It sometimes happens that a group of brilliant, committed educational-change leaders figure out how to be together and not let anything stand in the way—even when the leader cannot get to the workshop site.


A few weeks before a recent educational change workshop, I ran into some problems getting my passport renewed. I could not get it in time, so a few of us had a Skype meeting and decided that I would lead the workshop via the Internet. It turned out to be [resulted in being] an amazing experience for us all. 


We set up computers, a big-screen television, a camera, and a sound system and made sure that I could see all the participants and they could see me. Eleven people from the United States and Canada connected with me in Trinidad and Tobago. 


We followed a typical workshop schedule, with a class on Friday night and three classes on Saturday and Sunday. We also had a gather-in during the day on Friday with those who had arrived Thursday night. For mini-sessions and Co-Counselling sessions, one person would stay in the room to counsel with me and the others would go to other parts of the house. I was able to counsel people in the group setting. We even had a counsel-the-leader session. 


We worked on our leadership, what it means to be leaders of educational change, the expectation that we will change the educational systems, our responsibility for spreading educational change work in the RC Communities, and educational change in the wide world. 


Apart from learning the technological skills, we learned that our connections and commitment to each other are the most important factor in our educational change work and leadership. I couldn’t be physically close to the folks, but because of the strong relationships we have built over the years, it was hardly a limitation. 


This was such a testament to all the educational-change work we have done and to what reclaiming our intelligence can allow us to do. Educational change work at its best!