SLI Recap: Traveling to Puerto Rico

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Servant Leaders Institute had the honor of traveling to Puerto Rico with the Institute for Democratic Education in America and other community partners from February 26-March 4. IDEA has done meaningful work in Puerto Rico for many years. As stated by IDEA, "The Decolonize Puerto Rico: A Learning and Solidarity Experience is an initiative of VAMOS and the Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA) to educate people in the United States about the colonial reality of Puerto Rico and the powerful community-based struggles for education and decolonization that are expressed through the construction of the Puerto Rico that will be."

Picture by Shawn Strader; front-back and l-r: Rosaline McCoy, Vicki Peyton, Albert Sykes, Justo Méndez Aramburu, Shonnie Cooley, Sandra Cruz García, CassioBatteast,

Jonah Canner, Lisa Maria Rhodes, Christina Lopez Del Castillo, Dana Bennis, Valerie Bradley, Michelle Henry, Sandra Garcia, Miriam Gray, and Laketia Marshall Thomas

The time spent in Puerto Rico was enlightening and filled with meaningful experiences. Upon visiting various locations and meeting the local citizens, we learned Mississippi shares many challenges with the people of Puerto Rico such as climate change, infrastructure, education, healthcare, and economics. In order to learn more about how the people of Puerto Rico are creating solutions and combatting systemic inequities, we spent time in communities throughout Caguas, San Juan, Ponce, Adjuntas, and Orocovis.

Each location we visited was intentional and well-planned by VAMOS. Some of those locations included a local school, church, women and children's shelter, health clinic, food bank, mutual support center, and retreat centers. The names of some of those locations include the following: Nuestra Escuela Caguas, Placita Betances, Centro de Apoyo Mutuo, Tibes, Barrio Portugués, Sector Las Lágrimas y el Consultorio médico comunitario, Casa Collores, and etc.

Nuestra Escuela was one of the most important site visits for SLI due to it being a community school and SLI being a supporter of developing community schools in Jackson, MS and across the state. Nuestra Escuela is student-centered, and it uses restorative practices. Students and parents play in active role in choosing faculty and staff. There is no standardized testing, with the exception of a pre assessment, and students are able to choose an educational track based upon their interests and career choice. One of Nuestra Escuaela's major foundational values, love, is also significant to SLI's value system.

We were fortunate to learn from the VAMOS family and many of the locals. Everyone we encountered communicated a common sentiment and asked that we inform others upon returning home- the people of Puerto Rico are striving for true independence. This is evident in how they have created schools, opened clinics, built bridges, filled and sustained food banks, and built networks independently after facing many obstacles-natural and man-made due to colonization.

l-r: Dana Bennis, Ana Yris Guzman Torres, and Justo Méndez Aramburu

SLI will visit Puerto Rico again for a deeper learning experience centered on community schools and to continue building community between our state and the people of Puerto Rico. It is important for youth leaders to have this experience as well, and SLI wants to ensure that actually happens. Therefore, we need your full support.

To learn more, watch this video by Shawn Strader from the Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA)

Contribute to world-changing work VAMOS is doing by using this link: https://www.vamospr.org/contribuye

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