Last week in my leadership class, I talked about how adaptation – the ability to adapt to changing circumstances – is one of the marks of a good leader.
I chuckle now as I think about it because this year has been a master class in adaptation for all of us at STEP. Truth be told, the average Haitian has a Ph.D. in adaptation by the time they graduate High School. But adaptation for survival and adaptation in leadership are two different things.
I didn’t realize how much of a learning opportunity this year has been until a student raised his hand in class last week – after we had just temporarily relocated the campus – and asked: “How did you guys do this so quickly?”
It turns out that adaptation gets easier with practice…
Adaption at STEP 101: Peyi Lòk
This isn’t new territory for us, Haiti shut down almost entirely this past fall for several months. Every day flaming barricades blocked roads all over the country and it was impossible for our students to get to the campus.
So we adapted with WhatsApp. These days in Haiti, the internet is a little better than it used to be and most students have some sort of smartphone. Almost all of them communicate using WhatsApp.
Within a week or so we created groups on WhatsApp for each of our courses. Our professors started teaching by sharing images and voice messages to the groups.
It wasn’t perfect, but it provided a way for us to stay connected with the students and keep advancing (although a little more slowly) through the courses.
Adaption at STEP 201: Escalating Tensions in Bolosse
Eventually, Peyi Lòk calmed down and we were able to resume classes on campus again.
That changed on Thursday, March 5th. As our students were leaving for the day, a group of armed individuals told us we could no longer access the campus via the Ft. Mercredi road – effectively cutting off our access to the campus.
Recognizing this as a significant escalation in the ongoing tensions in our neighborhood, we knew we were going to need to temporarily hold classes off-campus.
Within 24 hours, we located an alternate site, and within 36 hours, we relocated our 26 dorm students to alternate housing on the other side of the city. By Sunday morning, we were well-positioned to open for classes at the temporary site the next day.
Classes went off without a hitch there for two weeks, and things were moving in the direction of us heading back to the campus soon.
Then COVID-19 entered Haiti.
Adaptation at STEP 301: Coronavirus
Late last week, the President of Haiti announced the first two official cases had arrived in the country. In the same address, he closed all schools until further notice, instituted a national curfew and restricted all gatherings to less than 10 people.
We don’t know what Covid-19 will do here yet, so we’re assuming we’ll be closed for at least a month.
Time to adapt again!
Last Friday, our students scattered back across the country to return to their homes. This week, our professors have been returning to their WhatsApp groups while we work on getting course content uploaded to an online learning management system called Edmodo.
The current challenge we face is not getting our courses online, but getting those online courses delivered to our students. Many of them are now in the countryside with little if any access to the internet.
We haven’t solved this challenge yet (please pray for us!), but we’re going to keep working at it until we figure it out.
The Mission Matters
Last week as I stood in front of my students (for what would be the last time for a while), we said one of the best motivators for adaptation in leadership is a compelling mission. When you really believe that your mission matters, you don’t let obstacles stop you. Instead, leaders are those who find ways to push through, allowing the mission to advance no matter what.
STEP’s mission is to prepare maturing Haitian leaders to make disciples of Christ that transform their communities to the Glory of God. We believe in this mission with all of our hearts. We believe that if this mission succeeds, one day we’ll see a new Haiti emerge.
These students of ours are going to face more than their fair share of obstacles after they leave STEP. Hopefully, the experience gained in this academic year will help make those obstacles just a little bit easier to hurdle.
This is almost certainly not the last time we’ll need to adapt our methods to advance our mission at STEP, but whatever the next challenge is, we’ll adapt to that too, with God’s help, and your faithful support.
As we say here in Haiti: An Ale! (Let’s go!)
