated.
A group of young girls are attending the session and right
after I ask them whether I can record them saying how they feel about this
experience (please click to view). They are 10th graders from a school in Delhi and a group of bold
Maths and English teachers who dared to ask the school director to bring them
to the WEF instead of going to classes.
It is such a rich
choice! These girls are having a truly life-changing opportunity that will
surely influence their paths in many ways. They are so candid, innocent and
happy. Thank you girls, and thank you teachers J
***
Today the Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Margarida Marques arrives, so
I attend her session together with the Embassy’s Committee and though I am not
into politics, it turns out to be an interesting presentation of Portugal’s
position regarding womens’ rights, equality and equity: European Politics towards Gender Balance.
***
I attend Regina Robinson and Mahiema Anand's session - Getting Naked to get Free which I enjoy.
Regina asks questions throughout the session and I repeatedly share that one needs to lose everything in order to find Who one truly is. There is a lady from Kenya, a medical doctor I cannot recall the name of, sitting right next to me and Phionah and she really wants to understand what I mean and how this can be done. We engage in a very interesting and profound conversation out in the garden and it's a pity I can't find her card. I really loved meeting her.
***
Luiza has to leave unexpectedly. She had mixed up her flight
date and should have left last night so she ends up not coming to the dinner at
the Portuguese Ambassador’s Residence, which leaves just me and Carla. Sofia Batalha, Consul of the Portuguese Embassy picks us up at the hotel.
The Embassy’s delegates present at the dinner are easy to
engage in conversation with and the Ambassador and his wife receive us with
moderate formality, which makes me feel comfortable, for I am not used to
protocol.
Carla feels a bit uneasy, since the fact that she has not been invited but sort of made herself invited starts taking its toll on her set of moral values. However, there is no reason for unease because everyone is very welcoming.
Not having eaten all day, I manage to enjoy dinner and by
then feel great as usual.
I suppose it’s normal for the Embassy people to be waited on
by gloved servants but it is quite new to me and I wonder what it feels like to
pretend to be invisible and yet be a human being with thoughts and feelings,
just like everyone else. Interesting life experience, definitely.
It is a pleasant occasion and in the end Carla starts
distributing souvenirs from the Netherlands as tokens of her appreciation, just
like she offered me when we first met. She is a very sweet woman and I am
grateful to have met her.
While we are in the car on our way back to the hotel, she
gives me a pink cloth bag together with many thanks for the opportunity I
opened up for her. And do you know what? I really need a bag J I have got quite a few
gifts sonce I’ve got here and my backpack can’t take anything else in it, so
she has just given me exactly what I needed next.
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