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November 2015

Thank you so much for a wonderful Impact Jamboree celebration!

The celebratory activities will continue into 2016! In the meantime, we will create a "Harvest Document" from what happened at the regional Impact Cafés hosted all over the world in October and what we learned at the online Harvest Cafés we just hosted last week...

AND, we want to take a moment now, in this season of Thanksgiving in the US, to thank you all for being part of this important moment in time.

We also want to share two powerful seeds that have been born in our international community within the last few weeks: Paris Est a Nous & Open Hearts. The first is a collective call to wise action from French citizens using World Café to respond to recent events in Paris; and the second is listening and responding to what's needed for the volunteers supporting the ongoing flow of refugees into Europe to "host themselves" well as they do this important work.

Please read on for news of these two initiatives that use the power of what we know and are learning together (please note that the first one is time-sensitive). We end this message with a poem about savoring this moment of celebration, even as we move forward together into what is next.

 

  



INVITATION TO OUR WORLD CAFE ON 13 DECEMBER, 2015
(excerpted by an email sent by Davy Benichou)

Right after the Paris attacks on the 13th of November, 2015, a citizen community arose from within social media: "Collectif pour Paris". Deeply humanist and reflecting the Republic's values, this community gathers French citizens from every horizon. First we shared our testimonies and our grief, but we also shared our willingness to live, to take back our streets and our lifestyle.

This exercise of the freedom of speech becomes a duty, both for the memory of the victims and for the future. Whether we act or not, History is definitely marked by these atrocities. However, it depends on us to write the next chapters. We have to oppose determination to horror, solidarity to terror, strength to destruction. It's our responsibility to gather to create the reality we want to live in tomorrow.

This is why we invite you to join the first of our citizen gatherings on the afternoon of Sunday, December 13, 2015. On this event, precisely one month after the attacks, we will share our thoughts and begin to form our proposals.

We thought about the ideal format, and the "World Café" concept seemed the optimal way to stimulate open communication and creativity with boundaries but no hierarchy in order to achieve concrete goals. Besides, this choice is highly symbolic as terrorists aimed at our "cafés" among their targets.

Registration and ongoing communications will be done through our FaceBook Event Page, where you can find more information including data about security and partnerships that have already been forming and add your suggestions for themes we will be exploring.

Who is invited?
Any citizen who wants to express him/herself is welcome, after joining the event on Facebook.

We are an independent community. Therefore, we are NOT affiliated to any political party and do NOT defend any religious ideology, but we remain focused on the republican values of France.

Info and Contacts:
Facebook Page
Facebook Event Page
Email/Contact: collectifpourparis@outlook.fr
Davy: (+33) 6 51 02 98 32



Open Hearts is a new initiative to support volunteers who care for humans seeking refuge, asking "How can we maintain our own open hearts while dealing with so much pain and human suffering?"

We know that working with people who have experienced (war-related) trauma is emotionally demanding and that it can be traumatizing for the volunteers. We are asking "What information, tools and practices do volunteers need in order to care for themselves so they can be fully present to do this work?"

First step: a website as a beautiful repository of resources and stories, providing user-friendly information on self-care, volunteering, and trauma-informed practices. We will also be offering one-to-one conversations and online World Cafés and other gatherings for volunteers and those who have recently returned from volunteer work with refugees.

Stewarded by a strong core team (Steve Ryman, Michaela Sieh, Filiz Telek, Helen Titchen Beeth, Amy Lenzo, Heather Plett, andJoost den Boon), Open Hearts brings together different "tribes" using a variety of participatory practices to address an issue that matters to us all.

We'd love to hear from you - your own experiences and reflections, your
favourite poems and music and practices to calm down and feel grounded in very stressful situations...

Please contact Michaela if you have resources and/or contributions to share. 


CELEBRATING

For just one moment
could we breathe it in,
the little victory
of our work danced with
such effortless integrity?

For just one moment
could we celebrate
and hug each other gleefully
and laugh
and throw a hat
high over head?

For just one moment
could we close our eyes
in silence, savoring the joy
of something difficult
and beautiful,
attempted?  Done.

Like standing on a hill in sunshine,
winds blowing waves of flowers all around us,
and without a word or second thought,
dancing among them, playfully,
just looking up at sky and clouds,
and laughing gleefully at nothing but the thought
of what we've done and how we are
together at this very moment.

For just one moment could we feel
the deep connection
built in laboring together,
in caring for the work
and for each other?

The time will come, too soon,
to plan the next thing or to judge the last.

For now, the savoring is all I want,
the breathing in and
stepping for a small eternity
off the main path
we've traveled with such purpose,
into wild prairie fields of celebration,
that now beckon us with flowers and laughter,
music of a different sort
than we play when we're home.

On this part of this journey,
melodies the earth itself produces
seem to flow like gentle notes,
like memories of tiny
moments of connection in the work,
exquisite carving from our hands and minds,
like waves of flowers in the wind,
a vast bouquet that we might fold within our arms,
as if the universe has reached across the footlights,
leaning forward with its gift,
in recognition of the beauty of our work. 

    by Judy Brown        March 10, 1995
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