Story of a recent Open Space with Aboriginal youth (long as usual)
Chris Corrigan
chris at chriscorrigan.com
Tue Jan 21 18:34:39 PST 2003
Thanks Ros. Meegwetch means "thank you" in Ojibway. It's not a
particularly formal way of saying thank you, but I feel myself using it
to indicate deeper than normal gratitude for something, like when some
one reads an email I've written or when some one hands me some food!
I agree with not messing around with mother earth at the moment. She's
wise, but wily.
Chris
---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Ros
> Crompton
> Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 12:53 PM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: Re: Story of a recent Open Space with Aboriginal youth (long
as
> usual)
>
> Dear Chris,
>
> How could we arrange some exchange of heat for cold? .... But then,
> we're too much into making Mother Earth do what doesn't work for her
so
> I abandon that idea. We are surely being tested a whole lot here.
Have
> just enjoyed reading your story of the Aboriginal Youth meeting and
want
> to respond to a couple of things.
>
> First I really learn a heap from your 'de-briefing' - thanks.
Second,
> you keep reminding me of lovely Vancouver and that's a burning spark
of
> experience in my life that I love to return to.
>
> And from Myma - You wrote "She also smiled long and hard at the
> butterfly image, because that is a central archetype for her
> teepee teachings, indicating the beauty and power of silence."
which
> has opened a wonderful complimentary relationship between bumble bees
> and butterflies for me.
>
> "Meegwetch for reading this far ;-) " and finally, what does
> "Meegwetch" mean - something like "Well done"?
>
> Warmly, Ros.
>
> Ros Crompton
> Professional & Personal Coach, Facilitator, Speaker Trainer
> When you're moving with strength of purpose, nothing can stop you.
>
> Momentum Learning, Australia
> Tel: +61 3 9808-4202
> Cell/Mob: 0417-229-335
> Email: ros at momentum-learning.com
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
Chris
> Corrigan
> Sent: Wednesday, 22 January 2003 6:19 AM
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: [OSLIST] Story of a recent Open Space with Aboriginal youth
> (long as usual)
>
>
> Colleagues:
>
> I'm just back from a very cold and windy Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
> where the temperature was -30C with a wind chill on top of that. The
> roads were covered in ice and the snow as blowing so that it was
> impossible to see sometimes. I don't wish bush fires on anyone, but
> just a LITTLE bit of that heat would have been welcomed on the North
> American prairies this week.
>
> At any rate, I was there to open space for about 80 Aboriginal youth
who
> were gathering to talk about "Securing Our Future." The gathering
was
> sponsored by a committee of Aboriginal youth who are running a
> government program called the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth
> Centres (UMAYC) program, which targets money (and lots of it) towards
> projects focused on Aboriginal youth in Canada's largest cities.
I've
> worked with these youth councils in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and
> Ottawa, and now Winnipeg.
>
> Back in October these youth got trained in the two day practice
workshop
> Michael Herman and Judi Richardson and I piloted in Alaska. They
were
> primed for Open Space, and asked me to come and facilitate this first
> conference so that they could participate.
>
> On a cold and windy Saturday morning we had 80 youth, a few
government
> "observers" and four Elders gather in a hotel on the outskirts of
> Winnipeg. Before I got started the Elders went through a long
process
> of welcoming and blessing the space. We began with a smudge, a
ritual
> burning of sage, sweetgrass, tobacco and cedar to "clean" the room
and
> invite kindness, sharing, caring and respect into the circle (more on
> smudging here: http://www.ammsa.com/guide/WINDGIC98SMUDGE.html). One
> Elder, Myrna Larramee, sat in the centre of the circle and sang a
song
> that comes out of a series of teachings she does based on the
structure
> of a teepee. There are fifteen poles that hold open a teepee, and
when
> the structure is erect it looks like a woman in a skirt with her arms
> raised towards the sky. Myrna's teachings are about the 15 values
that
> women need to keep themselves standing strong, and especially the
power
> that rests at the centre of the circle, where the fire is kept
burning
> to nurture and sustain. The song she sang was a song that honoured
the
> power at the centre.
>
> This was followed by a prayer from another Elder, Neil Grey, who
offered
> prayers to the four directions and also blessed the centre of the
> circle, acknowledging its power. These prayers and songs were
offered
> before I explained the process, which was very cool, and just really
> goes to show how deeply engrained the circle is in Ojibway/Dakota
> culture. It also speaks volumes to me about how natural the process
of
> Open Space Technology is with respect to these traditional dynamics.
>
> Following the prayers and songs (including a beautiful pow wow honour
> song from Manitoba's first all-female pow wow drum group, the Sweet
> Grass Road Singers), I opened space.
>
> We had 36 topics in short order and the day went well, as youth got
lots
> of work done on a whole slew of issues. There were not so many
> bumblebees or butterflies; everyone was deeply engaged in the work.
>
> Lots of little things happened. Myrna, who is a teacher at an
> Aboriginal school and who works with inner city young kids a lot, sat
in
> on a group on prostitution prevention which had been convened by a
> teenage woman. About 10 other young women were in that group and
Myrna
> immediately invited them to join with her to plan a curriculum for
> grades 5 and 6 students (11-12 years old) on prostitution prevention.
> So they are off and running already.
>
> In another session on street gangs that evolved into issues between
> Aboriginal youth and police, Rick, a 27 year veteran of the Winnipeg
> police service and a recent attendee at a training Michael Herman and
I
> did in December, made some valuable connections for the youth in
those
> groups who wanted to change the status quo.
>
> Those were the instant hits. The next day was spent setting the
ground
> work for future solutions. We prepared the proceedings document
> overnight and the next day, youth themselves led a series of
structured
> workshops on proposal writing and project development. The idea was
> that interested youth could take the solutions that had been
discussed
> in the Open Space, take their new found skills in proposal writing
and
> get a project together to submit to the UMAYC council for funding.
The
> funding deadline is in March, so there is lots of time for youth to
get
> partnerships together or find organizations to help incubate these
> projects. I'll let you know how it all turns out.
>
> The UMAYC Council itself will use the proceedings to craft its call
for
> proposals, due out in a couple of weeks. They intend to solicit
> proposals for projects to address the needs the youth identified and
> they also want to use the session conveners to vet and improve some
of
> the proposals when they come in, to ensure that they are up the right
> alley.
>
> As for the Elders, they were most impressed with the process, and
Myrna
> spent a great deal of the second day talking to me about how Open
Space
> Technology sits with her teachings. She was impressed by the true
> empowerment ("You have to walk your talk with youth...if you tell
them
> they are leaders, you have to get out of their way when they choose
to
> lead") and by the gentleness of the process. She also smiled long
and
> hard at the butterfly image, because that is a central archetype for
her
> teepee teachings, indicating the beauty and power of silence.
>
> On the second day, while the youth were meeting in their workshops,
the
> Elders set to work planning a training workshop in May in Winnipeg
which
> they have invited me back to do. Over the course of a few hours, the
> four Elders, a couple of government people and some youth organized
the
> training, found dates, got a location and even got all the money they
> needed to put the thing together. Amazing. The Elders especially
are
> keen to learn this process, telling me that it is a tool for which
they
> can see a myriad of uses in their own work with the community.
>
> So I'm a little elated, as you can tell, and charged up about some of
> the things that are likely to come out of this one. If anyone wants
a
> copy of the proceedings, email me off list and I'll send you one.
>
> Meegwetch for reading this far ;-)
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>
> ---
> CHRIS CORRIGAN
> Consultation - Facilitation
> Open Space Technology
>
> Bowen Island, BC, Canada
> http://www.chriscorrigan.com
> chris at chriscorrigan.com
>
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