UPDATE: Facilitator training in Central American Mitch Disaster

[Jeff Aitken]

I thought I would forward this to the listserv. Many of us met Gil at
OSONOS and appreciated his insights into Open Space in Latin America.
Here's an update on his work.

>This message was sent to the IAF Association Coordinating Team (ACT). Gil is a
>member of the IAF and in on the ACT.
>
>
>Date: Sun, 06 Dec 1998 12:47:22 -0500
>From: Gilbert Brenson Lazan <gbrenson at impsat.net.co>
>Subject: UPDATE: Facilitator training in Central American Mitch Disaster
>
>Good morning, friends:
>Several of you have asked for updates on the Central American Facilitator
>Training Project that we have initiated with the staff of the Fundacion
>Neo-Humanista, MAP International and the newly-formed Latin American
>Facilitator Network (RELFA). I just returned from a "recon mission" to
>Nicaragua and Honduras and I cannot remember a natural disaster in which I
>have worked (and there have been many) that has affected me more than this
>one.
>There are three million people homeless, most jammed into makeshift
>shelters where there is at best one scant meal a day. The northern half of
>Nicaragua, southern and eastern parts of Honduras and scattered sectors of
>Guatemala and El Salvador are totally destroyed. The next crop cannot be
>harvested until at least July or August so there is nothing to eat and no
>source of income until then. The best financial estimates by the World Bank
>indicate that it will take from 15-20 years to rebuild the region. And
>then there is the human suffering that words cannot express: the anguished
>face of the seventeen-year-old mother with her newborn child and without
>food...her husband and parents died in the avalanche; the trembling voice
>of the artist that lost his life's work in the flood; the stupor of
>exhaustion of the young soldier that even after fifteen hours refuses to
>stop shovelling mud in search for the bodies of his entire family; the
>hysterical young social worker reduced to uncontrollable sobbing while
>repeating over and over again: "They didn't prepare me for this in the
>university".
>Then there is the secondary tragedy: the government officials that are
>stealing money and materials sent by other countries and reselling them to
>the highest bidder; the NGOs that squabble amongst themselves to get a
>piece of the foreign money; the immigration of thousands of poor peasants
>from other, non-affected regions of the countries to the disaster zone in
>order to try to get some of the aid money and services; the cholera
>epidemic that is on the way; the incest and rape in the shelters; the
>suicides that have already begun; the post-traumatic stress disorders that
>are crippling entire populations; the well-meaning but poorly advised
>public figures that tell everyone to cheer up, that everything is all right
>now and that all the pain has passed. It hasn't and the biggest challenges
>are yet to come.
>And then there are other scenes: the volunteer workers from a hundred
>different organizationas that are on the scene day and night; the North
>American Mission Doctors that fly in for two-week shifts to see 180
>patients a day...and that's just half of those waiting in line; the (few)
>responsible journalists that are using their media to educate and to
>comfort and not to exploit or to discount; the dedicated NGOs that are
>working with nothing and doing the impossible; the human spirit multiplied
>by thousands that in a hundred different ways are saying: "We care and we
>are here for you."
>During my visit we met with several groups of facilitators to plan a
>massive facilitator training strategy. What beautiful and dedicated people
>they are. In Nicaragua, under the leadership of the Woman's Network
>Against Violence, we will be working through Christmas with ten NGOs and
>thirty facilitators to prepare for facilitator training programs in
>January. In Honduras the leadership has been effectively assumed by the
>Central American Technological University (UNITEC) to gather together
>facilitators from more 30 NGOs and GOs to begin their training the first
>week in January.
>We are using a cascade strategy. Thirty experienced facilitators in each
>country will be put through an intensive course for one week and monthly
>follow-ups for one year. They will be trained by my colleague-wife and
>myself, with support from dozens of other volunteers, in facilitation
>skills for emergency situations, community reorganization, social
>organization in shelters, etc. A team of four facilitators from our
>Foundation is hard at work designing two workshops with all their materials
>to transfer to these Core Facilitators, who will then spread out throughout
>the countries to train local facilitators (teachers, medical personnel,
>social workers, rural extension workers, Red Cross volunteers,
>psychologists and any other professionals that work directly with the
>affected population) in the techniques and workshop designs. These people
>will then repeat their learnings with the victims of the tragedy. In this
>way, these 60 Core Facilitators, each one working with two groups per month
>of Local Facilitators, will be able to reach at least seventy thousand
>victims per month.
>Additionally, we are supporting these efforts with the following services:
>1) As available funds permit, we are massively reproducing and distributing
>two "recovery manuals" for children and adults that we wrote for the
>Armero disaster in Colombia.
>2) On our website, we have published two dozen books and articles on
>disaster intervention, for the use of any interested person or
>organization. In just the month of November, there were 800 downloads of
>these materials.
>3) We have in place a virtual consultancy through a "Cyberbulletin Board"
>on our website, manned and womenned by a dozen international
>Spanish-speaking experts, who are available to help any person or agency in
>the field that wants to ask for suggestions and advise.
>4) A corps of fifty international, Spanish-speaking volunteer facilitators
>and other experts in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders has been recluted,
>including many members or friends of the Grp-Facl list. These people have
>offered to give a few days of their time to go to the area and help local
>NGOs and GOs with their efforts in different areas. Their names, address
>and specialties will soon be posted on our website.
>A special thanks to all of you that have sent us your moral, spiritual,
>professional and economic support of this project. I have shared all of
>your letters with the respective groups of Core Facilitators and their
>agencies and they too send their appreciation.
>Hope to see you in January at the IAF Conference in Williamsburg, where I
>will fill in all the details to those interested in listening. Any
>Spanish-reader that is interested in weekly updates and information may
>subscribe to a special e-list through our website.
>Since Mechas and I will be working straight through the holidays, we'd like
>to take this opportunity now to wish you and yours the very best for a
>Happy Holiday season.
>Gil
>***********************************************************************
>FUNDACION NEO-HUMANISTA - Dr. Gilbert Brenson Lazan
>Consultoria y Formacion de Facilitadores
>en Procesos de Transformacion Organizacional y Comunitaria
>Apartado Aereo 50717 - Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
>Tel:+571-217-0985; Web: http://neo-humanista.org; Fax:345-2072
>mailto:info at neo-humanista.org mailto:gbrenson at ibm.net
>***********************************************************************

>From  Wed Dec  9 11:52:16 1998
Message-Id: <WED.9.DEC.1998.115216.0500.>
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 11:52:16 -0500
Reply-To: jimsnow at idt.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Jim Snow <jimsnow at idt.net>
Subject: Central American Mitch Disaster
X-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at listserv.idbsu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
 x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Kathi & Taylor: This is one person's description of the heartbreaking ravages of
Mitch. I got this from the "Open Space" listserve, a training/planning format for
large groups and used here, I believe, to try to mobilize a wide variety of
resources to deal with the aftermath of Mitch.
    Looking forward to seeing you on the 19th.
Jim/Dad


> >This message was sent to the IAF Association Coordinating Team (ACT). Gil is a
> >member of the IAF and in on the ACT.
> >
> >
> >Date: Sun, 06 Dec 1998 12:47:22 -0500
> >From: Gilbert Brenson Lazan <gbrenson at impsat.net.co>
> >Subject: UPDATE: Facilitator training in Central American Mitch Disaster
> >
> >Good morning, friends:
> >Several of you have asked for updates on the Central American Facilitator
> >Training Project that we have initiated with the staff of the Fundacion
> >Neo-Humanista, MAP International and the newly-formed Latin American
> >Facilitator Network (RELFA). I just returned from a "recon mission" to
> >Nicaragua and Honduras and I cannot remember a natural disaster in which I
> >have worked (and there have been many) that has affected me more than this
> >one.
> >There are three million people homeless, most jammed into makeshift
> >shelters where there is at best one scant meal a day. The northern half of
> >Nicaragua, southern and eastern parts of Honduras and scattered sectors of
> >Guatemala and El Salvador are totally destroyed. The next crop cannot be
> >harvested until at least July or August so there is nothing to eat and no
> >source of income until then. The best financial estimates by the World Bank
> >indicate that it will take from 15-20 years to rebuild the region. And
> >then there is the human suffering that words cannot express: the anguished
> >face of the seventeen-year-old mother with her newborn child and without
> >food...her husband and parents died in the avalanche; the trembling voice
> >of the artist that lost his life's work in the flood; the stupor of
> >exhaustion of the young soldier that even after fifteen hours refuses to
> >stop shovelling mud in search for the bodies of his entire family; the
> >hysterical young social worker reduced to uncontrollable sobbing while
> >repeating over and over again: "They didn't prepare me for this in the
> >university".
> >Then there is the secondary tragedy: the government officials that are
> >stealing money and materials sent by other countries and reselling them to
> >the highest bidder; the NGOs that squabble amongst themselves to get a
> >piece of the foreign money; the immigration of thousands of poor peasants
> >from other, non-affected regions of the countries to the disaster zone in
> >order to try to get some of the aid money and services; the cholera
> >epidemic that is on the way; the incest and rape in the shelters; the
> >suicides that have already begun; the post-traumatic stress disorders that
> >are crippling entire populations; the well-meaning but poorly advised
> >public figures that tell everyone to cheer up, that everything is all right
> >now and that all the pain has passed. It hasn't and the biggest challenges
> >are yet to come.
> >And then there are other scenes: the volunteer workers from a hundred
> >different organizationas that are on the scene day and night; the North
> >American Mission Doctors that fly in for two-week shifts to see 180
> >patients a day...and that's just half of those waiting in line; the (few)
> >responsible journalists that are using their media to educate and to
> >comfort and not to exploit or to discount; the dedicated NGOs that are
> >working with nothing and doing the impossible; the human spirit multiplied
> >by thousands that in a hundred different ways are saying: "We care and we
> >are here for you."
> >During my visit we met with several groups of facilitators to plan a
> >massive facilitator training strategy. What beautiful and dedicated people
> >they are. In Nicaragua, under the leadership of the Woman's Network
> >Against Violence, we will be working through Christmas with ten NGOs and
> >thirty facilitators to prepare for facilitator training programs in
> >January. In Honduras the leadership has been effectively assumed by the
> >Central American Technological University (UNITEC) to gather together
> >facilitators from more 30 NGOs and GOs to begin their training the first
> >week in January.
> >We are using a cascade strategy. Thirty experienced facilitators in each
> >country will be put through an intensive course for one week and monthly
> >follow-ups for one year. They will be trained by my colleague-wife and
> >myself, with support from dozens of other volunteers, in facilitation
> >skills for emergency situations, community reorganization, social
> >organization in shelters, etc. A team of four facilitators from our
> >Foundation is hard at work designing two workshops with all their materials
> >to transfer to these Core Facilitators, who will then spread out throughout
> >the countries to train local facilitators (teachers, medical personnel,
> >social workers, rural extension workers, Red Cross volunteers,
> >psychologists and any other professionals that work directly with the
> >affected population) in the techniques and workshop designs. These people
> >will then repeat their learnings with the victims of the tragedy. In this
> >way, these 60 Core Facilitators, each one working with two groups per month
> >of Local Facilitators, will be able to reach at least seventy thousand
> >victims per month.
> >Additionally, we are supporting these efforts with the following services:
> >1) As available funds permit, we are massively reproducing and distributing
> >two "recovery manuals" for children and adults that we wrote for the
> >Armero disaster in Colombia.
> >2) On our website, we have published two dozen books and articles on
> >disaster intervention, for the use of any interested person or
> >organization. In just the month of November, there were 800 downloads of
> >these materials.
> >3) We have in place a virtual consultancy through a "Cyberbulletin Board"
> >on our website, manned and womenned by a dozen international
> >Spanish-speaking experts, who are available to help any person or agency in
> >the field that wants to ask for suggestions and advise.
> >4) A corps of fifty international, Spanish-speaking volunteer facilitators
> >and other experts in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders has been recluted,
> >including many members or friends of the Grp-Facl list. These people have
> >offered to give a few days of their time to go to the area and help local
> >NGOs and GOs with their efforts in different areas. Their names, address
> >and specialties will soon be posted on our website.
> >A special thanks to all of you that have sent us your moral, spiritual,
> >professional and economic support of this project. I have shared all of
> >your letters with the respective groups of Core Facilitators and their
> >agencies and they too send their appreciation.
> >Hope to see you in January at the IAF Conference in Williamsburg, where I
> >will fill in all the details to those interested in listening. Any
> >Spanish-reader that is interested in weekly updates and information may
> >subscribe to a special e-list through our website.
> >Since Mechas and I will be working straight through the holidays, we'd like
> >to take this opportunity now to wish you and yours the very best for a
> >Happy Holiday season.
> >Gil
> >***********************************************************************
> >FUNDACION NEO-HUMANISTA - Dr. Gilbert Brenson Lazan
> >Consultoria y Formacion de Facilitadores
> >en Procesos de Transformacion Organizacional y Comunitaria
> >Apartado Aereo 50717 - Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
> >Tel:+571-217-0985; Web: http://neo-humanista.org; Fax:345-2072
> >mailto:info at neo-humanista.org mailto:gbrenson at ibm.net
> >***********************************************************************

>From  Wed Dec  9 12:26:32 1998
Message-Id: <WED.9.DEC.1998.122632.0500.>
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 12:26:32 -0500
Reply-To: jimsnow at idt.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Jim Snow <jimsnow at idt.net>
Subject: Re: Central American Mitch Disaster
X-To: oslist at listserv.idbsu.edu
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854";
 x-mac-creator="4D4F5353"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Friends (even though you don't know me):
    Red-faced, I sent this to the OSList by mistake instead of to my daughter and
son-in-law (I know, this kind of mistake has never happened before, and further, no
one has ever died of embarrassment, s/he only thinks s/he will). So, still somewhat
embarrassed, apologies. Oh well, ... I also sent it to colleagues and
fellow-students at the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason
University (northern Virginia, US) - there are many who are keenly concerned with
and involved with Central and South America.
    As a reader of the listserv, but so far neither a practicioner nor a trained OS
facilitator (though with background in training in other areas), I've appreciated
being a reader ("lurker" sounds much too ominous!), and am very much interested in
the possibility of utilizing OST around diversity and racism issues on campus.
Building the legitimatizing platform from which to do this is the somewhat slow
process. This is just to let you know that at least one silent member is still
gaining much from your thinking and conversations. Thank you to all.
Jim Snow

Jim Snow wrote:

> Kathi & Taylor: This is one person's description of the heartbreaking ravages of
> Mitch. I got this from the "Open Space" listserve, a training/planning format for
> large groups and used here, I believe, to try to mobilize a wide variety of
> resources to deal with the aftermath of Mitch.
>     Looking forward to seeing you on the 19th.
> Jim/Dad
>
> > >This message was sent to the IAF Association Coordinating Team (ACT). Gil is a
> > >member of the IAF and in on the ACT.
> > >
> > >
> > >Date: Sun, 06 Dec 1998 12:47:22 -0500
> > >From: Gilbert Brenson Lazan <gbrenson at impsat.net.co>
> > >Subject: UPDATE: Facilitator training in Central American Mitch Disaster
> > >
> > >Good morning, friends:
> > >Several of you have asked for updates on the Central American Facilitator
> > >Training Project that we have initiated with the staff of the Fundacion
> > >Neo-Humanista, MAP International and the newly-formed Latin American
> > >Facilitator Network (RELFA). I just returned from a "recon mission" to
> > >Nicaragua and Honduras and I cannot remember a natural disaster in which I
> > >have worked (and there have been many) that has affected me more than this
> > >one.
>