Reflections on a new family member and his LearnServe role models.
December 21, 2014
Six months ago today — as our LearnServe Abroad teams boarded their flights to Paraguay, Zambia, and Jamaica — my wife Sarah and I welcomed our son Jacob intothe world. A healthy 7 pounds 4 ounces, Jacob emerged ready to meet the world.
That same week, a continent away, in a makeshift home built of wood and scrap metal on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay, another new child entered the world. LearnServe Paraguay participant Xavier Rivera met the mother and baby 20 days later, during a census of their neighborhood facilitated by our local community partner organization. Mother and baby had been displaced by the most devastating floods to hit Paraguay in decades. Their home, built on a stretch of swamp infill not formally recognized by the country’s government, was under water. The baby was malnourished; the mother desperate.
Two newborns, two different worlds.
These past six months — as our Jacob has learned to babble and laugh, roll and reach — have challenged us to reflect on the world we welcomed him into. We have seen the tragic reminders of persistent and pervasive racism. We have wrestled with the unequal distribution of income and opportunity that surround us. As we put our child to bed each night, we remember that hundreds of families in our own city don’t have a safe place to sleep.
And yet I am hopeful.
Last week, Jacob joined us as 65 LearnServe Fellows took the stage at the 8th Annual Innovators’ Coffee House to debut their social ventures in progress. Each student shared powerfully, personally, passionately her or his vision for the future, and how to get there. Ending gun violence in the District. Closing the literacy gap. Expanding science education for middle school students. Deconstructing domestic violence. Improving access to healthcare and nutrition.
I am so grateful that these will be his people, his conversations, his role models. I thank each of you for building such an extraordinary community of innovators and changemakers, not just for Jacob, but for each of us who is fortunate to be part of the extended LearnServe family. And I write this with the full confidence that our students will, in fact, shape the world around them— because they already have.
Xavier, our current cohort of Fellows, and the 800 LearnServe alumni before them, are just the beginning. Will you join us as we inspire more students to discover their passions, stretch their leadership skills, build bridges across countries — and launch initiatives that have, in turn, touched the lives of hundreds more?
Visit www.learn-serve.org/donate to invest in our work for the coming year.
The challenges and injustices that Jacob and his generation will face are real, and big. Yet each day I see in the empathetic smiles and friendships forged across neighborhoods and continents — in the determination of students with the passion to make a difference, and the tools to make an impact — the potential for a better future.
Thank you for helping us get there.
Best wishes for the new year,
~ Scott Rechler
p.s. Please invest in our community of LearnServe students and alumni with a gift to LearnServe this season. Your support makes their successes possible. Thank you.