The end of my third week in Santiago was busy, busy. There were a ton of really great meetings and we had a few really long days. I thought I would highlight some of the standouts.
Patricia Politizer: She is an author and was for years on national public TV in Chile. Most recently she just completed and released a biography on Bachelet (out this week) we had coffee with her and she shared with us her motivation to write the book and examples of Bachelet's leadership in office. She confirmed much of what we had heard to date. It was not a shock that Bachelet won but rather her coming into office and the compostion of her cabinet that was about 50% women. She was treated very poorly in her first six months as president and there were a ton of personal attacks. It took about 6-8 months for Bachelet to become comfortable with the idea of serving as president and she also made some radical changes to her cabinet. She is said to be a leader that owned her decision, owned her mistakes and asked for understanding. This of course was a tremendous departure from what the Chilean people are use to. I would argue we as Americans are also not familiar with this kind of leadership and many of our leaders even after their time in office can rarely admit to mistakes they made. This meeting was fun and entertaining. The book is Michelle Bachelet President in a Land of Men. It is the first book out about Bachelet post her presidency.
Carlina Toha: President of the PPD part in Chile. She was just recently elected and prior to that she served as a parlimentarian. Like many progressives she lost loved ones to Pinochet. She was an extrodinary feminist who spoke about the challenges the Concepcion Coalition is facing. The Coaltion is comprised of the 4 progressive policitical parties. It is refreshing that you can truely know where people stand in terms of if they are far left, left, center left etc. It makes you realize why there is so much unrest in our political parties and how no candiate can truely make a political party happy. In any event she talked about how complacent the coaltion had become after 20 years of holding the majority and the Presidency. While the Progressive led the Conservattives organized and trained the next generations. Sound familiar to the training and organizing of the Republicans. She talked about the social and economic challenges of women getting into politics and the great personal sacrafices they make. Many are seperated and based on the challenges and expectations of women in Chile it is generally women of financial means that can engage in politics. She could be a future Presidential candidate.
Julia Herrara: Principal of a comprehesive school Pre-K through 12th grade. there are over 2000 students who attend the school and the school is located in a very poor neighborhood in Santiago and the children come from very high risk families including a large number of youth that are system involved. This prinicpal is a god sent to the students and the community. The building and resources are amazing and the vision and leadership of this principa are amazing. They have only 11% Truancy and the majority of students go on to higher education or sustaining careers. Julia loves these students as her own children and a huge part of the vision of the school is not just to teach them skills but to teach them to respect themselves as individuals. I was so struck by how much all of the teachers cared for the children. The school opens its door to the community on weekends and through the entire summer as most families in the area can not afford vacations and the schoool has a pool, many soccer fields and playgrounds. This was an oasis in the community and the principal was a true leader in the trenches.
I promise more later in terms of reflecting on what Bachelet's presidency meant to Chile and some lessions I have gained about the benefits, challenges and realities of being a women and a leader.
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