Sharing inspiration at the Board Meeting in Chiang Mai

[Laurence Gilliot]

Dear friends,

16 participants from all over the world, arrived now in Chiang Mai (Thailand) for a week of Board/ member organization meetings. From Belgium, Thailand, Uganda, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, DR-Congo, the Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, Madagascar, India, Indonesia... all come with stories, experiences and lots of inspiration to share...

We will explore together What inspires us in the Constellation? What is the essence of the Constellation, its way-of-working and way-of-thinking?

We invite all of you to share your thoughts and ideas on this. We will share your contributions everyday in plenary with participants.
This week, I will share everyday on this forum about what has happened during the meetings, with some stories, quotes, videos, etc. so that you can follow and contribute as well.

Although many of you are not here physically, you are definitely here with us in spirit :-)

In 7 min, we have a welcome drink, so I need to go and give a hug to our friends (some I haven't seen for so long)...
I hope to read many of your contributions this week!

Laurence

[Laurence Gilliot]

Friends,

We had a first wonderful day together. This morning we got to know each other better (as human beings), followed by a SALT visit in the Jedi Maekrua Temple, near Chiang Mai.

Here some reflections that touched me deeply this morning

There are so many different faces in the room. This is more than we could ever have dreamed of when we founded the Constellation in December 2004, on a cold winter day in Geneva. Usa, from Thailand

This meeting could set the way-of-working for the next 50 years to come. How can we make sure that people keep saying that they are inspired...? That this is not the flame of the starters but that the Constellation remains a living organism. Jean-Louis, from Belgium

I am so happy to be here. Indu, from India.

Whoever we are, whatever we do we have strengths within us. If we acknowledge these strengths, they will grow. Prabakar, from India.

I hope that through this meeting, the Constellation can even better support us. Language remains a barrier for us in DR-Congo. Antoine, DR-Congo.

Listen to today's reflections from Antoine (en français) and Ian (in English).

Listen to Antoine

Listen to Ian

We visited Jedi Maekrua temple and the neighboring community. One team talked with the PLHIV and families, one group with the community leaders and my group talked with the facilitation team. We learned a lot from the local facilitators who have been using SALT during their home visits for the last 2 years.

The facilitators shared that "Before, we were in a 'giving' mode. PLHIV were on the receiving end. They shared about alllllll their problems and we didn't know what to do. It was not really motivating. We realized we had to change our way-of-thinking. Now, it is like visiting our friends. We share about their capacity and achievements and what they want to do next. As facilitators, we feel happy after each visit."

Facilitators also share two interesting techniques they use: the capacity tree and the tree with monkeys.
The 'capacity tree' is made up of roots (the capacity and skills of people) and branches (their achievements). For instance, one woman shared that she could make fried bananas. But she stopped doing so because people were afraid to buy food from a Person Living with HIV. Through the conversations, she regained confidence, and started selling bananas again. Her achievement is that she raises her own money now.

Facilitators also use the image of a tree with 20 monkeys. Some monkeys are sleeping, some are falling of the tree, some are on top, some are climbing, etc. They ask families to choose a monkey that represents their family situation. In this way they could analyse together what the family needed to do to improve their situation.

Tomorrow, we will discuss about 'what inspires us' and 'what is the essence of the Constellation'. I'm looking forward to read your contributions and ideas on this.

Take care,

Laurence

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Dear Laurence,

Super! Its almost like live coverage with video and all. Thanks for making us living in far off lands a part of this event.

I often reflect on the issue JL has raised. ACP inspires a lot of people/ organisations all the time. How to keep the momentum going is the critical question.

I heartily enjoyed Ian's reflections (heard Ian speak for the first time!)

As this platform is very interactive maybe Lau can take back a question to the participants at the event? Appreciation is a powerful tool but at times one needs to give negative feedback. I often struggle with it. What do the participants think of it and how do they deal with it?

A little bit good news from our end. A facilitation team came into being in Kohima (Northeast India) on Friday where volunteers felt the need to get together to take up ACP. Kudos once again to Dr Joyce and Fr. Joe!

Good luck for tomorrow. Will wait for news of the day.

Rituu

[Jean-Louis Lamboray]

Dear Friends,

What improvements would you suggest to the attached prologue to out charter?

We shall discuss it for adoption tomorrow afternoon.

Many thanks

JL

[Jean-Louis Lamboray]

Dear Friends,

What improvements would you suggest to the attached prologue to our charter?

We shall discuss it for adoption tomorrow afternoon.

Many thanks

JL090611Prologue.doc

[Laurence Gilliot]

Day 2

Today, we explored what inspires us in life and what this implies for the Constellation and our teams. We split up in small groups to share our stories. I was in the group with Marijo, Sirinate, Jean-Louis and Ian. Some reflections that inspired me:
I feel inspired when I find something that is already part of myself, when I feel a part of me is outside there. I feel confident in my wisdom, reassured. When I’m inspired I feel powerful. When I feel power, I feel love as well. It is not power to command others but to feel myself better. Marijo, Spain

I’m inspired when something resonates within me. For example, I was really inspired by Dr. Praweet. Although we were so different –he is a Buddhist, I am a Christian, he’s Thai and I’m Belgian- still we would make the same decision in the same situation. Jean-Louis, Belgium

“My brother-in-law spend 9 years in jail in Burma and was 18 years old when I was imprisoned. But he decided he wanted to keep on growing and learning and started learning English. His mother would bring pieces of newspaper that he hided in the wall. When he wouldn’t know a word, he would run to the elderly during the shower time to ask them for translation. When he came out of jail, I was so impressed because he was fluent in English. This increases my way of seeing things, of seeing challenges.” Sirinate, from Thailand

“We did a SALT visit in the UK with women from Zimbabwe and other African countries. When people invite you in the intimacy of their homes and neighborhood, trust grows. After 2 hours of sharing, one women stood up and started singing a song about hope, celebration and sorrow. This inspired all of us.” Ian, UK.

What inspires me personally is when the experience wakes me up to what is most alive in me. When it wakes me up to the wonders or beauty of life. I feel inspired when I experience something that feels beautiful and good. I’m touched by the humanity that we all share… we all suffer, we can all be happy, we are all born and one day we will die.

Here is what inspires Aicha (Belgium, in french), Chandra (Indonesia, in english) and Indu (India, in english):

Listen to Aicha

Listen to Chandra

Listen to Indu

From all the experiences of the different groups, we tried to extract common principles:
I feel inspired if/ when....
1. people can change their self-image, they start doing amazing things
Then we can also start doing amazing things
Those people themselves can also inspire other people to do amazing things
2. If we believe that others can be the agents of change then they become the agent of change and we get inspired
(the magic of appreciation spiral....)
3. people from different cultures, backgrounds and religions work together for a common ideology, then I get inspired
4. vision and hope is transferred from one community to another
5. I see change for the better
6. I can see and celebrate moments of success/ progress towards achieving our common dream.
7. I feel a sense of togetherness
8. I feel a sense of connectedness on a spiritual level
9. I see commitment of people around me towards the same goal
10. People open up based on mutual trust
11. If we are invited into the intimacy of communities and homes
12. We truly learn from others we are inspired to change ourselves and share with others
13. We see and feel that love in action is releasing power for connecting to others for shared change
14. If people achieve in the face of adversity
15. I see people responding from their strengths and not getting carried away by their weaknesses.
16. I see or hear people being able to connect and staying in that connection even with people who have been bad with them.
17. An experience wakes us up to the beauty of life
18. I realize whom I love the most then I get inspired to live my life for them and to support others like them.
19. I see or hear about people changing their mindset and perceptions
20. The story of people reflect my life and what I can be

In the afternoon, we explored what were the implications for the Constellation and our team, to keep the inspiration alive and flowing. You will find all the ideas in the attached. Based on these key principles we also developed a ‘draft’ self-assessment for teams.

We explored the concept or value of ‘love’ in our work as facilitators. Neil challenges us with an interesting question: “Do we need to keep distance as ‘professionals’ with communities?” Many friends reacted with very interesting contributions.

Another intervention will automatically set boundaries but we are in a different world. We don’t only see the common humanity, there is more than we can see. Ian, UK
For me it boils down to Usa’s question: Are we human? Phil, UK
We are going as professionals yes, but there is more. When we are invited into homes, we exchange trust and love and we are transformed as facilitators. Prabakar, India.

To close this wonderful day, all of us shared in one word how we felt about today: Beauty, peace, intense, grateful, love, touched, genuine, inspired, appreciation, insight, Yes we can!.... can it be more inspiring?

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Dear Lau,

Thanks for the inspiring quotes and stories. Indu's story is very inspiring because she cites an example of sex workers who offer an opportunity to women from the general community to come togther for saving their earnings.

And Sirinate's story will always motivate me to strive, work hard and achieve my goals.

Rituu

[Sanghamitra Iyengar]

The meeting in Chiang Mai was transformational for me in some ways: the essence of it was inspiration... inspiration to be positive and zoom ahead, and let barriers fall by themselves.In this I was much inspired by Prabhakar and Laurence... energy transmits you know, unlike the virus by being with positive thinking. I understood more deeply what connecting local responses around the world meant and I found it one of the most special things about the Constellation.I felt connected with each person who was there and watering the flowers was the easiest thing... there was something special about each person which I have brought back with me...reading through the suitcase, made these connections in the context of learn, share and transfer vivid. These leapt out as real things not just words, thank you all at CST.Thank you Marijo for putting it so well, I have always found that the resonance in the group gives me strength Now I feel even more that this helps me to hold on to my beliefs and not give up and grow negative....

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Dear Ms. Sanghamitra,

Thanks for your beautiful sharing...straight from the heart. Waiting to take you out for a meal.

Love,

Rituu

[Dr. E. Mohamed Rafique]

Dear All,

During a recent chat with JLL, he asked me, 'what inspired us'. I answered instinctively then that what inspires me are Truth, Peace, Happiness by sharing, unselfish love, innocence....

Next morning I came upon a quote by Wordsworth: "The child is the father of man".

For a child loves spontaneously. Moreover, it's innate love is unselfish. For, the child simply loves everyone. However, as the child grows, this love takes a back-seat, when as a adolescent he is in the highly competitive world of his peers, where his intellect comes to the fore for his survival. This struggle between mind, the seat of intelligence, and heart, the perceived seat of love causes most of the pains of growing up. Consequently, Love turns inward to the self, and a degree of selfishness is nurtured to keep us competitive.

However, as a man our knowledge and experience immensely strengthens and broadens our love. So, as a adult, depending on how much we guide our actions by our earliest, involuntary, grand, unselfish, outward-reaching love, so much are we closer to being a true adult. Thus, only in adulthood we come full circle to regaining the unique love we had as children which is richer now with the added dimensions of experience and knowledge, and this is what Wordsworth meant when he said, "the child is the father of the man!"

I think it was one Father Macedo, in my school who lectured us on this line from Wordsworth and I hope I have been able to put down his thoughts. So, I have robbed this idea from him. Father Macedo would enact Shakespeare to make us understand the drama. Just plain reading or rendering was not enough for him. His was a class that I never missed, luckily. However, pity was he came in only when our regular teacher was absent, though he was a thousand times better! He was also the best Jesuit priest I have seen. I attribute whatever Theology I have picked up and the techniques I use in arguments are copied from him too.

Coming back to the topic, we all know that in our Community Life Competence Process (CLCP) we are connecting on the equality that we are all human beings. And children connect best, because of their spontaneous unselfish love. Moreover, it is not difficult for us to get back the love-all attitude and innocence we had as children. So, the closer we are to becoming children in loving other human beings, the better we will be in practicing Life Competence.

Hope this guides me,

Rafique

[Rituu B. Nanda]

Dear Rafique,

Thanks for the beautiful sharing. . Yes, child like innocence is very precious. Children are so simple, unaffected, and honest, untainted by self importance and pride. A lovely, toothy smile from a baby can warm up hearts that have long been buried in cold time.

I fully believe that there is always a child in us. We just need to throw this facade we have developed as we have grown up. Wish I could go back to being childlike, open and trusting, who makes no judgments and loves selflessly. It was so wonderful when I waited for Santa every X'mas eve and looked for fairies and elves in the garden.

As the famous Indian singer, Jagjit Singh croons, Yeh daulat bhi le lo ...ie take away my wealth and fame, you may even take my youth but please return my childhood, when I sailed paperboats in the rain water...

Rituu

[Laurence Gilliot]

Another intense but wonderful day …
This morning all member organizations shared what they had achieved so far, their challenges and their vision for the future. Presentations from BarnaCompetence, BelCompetence, IndiaCompetence, IndoCompetence, Kenya Competence, PNG AIDS Competence, RDCCompetence, the team in Thailand and the CFT showed a rich diversity of forms and shapes of teams. "The presentations were excitingly different. But somehow they all resonate with me. I watch this group and thought “Yes, I understand that!” and I listen to the next group and think “Yes, this idea as well!”. But we all have the same essence.” Sanghamitra, India.

Some new things I learned today:

- BelCompetence wants to organize knowledge fairs four times per year with NGOs, associations and communities that might be interested to join the team. In this way, they appreciate what people are already doing in Belgium and provide an opportunity for people to know more about the Community Life Competence Process.

Presentation of BelCompetence

- Kenya Competence organized several SALT visits with partners and potential partners. In this way, partners can understand and appreciate the context in which the community life competence process emerged.

- RDC Competence’s biggest strength is the facilitation of the process in communities. At the beginning we would go into the community with printouts of the self-assessment. People would start analyzing the words and we would engage in endless debates about the description of the levels. Today, whether it is the most junior or most senior person, no one brings tools to the community. We discuss in a natural way. Antoine, RD-Congo

During the Board meeting this afternoon, we discussed changes in the charter and in the prologue. One interesting part of the discussion was about the name of our process. Is it the Community Life Competence Process or Life Competence process ?

CLCP gives some context of relationship. Ian, UK

Our process is a community process, not an individual process. We are not coaching individuals. In Belgium, most NGOs have ‘mass approaches’ or ‘individual approaches’ but no community approaches. There is a real need for this. Jean-Louis, Belgium

We discussed the name and functions of the CFT or Core Facilitation Team. The word ‘Core’ doesn’t match anymore with the current decentralized structure. The CFT is not a central entity but is just a team like BelCompetence, IndiaCompetence, RDC Competence, etc. The only difference is the scope of this team, which is global. The Board will decide on a name tomorrow morning.

Tonight, I really felt like a global citizen. After sharing a meal together, we sang songs from around the world. I was so touched by the Arabic song of Aicha about the moon, the prayer of Indu, the song about hygiene in DR-Congo from Antoine and JL, the wonderful, beautiful and communicative smile of Prabakar…
How many opportunities in life do we have to connect at such a deep level, in such a simple way? How many big conferences missed the opportunity for a genuine human connection? Why do we feel like a family, really trusting each other… ? When did we last feel this sense of peace in a group, because all individuals are at peace?

This song reflects what I felt tonight:
we are the leaves of one tree
we are the waves of one sea
we are the stars of one sky
the time has come for all to live as one
we are the leaves of one tree

[rebeka sultana]

Dear Laurence,

I was not follwoing the updates from Chiang Mai, just now reading all. Simply great. I do not know how to express my feelings, the song....we are the waves in one sea, stars in one sky....beautiful...just written for ACP.

I read where memebrs said what inspires them, a really thought provoking question and what a genuine one!! Why do we ask all sorts of questions to people, our friends or communities and only today I learn and i think I totally agree I shall ask people what inspires them, and look at the practices of the team self assessment "go where the energy is' ...wow! I think may be even I read many academic journals many behaviour change materials ...this is the simplest and the best I ever learned!!!

Greatful for this up dates. I wish to see you all in person and feel one of you !

regards,
Rebeka