"Bring and Share" inspires SALTiness within Le Pont du Tamarinier

[Autry Haynes]

What started as an introduction to SALT in a tiny village of Lalmatie in Mauritius, a group of women who wanted to respond to threats of alcoholism in that community resulted in the stimulation of another group of women of Le Pont du Tamarinier taking a conscious decision to inculcate the ‘Spirit of SALT’ in their way of thinking and working for themselves and with three communities of families they engage with to support them to reduce threats, vulnerability and improve their way of living. The staff of Le Pont du Tamarinier in an effort inculcate the ‘Spirit of SALT’ agree to three days learning of the Community Life Competence Process and SALT. The Bring and Share was a SMART activity intended to bring back the team to reflect in an effort to cultivate SALT spirit. Only two of the thirteen persons who experienced SALT were unable to attend the ‘Bring and Share’..

 

'Bring and Share' is that everyone brings something to eat and that is shared with the other participants. What was intended to be an 11H to 13H activity because of people’s concern about time, went until 14H30. From the start of the activity everyone was beaming and happy to be reconnected for the reflection. The ‘Spirit of SALT’ was evident. There was a variety of Mauritian, European and small bit of Guyanese dish. There was wine also (^_^). during the lunch, the ‘community conversation’ was around SALT. One observation was that the ‘action planning’ was the most challenging for the team and that was observed also with one community, Carre d’As which started their action planning process the day before. One reflection was “How can we make action planning more rewarding and impacting?” Some SALty thought were to allow for time and as much conversation; encourage ‘thinking out of the box’ try not rush the planning process, do one or two at a time, even skip the priority practices and do the seemingly easier ones so that understanding what is required becomes more familiar.

The ‘Bring and Share’ closed with an appreciative session where a A4 paper was placed with a piece of paper tape on each person’s back and each member wrote what he/she appreciated about that person. What was inspiring was the discussion on sharing of the appreciative comments by everyone.

 

[Autry Haynes]

Are they REALLY exclusively different, Bring and Share as well as Learn and Share?

[Autry Haynes]

SMART: Specific Measurable Appropriate Realistic Time bound action indicating who will do what; when will it be done and how do we know we have accomplished the action to contribute to the practice onwards to the dream 

[Autry Haynes]

Thanks Marlou, stay tuned, right for more!  Bring and Share is emerging as So Mauritius..So Delicious; becoming the common denominator for SALTiness in several contexts of local response; in addition to the above look out for .....overcoming communication barriers within a community and stimulating more men involvement in other community activities other than the physical work at which they are level 5. 

[Marlou]

Thank you for bringing and sharing this story, Autry!

At the SALT learning events in France and the Netherlands we also ask participants to bring a meal for a buffet-lunch. It is always a high moment in our weekends. We ask people to bring "a meal with a story". Before we eat, everyone proudly presents their plate. We (facilitators) ask "What does this dish tell about yourself  and the community you belong to". This question triggers beautiful personal, family and community stories.  

This 'buffet' also serves to explain how local responses work. "Everyone brings to the table what he/she can bring. One can bake the nicest cake, one has connections in the family and therefore can bring this traditional plate cooked jointly with an aunt, another person can not cook but has a lot of money and can buy the drinks, others can offer their skills in making the table look beautiful before and after the meal. And let's not forget the person who organised the invitation to the meal!"

This is also how communities work together in local responses: each of us using our own skills, our networks, our (financial) resources, our caring heart - when we carry out our action plan. And each contribution is equally valuable in our journey towards our dream.

The best memory was a SALT weekend here in France when we encouraged participants to invite their friends and families to join the meal. At that convivial moment Sharing became Transfer!