Dear Open Space friends Today was the day! We had a very good time, a generous schedule, and two fine, small round standing-lunch-tables in the middle, as most of the seniors couldn't get down to the floor to write down their burning issues and topics.
My most important observation was that it was simply wonderful to have my dear friend Rita, a member of the Grey Panthers, be my assistant. I spent the night at her home after setting up the room for the event with two more members. This allowed us to go through all the checklists and announcements last night with enough time, taking into account once more the special needs of this group. We did some good signs to make the finding of rooms easy, and we combined the matrix on the wall with the post-its with room numbers and times to stick to the topic sheets, so that everybody understood well what workshop was taking place in which area. Today was as fresh as always (no difference from older to younger participants - at least those who were able to attend!). It was a wonderful day full of rich exchange, new members who liked what they experienced, and some important issues which can be addressed right away, amongst which the procedure for finding the successor of one of the co-presidents. Thank you all again for your most valuable inputs! It felt so wonderful to be back in the circle after quite some time... :) And it was truly great to feel my experience growing over time. News from the personal side: I have been employed for a part-time job as the secretary of a feminist peace building NGO in our capital Bern as of June 1st. Part of their work is empowering migrant women in Switzerland, and empowerment is the main focus of what their partner organisations do around the Mediterranean as well. I will be able to bring Open Space to this work sooner or later, interest has been expressed! www.cfd-ch.org is our website. This is the last piece of the puzzle of my new life. I am so very grateful that things are back to normal now... New cosy apartment in a new city, new partner, and now also an interesting new job in a great team of women... (Yesterday, it has been 3 years and 8 months that my girls have died.) It feels as if somebody had lifted my train up from its track and carefully set it down again on a new track, wagon by wagon. It was a longish process which took a lot of patience, but it took as long as my soul and body needed for their grief work. There are no shortcuts, and it's great to be able to take the necessary time. Thank you all again for your support! Heartfully, Catherine Catherine Pfaehler lic.oec.HSG Open Space Begleitung Burckhardtstrasse 2 CH - 3008 Bern Telefon +41-(0)31 - 536 05 31 Mobile +41-(0)76 - 488 15 46 [email protected] www.open-space-begleitung.ch _______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org
