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| Some of the bags. |
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As we get ready to leave, on our last full day in the States
we are packing feverishly, doing our best not to forget anything. We have already shipped boxes of items to
Vienna. Mostly my books but other odds
and ends, imagine reducing everything you own to 16 boxes and 12-15
suitcases. It has been a good process
actually but a growing one. I am a
natural pack rat. I am not good at
throwing things away, all of the ‘organized’ types look at me as if I’m a sub
life form but I do try. God seemed to
see fit to bless me with other gifts, there apparently wasn‘t room for organization
so the last 6 months of preparation were challenging. Still, that which doesn’t kill me only serves
to make me stronger.
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| Dan Egeler speaking at one of the sessions. |
In my last post I said I would post a blog on the content of
our PFO (Pre-Field Orientation). I would
say the entirety of PFO could be broken up into three categories (had to be
three)
1 - Know Thyself: Nosce te ipsum
This is as simple as it
sounds. The first few days amidst
program overview lectures we reviewed Myers Briggs results and other various
self evaluation tests. Amusingly on the
Myers Briggs I ended up being an INTP. I
suspect there will be some that doubt the ‘I’ part but I feel pretty good about
the result.
In another aspect of understanding
yourself, there were sessions on keeping your head on straight during your time
abroad. A significant emphasis was on
moral purity, understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and how to avoid
some of the pitfalls along the way. In
my opinion the best and most valuable material was related to keeping your
Christian faith strong. Good stuff.
2 - Understand Others:
I would say the vast
majority of the time spent at PFO was spent learning to understand others. An emphasis here focused on Third Culture
Kids (TCK’s), mostly as we will be teaching TCK’s. TCK’s by definition are children from one
culture that are transplanted into another culture. They end up with a point of view that doesn’t
naturally fit in either culture. The
term applies to the third combination culture and how to relate to students
that fit in this scenario.
Other than learning about
TCK’s, a primary focus for the conference was how to better understand others and
how to have a better understanding of what living in other cultures is like and
how to adapt to function well within that culture.
3 - Application
Time was given to reviewing
different applications for what we studied.
To me, the most interesting and possibly valuable was a morning long
simulation. In this simulation we were
placed in a scenario where a Christian school in another country was being
attacked by anti government rebels. The
participants were placed in rooms, roughly 25/room and isolated from the rest
of the group. We were each given roles
by the facilitator who was not allowed to give any instructions besides what
was on the instruction sheet. From that
point on we were not allowed to leave the room or receive additional
instruction. One of the roles, the head
of the school, was conducted by a staff member.
Other assigned roles were assistant principal, various teaching roles, a
limited number of students, a person who was assigned to be a national citizen
and other non American participants.
The simulation details went as
follows; There has been rebel activity
in the city where the school is located.
The school was across town from the activity and due to perceived lack
of threat it continued operation as normal.
At a recorded point in the morning a ‘Code Red’ was called over the
school intercom. The school Code Red
procedure mandates that anyone in the school proceed immediately to a classroom,
lock down the classroom and hide. The
instructions did not indicate if the lock down classrooms were predetermined or
random.
From this point the instructions
from the moderator were sporadic.
Usually indicating an event was taking place. In one instance the facilitator indicated
gunfire was heard and later the principal came over the intercom and told everyone
that rebels made it into a class room and there were casualties. No more could be determined at that
time. Various other updates were given
though out the morning. The head of the
school also came and gave updates in person a few times but would not stay to
answer questions.
In all the simulation lasted 2-3
hours. Efforts were made to protect the
students and if the classroom was breached by rebels the teachers were to
attempt to delay the rebels to provide the best opportunity for the students to
escape. At each update, even though we
knew it was only a scenario, we found the tension rising in the room. Participants began to assume the personality
of the character they were assigned, at least in some capacity. At the conclusion of the simulation the
principal entered and gave an update. The
American military was sending special forces to evacuate American Citizens from
the compound. Citizens of other
countries, including national citizens were told they must stay behind and wait
for assistance from their passport countries.
This was found to be difficult for those who were the American
citizens. It was very difficult to leave
friends, colleagues and students behind, not knowing their fate.
One of the most interesting aspects of the
simulation was even though we knew it was a simulation, as the morning wore on
the participants began to get into their roles.
By the end of the simulation, choices that had to be made related to
evacuation were difficult and in some cases emotional for participants.
Well,
back to packing. We are getting
close. Please keep us in your prayers,
much is going on over the next several day.
I would like to thank those that have chosen to support us prayerfully and also those who have chosen to do so financially. We could
not do it without you. If you are
considering supporting us financially and have not done so yet, you can find
links in the upper left column on our blog page making it easy to contribute online. We are not to our support level yet and would
greatly appreciate any support great or small.
Blessing, Billy
