We’re on the plane, reflecting on another great couple of workshops, all the things that we’ve done and the progress the students have made. It’s always amazing how far the students can come in a few days and it’s even more refreshing to see the impact their work has on the people in their communities. Today’s graduation was a real win.
While it probably wasn’t as big as the Advanced student’s graduation in Dushanbe, the Osh Beginner Class hosted a graduation ceremony that nearly filled the Osh University’s theatre. The student’s work was shown in slideshows for more than a half an hour and parents were standing up shooting video of the slideshows and taking snaps of the projected images with their mobile phones! It was obvious that everyone was pretty impressed. At the end of the show, after we presented the students their participants, there was a small civil war over the microphone between the three VIP’s who were vying for the opportunity to gush most profusely about the work the students had done.
I can’t say enough how surprised these organizations are every time (though we tell them, every time that they should expect great things) and how much they love what they see when they watch the students work. And after all the hugs and selfies and email and Whatsapp messages we shared and promised to share, there’s little chance that anyone is going to forget anyone from the 2015 Tajik/Kyrgyz workshop anytime soon.