The religious orphanage, Saint Enfant Jesus (OSEJ) is located two steps from the local market of Abomey, a town in the Zou region of Benin. At the OSEJ there are 6 care workers, who are called by everyone "les mamans", the mamas.  Maman Pierret, Nicole, Gérard, Vital, Nicole and Colette, have been working at the OSEJ for more than 10 years. Along these years they have took care of…

On the Valentine’s day Loli & I had the opportunity to present the SALT/CLCP approach to 20 students in Professional License for International Solidarity, at the University Montaigne, Bordeaux – France. We had one full day to present and discuus the various components of the approach and to carry out a SALT visit to a Sciences Po students’ association (Deka Ewe) active in Togo. The students were very much interested on the practical aspects of the approach and they reacted…

https://what-makes-us-human.com/blog/our-blog/

We reflect on origins, synergy, and shared growth.

Video by Anu Sieberk

This video clip comes from part of a presentation that Jean-Louis gave in Ferney-Voltaire for the launch of the book about the story of our shared dream, 'What makes us human?'

Here is a slightly edited transcript of the video: 

"I want to talk about the essence of what we are trying to do. For this we use the acronym SALT;…

A reflection on Chapter 2 of "What makes us human?"

“How much will you pay us?”

r“You may ask how we find all these wonderful people who are now part of the Constellation. Here is the secret. All of us in the Constellation are ordinary people, but because we refuse to consider money as the main engine that drives us, we have learned to discover our wonderful strengths and nurture them as we learn and grow. We dream of a system in which all of us have the opportunity to use…

L’équipe SALT de Sankuru s’est rendue à Tshudi Loto du 16 au 21 janvier 2017. Blog publié au nom de Paul Lokoto.

L’équipe SALT et ses partenaires ont décidé d’enregistrer quelques histoires en vidéo pour confirmer les changements dans les communautés de la zone de santé de TSHUDI LOTO.

1. Dans la communauté d’OTEMA ALANGA, Maman ISABELLE explique : « Mon mari est un grand chasseur. Dans notre famille, nous ne savions pas que lorsque nous ramassons un animal trouvé mort…

Back to Molenbeek . . .

. . . This time on a smaller, but certainly not less important scale!

During one of the follow-up meetings on the Molenbeek initiative, there was a new face in the circle:  Karim Azemian, a co-founder of ASBL Repère, an organization that seeks…

Chapter 1: AIDS Competence should spread faster than the virus. 

In 1997-1998, Jean-Louis spent 18 months in Phayao, a province in northern Thailand. In a few short sentences, here is what he learned.

“It is necessary to provide services to prevent AIDS, to care for it, and to reduce its impact, but these services are not sufficient. The key resides in the actions of individuals, of families, and of communities in responding to the scourge. AIDS Competence means communities…

This is very much in line with the SALT approach, hope you enjoy this...

Making up your mind. Prioritizing and making it happen

* As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "every man must decide whether he will walk in the…

Learning from ‘What makes us human?’

From the Introduction to ‘What makes us human?’

“(Appreciation means) that we finally stop putting people into categories and enjoy the discovery of each other’s strengths: city and slum dwellers, saints and sinners, straights and all the others, the protected and the vulnerable, natives and…

As a way of introducing people to Jean-Louis’ book ‘What makes us human?’ people are being recorded talking about their experience of SALT in their lives. For good or ill, Anu Sieberk recorded my contribution this morning. In it, I talk about how the idea of ‘Appreciation’ has altered my life. You can see it at…

Jean-Louis’ book is now out in English. The title of the book is ‘What makes us human?’ We have used this challenging question for a long time in the Constellation and it is, indeed, a fine title for the book. I don’t know if I should say this, but what I like even more is the sub-title for the book, ‘The story of a shared dream’.

The Constellation is truly the story of a shared dream. I suspect that for each of us there was a time when we saw that what the Constellation was…

je suis un être humain from Carlos Chapman on Vimeo.

Dear all,

I am in the process of translating a book which I am really enjoying and I would like to share it with you. It is about Participative Action Research, about co-creation of knowledge and how to learn from the process.

I think that it has a lot to do with our core beliefs in The Constellation and I am sure it might be of help for many of you who explore how research can be done from the actions we undertake.…

Dear friends,

Deep inside us, we know it: it is within our powers as global citizens to make life flourish. No one else will do it. The question is how.

“What makes us human?” offers a way forward. The book tells the story of the shared dream of the Constellation, the organisation founded in 2004 to stimulate and connect local responses to AIDS.  Thousands of communities mobilize their strengths to realise their…

Chers amis

Le livre “Qu’est-ce qui nous rend humains” est aujourd’hui disponible en anglais. Puis-je vous demander de faire la promotion e “What makes us human?” auprès de vos amis et connaissances anglophones?  

Au fond de nous, nous le savons: en tant que citoyens du monde, il est de notre pouvoir de faire prospérer la vie. Personne d'autre ne le fera à notre place. La question est de savoir comment.

«Qu’est-ce qui nous rend…

Quand on a préparé la formation des facilitateurs locaux de Diécké (décembre 2016), Luc Barrière, Joseph Koivogui et moi-même avions fait de notre mieux pour être à la hauteur des attentes de nos partenaires, c'est-à-dire les 22 facilitateurs locaux de Tinkisso à former. La réalité a été différente. Les niveaux de formation académique et de compréhension étaient largement plus bas que nos prévisions. Que faire ? Comment faire comprendre et faire pratiquer les deux premières étapes…

Le 06 décembre 2016, une douzaine de facilitateurs locaux en formation rendait une visite SALT à un groupement maraicher d’une dizaine de femmes à Diécké. Deuxième expérience SALT pour ces facilitateurs en herbe et première expérience de ce genre de visite pour ces femmes, cette rencontre a été très instructive de part et d’autre.

Au début de la causerie, les femmes ont laissé la parole être monopolisée par leur encadreur qui pratiquement était leur porte parole. Il fallait…