Thanks John, Berndt and others... for sharing and bringing these stories to me over here in Sweden. I have learnt a lot from you. I very much admire the work you are doing! I wish you, Berndt the best of luck while opening space in your upcoming event. Best regards Thomas Herrmann
> -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- > Från: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]]För john engle > Skickat: den 18 september 2002 22:45 > Till: [email protected] > Ämne: Re: OS in oral cultures - long > > > dear bernd, > > sorry that it has taken me some time to get back to you. i've been > traveling. > > last month i did another open space meeting with a group of > people, most of > whom do not read and write. we decided to have no signs, > nothing written to > make sure that noone felt alienated. > > this time, i had noone else with me who was familiar enough > with open space > and who could help me to communicate the principles and law > by doing a skit. > i just simply explained them as clearly as i could in their native > language-haitian creole. they did just fine. subjects were > presented-lots!-and people sub-divided in groups throughout the day. > > the group was 35 woman and 5 children. the woman are victims > of the haitian > military during the coup years in '93. they were raped, > beaten in most cases > imprisoned and some watched as family members were killed. > some have aids as > a result and some are raising children that were born from rape. > > there is an international law firm that is working to bring > the perpetrators > to justice and they invited me to help the women to become > more organized > together and skilled in communicating in public. > > as you can imagine, i feel so inadequate with group such as > this. its like > when i work with kids who have lived on the streets of port > au prince. i > can't begin to imagine the pain and suffering that they have > experienced. i > can only be present with them. open space, listen, and support them. > > i had been meeting with 12 of these women regularly for 6 > months before we > did the open space meeting. there objective was to reach out > to other woman > who had been raped and to attempt to integrate them into > their efforts. they > were pleased with this one day event. one result of the day > is another day > of open space scheduled in november. > > keep in mind, everyone involved with this group of woman > knows that things > are going to take time. for me to push to converge or to be too > interventionary in any way would be ridiculous. they seem to > find tremendous > strength and encouragement when they simply come together. i > simply try to > take care of the logistics to make it possible for them to > come together, > open space, am mostly silent in the large circle, and always > am trying to > affirm their process, which is often chaotic, slow, and the > furthest thing > from smooth. > > ...when it comes to being with people who have histories so > very different > than my own, which includes not knowing how to read and > write, the laws of > spirit seem to be particularly important: > > 1. show up and be present > 2. tell the truth without blame or judgement > 3. follow what has heart and meaning > 4. let go of attachment to outcome > > bernd, would be great if you could come to the haiti open > space on open > space june 20-23, 2003. we would love to have you. do you by > chance speak > french? i also will be unable to go to osonos in australia, > regretfully. i > will be in israel/palestine in november. > > sincerely, > > john > > > http://www.beyondborders.net/experiment.htm > > _________________________________________________________________ > Discutez en ligne avec vos amis ! http://messenger.msn.fr > > * > * > ========================================================== > [email protected] > ------------------------------ > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, > view the archives of [email protected], > Visit: > > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected], Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
