This morning, I spent four lessons with students in the 12th and 10th grades, and the students in Latvia also are not very motivated on a Monday morning - something they have in common with my students!
We discussed the Civic Voices democratic concepts, and we completed the Freedom of Expression Listening activity (http://www.civicvoices.org/UserFiles/Freedom%20of%20Expression%20Listening%20Guide.pdf and http://www.civicvoices.org/MemoryBank ).
Several students participated fully and I was pleased to see their energy and interest.
A few of them were interested in the SMART board I used for the lessons, and most of them wished to have their photo taken for today's blog post!
After lunch, Inga's son, Ivo and I traveled to visit the Riga area Holocaust Memorials of Salaspils, Rumbula, and Bikernieki Forest... A mournful way to spend a sunny afternoon, but important for me to accomplish.
I appreciated having Ivo with me to help translate the markings in Russian and Latvia, and we visited locations that he had never seen. I found Salaspils to be an impressive and sad...especially the children's memorial with all the stuffed animals and flowers honoring the lost lives of so many young girls and boys.
The monumental statue of the Mother protecting her children made me weep, and the statues of the defiant and supportive individuals were moving.
We then visited Rumbula, and I found the memorial's design to be simple and intense...
It was odd to hear the noises of the street traffic and of the nearby concrete factory and the rail lines in the middle of the wooded memorial site.
As you can see from the photos, the memorial stones are effective and moving...
After a while, we traveled to the Bikernieki Forest memorials which are on both sides of a major roadway. This memorial was also in the wooded area of Riga, surrounded by trees moving in the wind, pine needles rustling a murmur of remembrance.
The stones marking the memorial, and the markers for the too many mass graves were solemn reminders of so many men, women and children lost, their lives full of potential and gift deprived of reaching their fullness.
I was disturbed to find evidence of individuals who have no respect for the solemnity of the Memorial; many empty bottles and other trash were left in the stones of the memorial and its environs...
Upon our return to Riga, we visited the cemetary to view the tomb of Latvia's first President, and to see the monuments to the victims of the Soviet oppression.
We arrived in Riga center and drove past the Cheka secret police Corner House, the site of interrogation and persecution of Latvians. We stopped to witness the monument in the form of a door with a small viewing window...such abuse of power.
A day filled with more Latvian history, time spent with Latvia's future, its students, and an evening filled with clear skies and sunshine...also a day of so many thoughts and feeling...
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