Help! I need a couple of good stories

Fri Dec 7 21:06:25 PST 2007

Hi Michael,

Just read your request.  I've got a story that came to mind.  I'm not sure its relevant, but wanted to share it in case it is of service.

When I did the OS with 2,100 people in Colombia - 1,800 street kids and 300 teachers - there was a potential for violence that I only learned of during the event.  On the first day, we observed many sessions in which teachers were in the front controlling the sessions.  There were too many sessions and we were too spread out to try to change the situation in more than minimal ways that day.  So we invited the teachers to convene on the second morning before the kids returned to find out what was going on.   Though we wanted to just tell the teachers to get out of the way, we decided that rather than doing to them what they were doing to the kids -- telling them to what to do  -- we'd ask them how the OS was going for them.  They told us that it was their experience that if the kids weren't kept in very structured situations, they got violent.  In fact, the teachers told us that it has highly likely that all of the kids were carrying either a gun or a knife and wouldn't hesitate to use them.  After hearing this, we reminded the teachers of how we had framed the Law of Two Feet: "take responsibility for what you love".  We pointed out that the idea of taking responsibility for what they loved had surfaced as a theme among the kids in virtually every session.  We encouraged the teachers to give the kids a chance to practice that discipline.  If they REALLY felt they had to intervene, to do it by asking a question.  They reluctantly agreed.

One teacher told us sometime during day two that she walked into a room where kids were playing cards.  She said she remembered our suggestion about questions and rather than telling the kids to get to work, she asked if they needed anything.  They told her that they were doing just fine, taking a break in their work.  They did as they said - finished their game and got back to work.  The teacher found herself rethinking how she worked with them.

So, apparently the potential for violence was present throughout the gathering because that was the way the kids often dealt with their issues.  During the OS, not only was there no sign of violence, but I observed them treating every encounter with great respect.

from an airplane between Chicago and Seattle,
Peggy

________________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
(425) 746-6274 

www.opencirclecompany.com

For the new edition of The Change Handbook, 
go to: 
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"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, is to become 
the fire".
  -- Drew Dellinger

Indigenous - intractable issue
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael Wood 
  To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
  Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:31 PM
  Subject: [OSLIST] Help! I need a couple of good stories

  I have had some conversations with a potential sponsor (an NGO with links to Government, Indigenous Communities and Mining Companies) about working with some indigenous communities in North West Australia. The theme relates, in the short term, to the dynamics and presssures of negotiating with mining companies and longer terms themes of sustainability for aboriginal communities.

  What I am picking up from the sponsor is a huge (palpible) anxiety associated with the potential for OS to get out of control. I've detected control anxiety with other clients, but never with this intensity. There may also be some good basis for their anxiety. They describe an emotional landscape in some of the communities in question as being of extreme conflict. The conflict has roots in the following areas a) anger at historic dispossesion of land by European Settlement b) anger and powerlessness at current dispossesion by mining companies (i.e. "the land will be taken anyway - so what does it mean to "profit" from this?") c) anger between tribal family groups based on historic tensions d) tensions associated with differences in law and custom e) anger associated with "wedge politics", fuelled by the fact that HUGE amounts of money are now up for graps from mining companies. The latter is a really hot topic - the NorthWest of Australia is experiencing a "gold rush" at present, except it's actually an "iron ore rush", as China sucks in ore to make steel and f) the fact that in some of these communities it is not uncommon to resort to physical violence to sort out differences.

  One of the key concerns of the sponsor is actually one of the physical safety of participants. i.e. "if we opened up the kind of space you are describing, we could actually just end up with a fight".

  I have given no commitments to the sponsor that such a possibilitity might not exist. However, I have suggested that some of the safeguards of OS are a) voluntary association b) a topic which is of common concern to whoever shows up and c) the law of two feet.

  The sponsor has asked if I have any stories of OS being used in indigenous settings involving the kind of powder keg dynamics described above. I said that I thought some work along these lines had been done in indigenous communities in Canada and Nth America, but that I would ask around and get back to them.

  So....I am asking around via this wonderful email network.

  Does anyone have any stories (either of success or warning) in circumstances similar to what I have described above, AND which you would be willing for me to share with my potential sponsor AND whether you may be willing to be contacted by email by the Sponsor to seek more detail if required. As you can see - the stakes are high - related to potential risk to people's safety! (and I don't discount my own anxiety in all this. At a head and experience level I know that "OS always works", but at an emotional level, the context sounds very challenging.

  Many thanks!!

  Michael Wood
  Western Australia
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