OS in oral cultures - long

john engle englejohn at hotmail.com
Wed Sep 18 13:44:43 PDT 2002


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

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>From  Wed Sep 18 23:55:45 2002
Message-Id: <WED.18.SEP.2002.235545.0200.>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 23:55:45 +0200
Reply-To: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Thomas Herrmann <thomas at openspaceconsulting.com>
Subject: SV: OS in oral cultures - long
In-Reply-To: <F123gpPoePi7TMVOlwQ000059b6 at hotmail.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

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:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]För john engle
> Skickat: den 18 september 2002 22:45
> Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> 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
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>

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