The Zinnia Project
I was looking at the timescale for the Zinnia Project here in Bangalore.
We want to build a school, for ages right through from 3 to 18. Our pre-schools are
named alphabetically after flowers, Azalea, Bluebell, Carnation and so forth. I
decided that our schools for a wider age-group should keep the tradition, but
start at the other end of the alphabet hence, The Zinnia Project.
A school that will reveal children’s
strengths, rather than uncover their weaknesses.
A school where talents are discovered,
developed and valued.
It will be a school that acknowledges that every positive passion has
value, and where every child discovers that what you can contribute to the
world, is more important than what you can take out of it.
Like our pre-schools, Zinnia will take innocent young infants, coming
from illiterate families, who live in the humblest, impoverished homes, in the
slums of Bangalore.
School fees will start at zero, and only start as and when the family feel that they can afford a modest contribution. In years to come, when our students are
earning and enjoying a lifestyle their family never thought possible, these alumni of our projects will
be encouraged to fund scholarships that will help to educate the next
generation.
It is an exciting dream, but a dream without a timescale can never
become reality, so I was sketching out a plan, and putting dates along the
timeline.
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| I got as far as finding a timeline template |
This was when I realised that the plan will evolve slowly, and even
Phase One will take us up to 2024. In 2030 we might see our first students
entering University, and if I live to see a Building Blocks student graduate
from University, I shall be 90 years old.
Maybe, by then, I shall be retired, but I shall never lose my
involvement in the amazing challenges of education. You can only change the
world through education, just one child at a time.
It’s all about the strength of an individual, and the power of refusing
to let yourself be put in a box and told all the things you cannot do. I remember the mood of the 60’s,
when my generation’s self-belief was off-the-scale. The pungent memories of World
War 2 had a declining influence, and started be part of the history of a
previous generation.
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| I had an unforgettable year working with youth theatre in Nairobi in the 60's |
The Liverpool Beat of the Mersey Sound, heralded a teenage revolution of self-confidence.
Today I see this same teenage energy reflected in the youth of the townships of
the Third World, where only the older generation remember colonialism.
These teenagers are succeeding because nobody has told them they can't–
just like our 5-year-old heroes at Building Blocks.
It was just the same along with my fellow VSO
volunteer, when we were working with teenagers our own age in a theatre club in Nairobi
in 1963.
Since I am now 75, it is unlikely that I shall see the Zinnia project
completed, and that is a very sobering thought.
But, at the same time, it is also exciting, to reflect on the fact that this
dream will live on. The little toddlers who screech with excitement when I walk
in to their classroom at Building Blocks today, may well pass through Zinnia
and then grow into strong and purposeful adults who can be an example to the next
generation.
If a small cohort can inspire their peers to focus on others, and not be
obsessed with the frivolity of materialistic consumerism, they will change the
world.
I always remember the wise words of the anthropologist, Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
