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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