What Happened in 2019 & What’s Coming in 2020

The year 2019 was busy for Learning Life!  In brief, we completed our international food culture project, grew our popular mentoring program, established two new organizational partnerships, successfully launched our Democracy Dinners, started expanding our Family Diplomacy Initiative on Facebook, doubling the number of participants worldwide, and began co-building a pipeline of opportunities for children in metro Washington DC to enter into world affairs careers.  This post reports on each of these achievements, reveals our plans for 2020, and explains three ways you can support our work.

We began 2019 with the final meetings of our food culture project.  The meetings and project got participating children and parents in Washington DC, San Salvador, El Salvador, and Dakar, Senegal learning about food culture in their countries as well as basics of nutrition.  In DC, we interspersed the project lessons with “move your body” balance, flexibility, strength and endurance fitness challenges to reinforce the health focus and further engage our energetic kids (see “fundays” for more details).  As the project report documents, participants showed significant improvements in their interest in the wider world, their tolerance for difference, and knowledge of food culture and nutrition.

Up through the summer, many of our DC families also benefited from free cook-eat-learn sessions (CELS) run by Learning Life volunteers at the homes of our families in collaboration with the Georgetown University School of Medicine’s Community Health Division.  With each session, volunteers brought the ingredients for a healthy, inexpensive, foreign meal to a family’s home, prepared and ate the meal with participating family members, and imparted information about the foreign culture as well as nutrition and health through interactive Powerpoint presentations, games and demonstrations.

In June, we launched Democracy Dinners to connect activists, academics, elected officials and professionals working at local to global levels in metro Washington DC’s democracy sector.  Given current authoritarian challenges to democracy, the Dinners are intended to spur small-group discussion and networking among democracy proponents.  As of this writing, we successfully completed six Dinners and one end-of-year Democracy Dessert, with more to come in 2020 as the U.S. Presidential Election comes to a head.

On September 1, our Citizen Diplomacy Initiative became the Family Diplomacy Initiative (FDI) to more accurately reflect its focus.  Started in summer 2016, the Initiative has always connected families online across national borders to learn from each other.  In 2016-2019, we successfully completed two small-scale pilots — a community photo project and the above-mentioned food culture project — engaging lower-income families in the USA, El Salvador, Senegal and Jordan.  During the summer, we began preparing to grow FDI’s Facebook group in the next phase of the Initiative’s development.  In July, we started sharing weekly “Eye on the World” posts — world videos, photo collections, stories and other international content of interest to families — and in October we began to invite families worldwide to join the Facebook Group.  The Group has since doubled in size from about 200 participants in early October to over 400 as the year ends.  Also in October, families began introducing themselves on the Facebook Group, and will continue to do so as we add new families across the world in the new year.

Given budgetary constraints, our International Mentoring Program remains relatively small, but nonetheless grew significantly, from 15 to 20 mentor-mentee pairs.  Our mentors are all located in the metro DC area, but mentor children either in-person in DC, or online in El Salvador or Senegal.  The mentoring program works alongside FDI to help open the world to children from lower-income families.  In DC,  Learning Life mentors take their mentees to area museums, embassies, libraries, cultural events, foreign restaurants and more to learn about the wider world.  Our mentors mentoring children in El Salvador or Senegal connect with their mentees online typically via Facebook or Whatsapp to learn about each other’s lives, and view and discuss short readings, photos and/or videos about local to international issues and events.   

In September, Learning Life also began working with members of the Global Access Pipeline or GAP, a network of leaders advancing diversity in U.S. foreign affairs.  GAP notes that American foreign affairs professionals have long been and still are disproportionately middle to upper-class white males, and argues that diversifying that workforce would strengthen U.S. foreign policy by providing a broader array of experiences and perspectives.  Accordingly, we have commenced a dialogue with other GAP member organizations operating in DC, including Women of Color Advancing Peace & Security, to figure out how we can work together to create a pipeline of coordinated opportunities that engage kids of color, including those from lower-income families, in international affairs from elementary school on up.

In 2019, Learning Life also forged two new organizational partnerships to enhance our work.  In February, we formalized a partnership with the Community Preservation and Development Corporation or CPDC, a regional nonprofit affordable housing developer.  That partnership provides us access to a community center, including a full kitchen, in which to hold our larger organizational events, like our international potlucks and world tastings.  Earlier this month, we also began a partnership with Washington DC’s International Student House (ISH), a residence for foreign students, interns and scholars.  The partnership allows our mentors and mentees in DC to participate in ISH Sunday communal meals, giving our kids the opportunity not only to learn from foreigners about their countries and cultures, but to practice vital social-communication skills with people different from them.

Looking forward to 2020, Learning Life will continue these partnerships as well as our Democracy Dinners and International Mentoring Program.  Importantly, some of our mentors will pilot test getting their DC mentees involved in earning Congressional Award certificates and medals to orient our American mentees’ world-learning activities to nationally recognized achievement.  The Congressional Award Foundation, the U.S. Congress’s only charity, awards bronze, silver and gold certificates and medals to children nationwide who complete approved activities in four areas: voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition/exploration.  In keeping with our international focus, Learning Life mentors will orient their mentees’ Congressional Award activities to world learning.

In 2020, we are also excited to grow our Family Diplomacy Initiative on Facebook, adding new families worldwide and posing questions to spur sharing and learning about their lives and perspectives.  Questions we will pose include “what does breakfast look like in your family?” “what do your pets look like, if you have any?” “what is your definition of a successful life?” and “what is the biggest problem facing your community?”  In addition, beyond our weekly “Eye on the World” posts, we will periodically publish profiles of some of our families to enrich our sense of our expanding and diverse global community.  Lastly, we will continue working with GAP member organizations to develop a pipeline of world affairs opportunities for kids of color in metro DC, especially for those from lower-income families.  Stay tuned for more!

As we enter 2020, here are three ways you can help Learning Life grow:

1) Join and spread the word about our Family Diplomacy Initiative: If you are on Facebook, please join FDI, and share the group with your friends and family who may be interested as we continue to grow the Initiative in 2020.  Please also stay tuned to Learning Life news by following our Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter pages, and sign up for our monthly email news dispatches.

2) Become a Learning Life mentor: If you or someone you know would be interested in opening the world to a child in Washington DC, Dakar, or San Salvador, please read our mentoring page for more information, then send us your resume at email@learninglife.info.

3) Shop through iGive.com, and help fund Learning Life free. Shop more than 1,400 stores (Apple, Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, The Gap, KMart, Nordstrom, Sephora, Staples, Starbucks, Target, T-Mobile, Walgreens, and many more) through iGive, and if you make Learning Life your preferred charity, a percentage of your purchase will be donated to Learning Life at no cost to you.

Thank you for your support!  Happy New Year 2020…and New Decade!   

Paul Lachelier, Ph.D.
Founder & Director, Learning Life

First International Silent Story Videos Are Out!

Learning Life is pleased to announce the release of a new silent story video series to encourage conversation and learning about international issues.  The four short videos, each linked below, feature Learning Life mentors and mentees, and signal the start of a longer-term project to develop a global silent story competition.

In line with Learning Life’s mission to spread learning and innovate education beyond school walls, Learning Life staff developed video silent short stories to creatively and collaboratively engage our youth and families in learning about international issues.  The stories are silent for two reasons: to stimulate viewer conversation about the stories’ meanings, and to allow anyone worldwide, regardless of their spoken language(s), to understand the stories.  This fall, Learning Life staff and volunteers produced four stories on issues of poverty, labor and consumption, gender inequality, and school work.  These stories featured Learning Life Mentoring Program youth and adult volunteers in the metro Washington, DC, USA as the on-screen actors.

The silent stories follow on a pilot live Global Storytelling Challenge led by Learning Life staff and featuring 7th and 8th grade students at Saint Thomas More Catholic Academy (STM) in Washington DC in fall 2018.  The students created and performed their own plays about child labor and human trafficking before an audience of fellow STM students and Learning Life volunteer storytelling judges.

“Learning Life’s silent stories offer a new, fun and interactive way to engage in learning. The kids involved really enjoyed being on camera.  Our move this year from live to video storytelling also allows us to easily post, spread and reuse the stories to ignite conversation and learning,” said Learning Life’s founder and director, Paul Lachelier.  “This was a successful test run, so we plan to create more stories next year, hopefully featuring Learning Life children in differing countries. As I said last year, we live in one world, we all like stories, and stories can change the world.”

In 2020 and beyond, Learning Life plans to produce more video stories, and collect them in a growing library of silent stories on international issues on Youtube to spur conversation and learning in families, groups and classrooms across the globe.  The long-term vision is to develop an international silent storytelling competition that engages youth and families worldwide in making their own silent stories, or stories in collaboration with youth or families in other countries.  To learn more, or get involved in future Learning Life silent stories, please contact us at email@learninglife.info.

Learning Life wishes to thank the following volunteers for helping to bring these first four silent stories to fruition:

Video and story production staff: Sumona Banerji, Desmond Jordan, Paul Lachelier, Maddy McFarlane, and Noah Watters.

Story actors: Desmond Jordan, Paul & Suzanne Lachelier, James Mayo, Aubrey & Deon Saunders, Javion & Baileigh Walker.

Learning Life Partners with DC International Student House

Learning Life is pleased to announce a new partnership with Washington DC’s International Student House (ISH) that will bring our mentors and mentees together with foreign visitors to share meals and cultures.

Learning Life’s international mentoring program connects kids ages 6 to 18 from lower-income families in Washington DC, San Salvador, El Salvador, and Dakar, Senegal with caring adult mentors.  Our mentors, all in metro DC, help open the world to those mentees in San Salvador and Dakar through online conversations and messaging about their mentees’ lives, interests and goals, connecting these to relevant happenings and opportunities in the world.  For instance, a mentor may connect a girl in San Salvador who likes singing to singers and music around the world through photos, videos and conversation.  In turn, our mentors who mentor children in DC bring them to museums, embassies, libraries, cultural events, foreign restaurants and more in the metro DC area.  With this new partnership, Learning Life’s mentors can now bring their DC mentees to ISH to connect with the world in a personal way.

Located in Washington DC’s Dupont Circle neighborhood, ISH each year welcomes graduate students, scholars and interns from countries around the world.  In 2018, ISH had 194 residents who hailed from 48 nations.  Through diverse programming and partnerships, ISH “promotes inter-cultural dialogue, encourages life-long connections, and fosters global citizenship,” as its website indicates.  It is with such purpose that Learning Life mentors and mentees will have the opportunity to dine and discuss their lives and cultures with foreign students, interns and scholars on Sundays at 1pm over lunch, when many ISH residents eat communal meals at round tables.

“In keeping with ISH’s mission to promote inter-cultural dialogue, we are happy to welcome Learning Life mentors and mentees to give our residents a distinct perspective on Americans and American life.  We think our residents will learn as much from the children of Washington DC as the children will learn from them,” said Jennifer Simpson, Resident Manager of the International Student House.

“This new partnership with ISH will give our DC kids an engaging opportunity not only to learn about foreign cultures through conversation with people from other countries, but to practice social skills vital to communication in our diverse and increasingly connected world,” said Learning Life’s Director, Paul Lachelier.

Intern Spotlight: Lexie Hill

Learning Life’s student interns this fall 2019 are, among other things, supporting our Family Diplomacy Initiative (FDI), Democracy Dinners, and world learning excursions with Learning Life children in Washington DC.  Lexie Hill interviewed below, has thus far been helping with the excursions, and outreach for the FDI and Democracy Dinners.

Where were you born and raised?

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

What school do you attend, and what is your year and major there?

I attend George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where I am a major in Public Administration with a minor in Human Development & Family Sciences.

What do you like to do in your free time?

In my free time I like to hang out with my friends.  We watch movies (especially comedies, Marvel films), go to all kinds of restaurants, or go shopping for clothes.

What are your career plans?

I hope to work with a Department of Education either at the state or federal level to change and implement education policies that better our education system and country.

Why did you choose to intern with Learning Life?

My original career plans was to do foreign policy and work at the international level, however they have now shifted into educational policy at the domestic level. Even though my career plans do not involve the international level anymore, that is something that still interests me deeply.  Learning Life combines the international with education as the organization’s goal is to educate people about the world.

What is the most beautiful place you have seen on Earth, and why is it so beautiful?

I think the most beautiful place I’ve seen is Cajón Del Maipo in Chile. It’s a canyon is southern Chile.  Even when you are there it still looks like it’s fake because the river water is so blue and the Andes mountains are so vast.  There were also wild horses roaming around, which just added to the breath-taking scene.