A Graduation Story: History in the Making

02/28/09

An historic event marks the beginning of a new future for many and a milestone for IDEAS Associates.

February 28, 2009 - In partnership with Operation Mercy Charitable Company, IDEAS associates and IDEAS President Vernon Laverty witnessed the first-ever graduation service for Dalit (‘untouchable') children from OMCC's English-language schools.  Across South Asia there are now nearly 100 of these facilities with student enrollment approaching 15,000.

Wearing blue satin caps and gowns and donning smiles more beautiful than the jasmine and marigold garlands they wore around their necks, each of the 17 local graduates (nearly 50 in all across the nation) received a diploma, a trophy, and the promise of career counseling as they take the next step in their academic careers.  Vernon Laverty was one of several international guests present who had the privilege of awarding half the graduates their diplomas on that historic night.

IDEAS associate LaVonne Buhler and her Teacher Training Course participants ran the logistics of the event flawlessly, while IDEAS associate Ben Spotts coordinated local and international press coverage.  IDEAS associate John Sparks produced a video of graduating students from a school unable to make the journey to the graduation service.  This video was played during the ceremony while tears abundantly flowed within the audience as graduates proudly proclaimed their thanks and their intentions for the future: careers in medicine, business, government and science.

IDEAS Associate Terri Rider and her healthcare team were given a major part of the graduation ceremony to feature the work of the schools' Community Health Workers.  These workers are seeing significant positive health outcomes in Dalit students and in community mortality and morbidity rates.  After the eevent, IDEAS Associate Mary Jones shared her joy with the team as ‘her children' from a neighboring slum community marched across the stage as the first members of their family to receive a basic education.

IDEAS South Asia project leader Kevin Kadwell explained, "We were witnesses to a new beginning for these nearly 50 children who formerly had no hope.  These 50 youngsters, formerly confined to dead-end, undignified jobs, now realistically dream of being doctors, teachers, and engineers.  These 50 graduates who, with great pride, take the next step toward personal freedom and emancipation for an entire generation of people who have known nothing but oppression."

Together with global partners like IDEAS, OMCC's Dalit Education Centers sent their first graduating class into the world with transformed lives, newly equipped and determined to transform their own communities.

A proud moment, indeed.  History in the making.