TechAverse slides

. . Messages from the tech-averse.

. . My name is Judith Lesner and I am here to wish Susan Potter Evangelista the very best birthday ever. I met Sue Potter in June 1963 at Peace Corps Philippines Group X training in Hilo Hawaii. We were two of the 142 trainees that started the 11 week program. Most of us newly graduated from college, almost entirely white and heavily female. After 11 weeks of activities including camping out, killing chickens, learning Tagalog (some of us much less proficient than others), quick courses in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), elementary science (I first heard the world ecosystem at that time), and "New Math" (where I learned about bases - not the political kind), climbing mountains (some got lots higher than others), seeing films on childbirth (no one in my Oriental Mindoro town thought that the American dalaga knew anything about giving birth and even after the films they were right) and teacher training in Hawaiian schools, 92 of us were deemed fit to go off to play for a week in Honolulu and then on to the Philippines.

. . I knew Sue in training but we were not special friends. We were both assigned to Mindoro, Sue to Mindoro Occidental and me to Mindoro Oriental. We might as well have been in New York and San Francisco as there was no direct route between the two sides of the island. I think we may have met in Manila at various events but I have no clear memories of where or why. In June of 1965 the entire group got together for the last time in Manila. Most of the group left for parts unknown while a few of us stayed on for another year..

. . Time lapse: Forty-eight years later... A few of us decided to hold a 50th Anniversary of the group in the fall of 2013. This entailed trying to track down the various members of the group. During this process we "found" Susan living in Palawan. Although she didn't come to the reunion, by email and Face Book she and I discovered how much we had in common (including politics) and a relationship deepened. I was so impressed by the work that she was doing and some of it was similar to what I was doing. She was busy teaching sex education to young folks and I was busy teaching parents of children who are blind how to teach about sex to their children..

. . Also, I was part of a group sending braille books and teaching supplies for Filipino students who are visually impaired. One of the program's we supported was in Brooke's Point, Palawan. Susan eventually made a trip up there and met the teacher. Six degrees of separation..

. . The big day is approaching. Jack and I are not able to do the video but rest assured, our love and prayers for the celebrant are winging their way to the heavens. We trust that the project will be a resounding success. Have a great.