The end begins

My time at IPEC is over but the experiences and questions I encountered there have planted themselves in small but vital niches within by thoughts. I feel that as time goes on, these seeds of experience are growing. I have already seen changes in my actions in my brief time at home.

The program as a whole challenged the perspectives I hold about myself and the world around me and especially the relationship between the two. The program effectively framed questions of personal direction and global responsibility in ways which led to very thought provoking internal and group discussions. This process affirmed some of my values and questioned others--leading to some very intense personal re-evaluation.

The tools which were offered to us as students are a very important element worth emphasis--I feel much better equipped to approach a situation, question it, gather information, and then find solutions and, most importantly, act upon them. This process comes out formally in our training of the "TEVEP" organizational model but also from a variety of indirect sources such as the sheer inspiration provided by the environment hard working people have created at IPEC.

I leave you with a picture -- this IPEC at eight years. They began with a brown patch of degraded earth and turned it into an oasis. Now what can we do with all the riches surrounding us?