The teaching begins

What do I say?  What do I say to these 65 teachers that have lost 5,000 of their colleagues throughout the country?  What do I say to these teachers whose base salary has been cut by as much as 35 percent?  How do I say thank you for taking the time to learn, to participate in professional development even though there is no real incentive - no incentive except that you are teachers through and through.  When their utility bills average 200 dollars a month and their salaries average 400-600 dollars how do you say that what we are bringing to you is so important?

I will go in their tomorrow and I will thank them for their service - their dedication - their commitment to the next generation - the generation that may be able to break out of the ennui - that persistent feeling that nothing will ever get better.  In this country where the best and the brightest are leaving, these teachers are staying and trying to make whatever inroads they can. 

Tonight Erin and I had dinner with one of our sponsors and her family.  Her wish for her daughter was that she would grow up and leave and come to America.  I can see this in her future - I can not see the future for Romania.  The dinner was light and relaxed and yet, underneath, in the subtle things said, there was despair, despair that we are here now to provide a service, but despair that we can go home - home to America.

Wish us luck.  Day one is about to begin.  ksf