The first time I saw the quote from Alvin Toffler, ‘the illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write but the ones who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn,’ I thought of a typical student, likely in a chalk and board classroom. Little did I know, this quote spoke of people like me, maybe like you, not typical students, but bombarded with opportunities and challenges, all pushing us to learn, unlearn and relearn, in other words to be so comfortable with change.

COVID19 has brought about a new myriad of behaviors and redefined our relationships. Everywhere, be it at home, at work, at school and in the community, our engagements have taken a turn. I once met a person homeschooling her children because she was only in Tanzania temporarily and considered retaining the same curriculum from her home country. The more she got into the details of how she goes about it, the further the thought moved from my head. I was fascinated to say the least but knew for certain, it was not for me. Needless to say, I work in education and fully aware how sharing knowledge to the point of comprehension, requires some saint-like qualities.

The year was 2017. Little did I know, 3 years later I will find myself creating mechanisms to support learning at home for my two children, learning with them and enabling them to learn from others and themselves. Critically, I am faced with a test of being able to adapt to change, calmly and timely.

Most parents around the world found their role shifting from a caregiver to that of an educator, a facilitator of learning and provide therapy services without booked hours. We are more involved than ever, not just on what goes in our children’s tummies but also their heads and their hearts; schedules, lessons, assignments, household chores, friends and values. Part of it, we had to learn what we know about raising a child contrary to how we were raised or maybe we have to relearn contrary to how we have been raising them.