At approximately 815pm on November 19, I received the email from the Turkish chess coordinator. I made the payment for Nahuel on our co-workers credit card. It was done. As far as we know, Nahuel is playing chess in Turkey and this story does in fact have a happy ending.
The Nahuel saga teaches us a number of things. Here are my conclusions.
I think that it is wonderful that our volunteers and others want to help a person like Nahuel realize a dream or even better yet, for him to have the opportunity to be recognized for his accomplishments. It is no small thing that a group of volunteers and organizations came together to send a young boy and his father to Turkey. I am grateful that everything worked out and I am grateful that people are willing to got out of their way for someone else like this.
On the flip side, there are some very serious issues that deserve reflection with regards to the Nahuel story. One of the major issues has to do with 'communication.' Despite the 'good intentions' of each person in this story, it is potentially 'dangerous' in any environment, but particularly this one, to promise a young boy that he would be able to go to Turkey without really having a plan or knowing all of the information needed to execute that plan.
The commitment to helping Nahuel created uncertain 'expectations'. It created expectations that there would be money for him and that the arrangements would be taken care of. But what if our efforts failed? May be nothing. Now is not the time to discuss the environmental, cultural, and social sensitivities that exist in Nahuel's neighborhood, in many neighborhoods like his. Nevertheless, I think that it is important to remember that we must be careful with what we promise to others or the actions we take to help others. We must assure that the lines of communication are clear and always maintain a degree of discipline when we contemplate such actions and their potential consequences. Certain attitudes or procedures did not occur throughout this process, but no one is to blame for that. Nevertheless, we were fortunate that everything worked out in the end. I hope each person took something away from this experience for the next time. I know that I did.
We hope that Nahuel will win the tournament too. :)
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2 comments:
Nahuel has won much more than the tournament jon! he has won many many hearts! congratulations to all the ones that made this trip posible. milagros
Nahuel is back in Buenos Aires and happy about he experience he's had. You can read more about it from Conviven's weblog: http://centroconviven.blogspot.com/2007/12/back-from-narnia-fairytale.html
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