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<FONT FACE="Times New Roman" DEFAULT="FACE"><FONT SIZE="3" POINTSIZE="12" DEFAULT="SIZE">John Webb is on an assignment in Berlin and is giving us the honor of staying with us for his two week stint. I showed him this message this morning before leaving for Bonn together with Yaari to facilitate os for a group of 75 African women and their families (they know about os from their ancestors, some call it baraza which translates into: sitting under a shady tree)....well, John Webbs response was:<BR>
there you go, he is not fighting illiteracy.<BR>
This struck me to be a key element as I am now reading the whole mail travelling south to Bonn and something that I would consider to be relevant independent of culture: <BR>
appreciative spirit.<BR>
love and peace<BR>
mmp<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
On Wed, 26 Mar 2003 17:15:32 -0500, john engle wrote:<BR>
<BR>
>ROTARY CLUBS OF HAITI OPEN SPACE TO PROMOTE LITERACY<BR>
><BR>
>There were 43 of us that came together--literacy instructers/Reflection<BR>
>Circle practitioners and Rotarians--on Saturday March 22 for an Open Space<BR>
>meeting. Our theme was: "How do we make our centers (literacy) and groups<BR>
>(Reflection Circles) more dynamic, and, how do we improve communication<BR>
>between ourselves?"<BR>
><BR>
>12 subjects emerged from among the participants for small group discussions<BR>
>during morning sessions: 10-11 and 11-12. We reconvened from noon to 12:30,<BR>
>inviting participants to propose subjects for the afternoon session which<BR>
>would allow them to get specific about action plans. 7 new subjects emerged.<BR>
>We took a break for lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 and the afternoon session went<BR>
>from 1:30 to 2:30.<BR>
><BR>
>While this was the first experience in Open Space for some, the majority of<BR>
>the group has participated in numerous Open Space events. It is very clear<BR>
>to me that Open Space is impacting the way that the groups and literacy<BR>
>centers are functioning.<BR>
><BR>
>During our 1 and a half hours together during report back and discussion as<BR>
>a group, at the end of the day, a literacy teacher/high school student from<BR>
>Louverture Cleary School commented, "Our work is all about helping<BR>
>participants to discover their value as human beings. Its all about helping<BR>
>them to realize that each and every one of them is an important part of<BR>
>society and that we all share the responsibility for improving our society.<BR>
>Sometimes participants in my center talk about their objective of becoming<BR>
>comfortable speaking in public --'in society.' To them, society is the<BR>
>President; people in parliament or the Director of the school«well-known<BR>
>people like Mme Bello, etc. I tell them, You are society! We are the<BR>
>public! And, you are speaking in public when you are expressing your ideas<BR>
>in this group."<BR>
><BR>
>Another literacy teacher shared, "I meet with each of my participants<BR>
>individually when beginning a new cycle. I need to get to know them and to<BR>
>learn what their individual objectives are for learning to read and write.<BR>
>They need to know that I care about them. After all, helping people learn<BR>
>how to read and write is all about love made concrete."<BR>
><BR>
>I have been involved in promoting literacy in Haiti since 1991. Today, I<BR>
>notice that much more than before, literacy teachers understand that there<BR>
>work is about serving participants needs. We heard from one after another,<BR>
>"I invite participants to identify their objectives in learning to read and<BR>
>write and to share them with everyone." "If we are not tolerant and<BR>
>patient--helpful--participants become discouraged and don't return. If they<BR>
>don't return, they won't learn how to read and write."<BR>
><BR>
>I believe this notion of passion and responsibility is infecting literacy<BR>
>teachers attitudes. In addition to this, literacy teachers and group<BR>
>leaders recognize that people learning to read and write do not hesitate to<BR>
>use the law of two feet when they discover that they are in a space where<BR>
>they feel they are neither learning or contributing.<BR>
><BR>
>Its important to note that virtually everyone who attends these meetings<BR>
>pays a sliding scale fee. While we have grants to subsidize expensesso many<BR>
>of the literacy teachers and Reflection Circle practitioners are desperately<BR>
>poorwe believe it to be critically important that people are investing<BR>
>something more than their time along, to be present.<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
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><BR>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Michael M Pannwitz<br>
boscop<br>
Draisweg 1<br>
12209 Berlin, Germany<br>
FON +49 - 30-772 8000 FAX +49 - 30-773 92 464<br>
www.michaelmpannwitz.de<br>
<br>
An der E-Gruppe "openspacedeutsch" für deutschsprechende open space-PraktikerInnen interessiert? Enfach eine mail an mich.</HTML>
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