Connecting with My Core Self and Transforming Power – Friends Peace Teams

Connecting with My Core Self and Transforming Power – Friends Peace Teams

Connecting with My Core Self and Transforming Power

By Rhaka Katresna, 

an intern at Peace Place in Pati teaching in the AVP-based preschool and supporting AVP and PoG training







Creating Cultures of Peace at Peace Place, Pati; Wiwit, Jati, Wilson, Rhaka, Giyarto, and Royan March 2022 (Peace Place Pati Documentation)


I BEGAN WORKING IN PEACE PLACE IN PATI, CENTRAL JAVA on 23 January 2022. We prepared through mutual discernment, discussion of living expenses, and ways to handle crises related to my trauma. Since I have been traumatized, one little trigger can cause big difficulties in my work and life. We made a list of do’s and don’ts to treat trauma, making Peace Place more trauma-informed and supportive.

List of do’s and don’ts:

Do
When trauma is triggered, take time and space to release emotion and process trauma memories.
Look for assistance and company when needed.
Take the chance to learn and gain insights from trauma.
Respect and validate people experiences of trauma and boundaries

Don’ts
Invalidate emotion and memories of trauma


The daily routine of my internship is simple. In the morning, I help the teachers Wiwit, Nanik, Ninok, and Sulis in the Joglo Preschool by accompanying the children, making observation notes, and documenting activities. I then have time to practice somatic movement with the children every Friday. Each weekday when school is over, I participate in the teachers meeting to share what we noticed, learned, and want to do the next day. In the afternoon, I work in the Peace Place office for administrative, publications, and organizing AVP – Creating Culture of Peace workshops and Power of Goodness events.

Life in Pati was challenging at first. When I heard the story of parents who mistreated special needs children, I got upset. I remembered the abuse I experienced as a child. Even though I’m away from the stressful situations in my family, my body recreates that distress and rigid reactions.

I focused on maintaining my physical condition and on the work at hand. I spent time dancing to explore my trauma triggers. Support and care from good companionship reminded me that the original traumatic events are over. I have begun to regulate my response, release my emotions, lead myself into patterns of ease, and finally speak the truth that comes clear. The struggle with trauma is not over in one companion group session. Healing occurs gradually in a safe place like Peace Place.

I am learning to facilitate the AVP-Creating Cultures of Peace special topic series. We reflect on case studies and daily practice. Petrus shared how Creating Cultures of Peace has changed the lives of so many people. I learned that the process of peace happens organically. It’s natural and somatic, achieved through activity, reflection, and play.

Nanik also provides a comprehensive platform for me to learn about the AVP-based preschool curriculum. Joglo Preschool has given me an opportunity to practice somatic education with children. I enjoy doing movement with the children and observing what we can learn by dancing and playing together. At night after school, I review material and take notes on important things I learned.

I have also engaged with other local communities. Wiwit and I started a mental health support community in Pati named Welas Asih, which means Compassion. To our surprise, we were invited to the City’s House of Representatives to speak about mental health issues in Pati. We advocated for a bill for people with disabilities, especially people with mental disabilities. I voiced my experience, advocating for the mental health care system from Bandung West Java. Petrus told about his experience accompanying his cousin to a mental health rehabilitation center. Other mental health survivors and caregivers voiced their experiences and trials regarding mental health services in Pati. We got appreciation from local social workers, mental health survivors, and caregivers.

Through all these enormous events in Pati, I find myself more connected with my core self and moved by Transforming Power. Being called to a place that helps me be my full self is a blessing. I can feel the innermost part of myself, which I’ve longed for – for a very long time. Overflowing, positive emotions are coming up that I can’t describe. When I run with the stream of those emotions, I notice relief, liberation, and the gifts of life. I look at myself as a person who dances with grace and enthusiasm. I am grateful.

April 18th, 2022|Articles, Asia West Pacific, Creating Cultures of Peace, Philippines, Power of Goodness, Trauma Resiliency Workshops

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
FacebookTwitterRedditLinkedInWhatsAppEmail


Related Posts



Printing Read Aloud Books for Indonesia Peace Libraries
Printing Read Aloud Books for Indonesia Peace Libraries
April 20th, 2022

Choosing “Horizons” Amidst Despair
Choosing “Horizons” Amidst Despair
April 17th, 2022

17th HROC International Training Narrative Report
17th HROC International Training Narrative Report
April 14th, 2022

Reaching out to Ukraine
Reaching out to Ukraine
April 13th, 2022

HROC Uganda Workshop Reports
HROC Uganda Workshop Reports
March 24th, 2022

El Salvador Friends Start a Peace Library
El Salvador Friends Start a Peace Library
March 24th, 2022

Trauma Healing Training in Kakuma Refugee Camp
Trauma Healing Training in Kakuma Refugee Camp
March 23rd, 2022

Sending our love to Ukraine
Sending our love to Ukraine
March 21st, 2022

A Peaceful Way of Choosing Recipients: Philippine Fishing Boat Appeal Update
A Peaceful Way of Choosing Recipients: Philippine Fishing Boat Appeal Update
March 11th, 2022

Sending Love and Prayers to Ukraine
Sending Love and Prayers to Ukraine
March 1st, 2022

Rwanda Scholarship Program — February 2022 Testimony
Rwanda Scholarship Program — February 2022 Testimony
March 1st, 2022

Basic Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), Uvira, DRC, December 2021
Basic Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), Uvira, DRC, December 2021
February 27th, 2022


Recent Articles
Printing Read Aloud Books for Indonesia Peace LibrariesApril 20, 2022
Connecting with My Core Self and Transforming PowerApril 18, 2022
Choosing “Horizons” Amidst DespairApril 17, 2022
17th HROC International Training Narrative ReportApril 14, 2022
Reaching out to UkraineApril 13, 2022

AVP: An Interview with Steve Angell - Friends Journal

AVP: An Interview with Steve Angell - Friends Journal

AVP: An Interview with Steve Angell

October 1, 2002

By Robert Dockhorn

Stephen L. Angell was an early participant and continues to be active in the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), a program that offers workshops on nonviolence in prisons and elsewhere. This interview took place in Kennett Square, Pa., on June 18, 2002.

How did you first become involved with AVP?

AVP started in New York Yearly Meeting. My first encounter with it came when AVP held its first workshop in 1975 at Greenhaven Prison. Lawrence Apsey, who was the founder of AVP, asked my wife and me to serve as hosts to one of the leaders, Bernard Lafayette, a right-hand man to Martin Luther King Jr. We happily agreed to have him in our home. Although I had no direct contact with that first workshop, we plied him with questions afterwards in the evenings. That workshop was quite different from the workshops that we conduct today. We had no manuals then. We just had the model of the Children’s Creative Response to Conflict (CCRC) program, which started in New York Yearly Meeting about three years prior to AVP. The first workshop was very much centered on individuals telling stories of how they approached potentially violent situations with nonviolence.

So that was my first contact with the program. A number of years later, New York Yearly Meeting became a little concerned because the program was growing in size as an activity of the Peace and Social Action Committee. It was part of the Quaker Project on Community Conflict (QPCC)—not a very catchy name. The yearly meeting felt concerned lest the tail start wagging the dog because they had very little staff. AVP didn’t exactly have staff, but it had a growing number of facilitators for the workshops and growing expenses. We were also trying to raise funds to support the program. It was decided to incorporate AVP as a separate organization, although it would still be under the sponsorship of the yearly meeting and would have a separate budget. The facilitators were at first going principally into Greenhaven and Auburn prisons, although prisoners throughout New York state were beginning to ask for workshops.

How long was it before you were actually leading workshops?

When they decided to incorporate and needed incorporators, Larry Apsey, a close friend of ours, asked me to be one, and I agreed; and then they needed a board of directors, so I agreed to serve on that. Larry Floyd was the first clerk of the board, and I succeeded him two or three years later when he died. So I was quickly drawn into the organization, and then my friends who were leading the workshops said, "Steve, you ought to know what we’re doing; you should take a workshop." I didn’t think I needed that; I’m not a person who walks around getting in fights, carrying a gun or a knife or a tool for protection. But I couldn’t disagree with them. I said if I’m going to be supporting this program from the
organizational side, maybe I should know what it’s like. So I agreed to take a workshop with Larry Apsey in Fishkill Prison in New York. That was late 1980 or early 1981. And I learned something about myself in the workshop that led me to believe I was in the right place doing the right thing: I realized that there was violence in me, too. The way I responded verbally and the disagreements with my teenage children could be more or less violent depending on how I did it. From that point on, I feel that each workshop I participate in has had something to offer to me and that I have grown as a result.

I wonder if that’s generally true of the leaders of AVP workshops—that they themselves benefit each time they lead?

I have come to realize that what has held volunteer AVP facilitators in the work is that they feel they are getting something out of it themselves. It is more than giving something to others, it is also getting something back. The demands for being a facilitator for an AVP workshop are considerable. Most of our workshops are weekend workshops, starting in the prisons on Friday, maybe Friday morning, and running through Sunday evening. That means giving up a lot of valuable personal time. And yet, individuals stay with it week after week and month after month.

At this time, you were a member of which meeting?

Bulls Head Meeting, in Purchase Quarterly Meeting of New York Yearly Meeting.

And Lawrence Apsey—what was his meeting?

Also Bulls Head. He and his wife, Virginia, had lived in New York City and were members of 15th Street Meeting. He had been the administrator of QPCC, a subcommittee of the Peace and Social Action Committee, which had various projects.

How did AVP get its name?

The name QPCC was a little awkward. Once, when the facilitating team was coming out of Greenhaven Prison in New York—a maximum security prison with the electric chair—the officer on the way out said, "How was your workshop in alternatives to violence?" We picked up on that. It is short and accurately describes what we are doing. It also gives an accurate impression about what the project’s about because it was really by happenstance that we started in prisons. I’ve always seen the project as something that is much broader than just working with prisoners.

Who were some of the other individuals who were important in the early stages?

Lee Stern, Ellen Flanders, Janet Lugo, Mary Gray Legg, Ginny Floyd, Steve Stalonas, and Steve Levinsky come immediately to mind—got a lot of Steves involved here! There were many others.

Were key decisions made early that helped AVP grow so rapidly?

First of all, from the beginning we decided that this should be a volunteer project. In other words, we would not pay facilitators. Individuals would do it because they wanted to, and that was their compensation—what they got out of it. There is no way that AVP could have spread around the planet the way it did if each new country that picked it up had to raise thousands of dollars to finance it.

Is there no paid employee?

Initially we had some staff in the yearly meeting office—Lee Stern was extremely helpful. For a while, in 1984-86, I was paid to go into the yearly meeting office in New York City and handle administrative details for AVP. And in the ’90s, we hired an executive director. But we’ve gone back to volunteer leadership. We found ourselves putting too much energy into raising the funds to pay for that position, which deflected us from just spreading the program.

As I said, going into the prisons was happenstance. I don’t think we thought we were setting up a program that would spread throughout the prisons in the United States. We had a Quaker worship group in Greenhaven Prison that had, as part of their program, in addition to a half-hour worship, a half-hour discussion time. During the latter, one thing we’d do is tell the men what other things Quakers were doing that might be of interest to them. We told them about what Quakers had done during the Vietnam War, how we’d traveled all around the United States training individuals in ways to enter demonstrations and keep them nonviolent. Philadelphia was one of the areas. We did that work coast to coast. Trained thousands.

There was a group of men in the prisons called the "Think-Tank Concept." They were trying to work with.

These were prisoners?

Yes. They were trying to work with youth from New York City who were on a violent track, to lead them to other ways of addressing their problems without violence. And they didn’t feel they were having as much success as they would have liked because what they were predominately working with was fear. They’d bring these young fellas in and try to scare the daylights out of them—tell them how horrible prison was and if they continued what they were doing they were going to end up there. It wasn’t working.

Was this before the first AVP workshop?

Oh yes.

And was this the group that then approached you?

Yes. When they heard about our involvement in the Vietnam War demonstrations they said, "Well is there something that you could teach us that we could then pass on to these younger guys?" We said we could do a workshop for them. So the first workshop was born.

Did the think-tank then become part of AVP or did it retain a separate existence?

They continued separately, but it was largely members of that group who came into the first workshop: about eight men. And it also happened in Auburn Prison. There was a Quaker worship group and a similar process up there.

How would you describe the relationship between AVP and Quakers?

Well, I’ve always felt that I wanted AVP to become ecumenical, totally so, and not just be a Quaker program. I think that is true in many of the places where it’s gone, and I know in New York state that the people we trained to be facilitators were of all denominations or none at all. And I’m assuming that’s happening in other places as well because while Quakers can give the initial push, there’s no reason they should claim it as just their territory.

Have inmates become trainers or involved in organizing AVP?

We believed that unless we could bring the participants to the trainer level of participation, this program couldn’t have the kind of outreach that we were aiming for. So whenever we went into a prison for the first time, we tried to complete all three levels of the workshop: basic, second-level, and training for facilitators to get individuals who are trained as apprentice facilitators. And from then on, when we went into the prison we would have a mixed team of inside facilitators and outsiders. Early on we set the policy that we would not support workshops that only had inmate facilitators, not because we didn’t trust their capacity to lead the workshop—in fact I think that some of our very best facilitators have been from the inside—but we soon realized there was pull from the administrative side in prisons to get involved and take this over as one of their programs.

We never wanted AVP to be a program of the prison system. We wanted it to be a program coming in from the outside, from individuals who were there because they were concerned. We wanted it to be a program that belonged to the participants. When I go in and do a first workshop, I say to any group that I’m here as a volunteer because I want to give a gift to them that was given to me. And that really seems to have an impact. I can’t consider that I’m giving them a gift if I’m paid. We do, however, try to cover expenses for facilitators: travel, babysitting costs, etc. This is a problem of some controversy because guys come out of prison and need money. So we make some exceptions based on need.

So AVP, you say, started by happenstance in prisons, but the workshops go far beyond that. How did that happen?

In order to do prison programs you have to do outside programs first. You have to train people on the outside because every workshop in prison needs an outside facilitator. So there’s always been a strong citizen component, or outside people component to AVP, because that was necessary in order to do the programs in the prison. We’ve always done sample workshops, for instance, at FGC gatherings, as a step forward to enabling people to then take the program into the prisons, where it started.

Worldwide application began in the late 1980s. My wife died in 1988, and in 1989, Friends from abroad were writing and saying, "Why don’t you come visit us?" And I thought, why not? And as this thought began to mature in my mind, I thought, why don’t I share AVP while I’m there? Also, in 1989, Ellen Flanders and Janet Lugo went to England to share the program. Then, late in the 1990s, during the crisis in Yugoslavia, there was a lot of community violence, and I saw no reason why AVP shouldn’t have applicability in that culture as well as in the prison culture. I learned that there was a Quaker in Yugoslavia who’d set up what he called the Baranja International Meetinghouse who was trying to work with Croatians in the Baranja region to help bring about more peaceful ways of solving their conflicts in the future.

A Yugoslav national?

No, a British Friend, Nicholas Street. I offered to go over and give a workshop. And I’ve been doing that ever since.

And this fall it looks like we’ll be going back to do some workshops in Serbia because we had some Serbian folks here and did a workshop with them, and they said, "Oh, we need this!" and "Won’t you come to Serbia?" Now the work in the former Yugoslavia is taking a turn toward doing prison workshops—they have prisons there and feel the need for that work, too. But my purpose in going there was to help the people of the country to recognize that there were other ways of dealing with problems than resorting to violence and war.

Is there a partner organization there?

Yes, the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, in Croatia. And the person there, Michelle Kurtz, is a Presbyterian missionary from the Midwestern United States. She’s been our primary contact, but now that I’ve been back there five times, planning a sixth, we have contacts that are strictly Croatian, Serbian, and so forth. It’s viewed very much as a community program as well as one that could be suitable in their prisons. We did a workshop in a refugee camp in Gascini, in Croatia.

I know AVP has been active in Africa. Is it spreading around the world?

Oh yes, it’s on six continents, all of them except Antarctica. In 1988, I attended the triennial sessions of Friends World Committee and there I offered a sample workshop on AVP. Val Ferguson asked if I’d be interested in representing Friends at the NGO Alliance on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at the United Nations in New York, an activity that the Quaker UN Office didn’t feel it could take under its wing. So I became the Quaker representative to this alliance, which holds a worldwide Crime Congress every five years. This body planned and conducted ancillary meetings of the congresses on subjects pertaining to criminal justice. I offered to do one on AVP. The first Crime Congress I attended was in Havana, Cuba, and we held an ancillary meeting there on AVP and there seemed to be considerable interest. One man there was from Colombia and wanted to know if I could come there to share AVP and so forth. I developed world contacts through that venue. The next Crime Congress was held in Cairo. By then I’d been attending meetings for seven or eight years. It seemed to me that if we were going to tackle the problems of crime worldwide, we had to look beyond prisons because that’s not the best way to tackle the problem.

After the fact, as opposed to being more proactive?

I wanted to see, on the worldwide level, a focus on alternatives. Now I see this happening in the Great Lakes project in Africa (Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda). In 1995 we introduced AVP into Africa, first in Kenya, then Uganda and South Africa. There have also been extensive trips to Central America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. British and Australian AVPers have taken it to India. I think AVP has appropriate application all over the planet.

What could we do that’s more constructive than just sending people to prisons? At the Cairo congress, this all became very clear to me—that we were focusing too narrowly. I got back to New York thinking we need to do work on restorative justice: ways of dealing with individuals committing crimes before they get into prison and perhaps eliminating the necessity to put them in prison. This is a process whereby all the parties with a stake in a particular offense come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offense and its implications for the future. When I brought this up at the NGO Alliance meetings in New York, they decided to set up a working party on restorative justice. And since I had opened my mouth, I became the chair. For the next five years, until the next congress in Vienna, we put in a good deal of work developing this whole topic for UN consideration. We generated a report, and the alliance accepted it and submitted it to the crime commission of the UN, which they accepted and put on the agenda of the UN general assembly. It was approved as a project for the section that works on these matters. So, the UN adopted restorative justice as something it would support and promote worldwide. At that point I decided I’d done my piece, so I resigned from the NGO Alliance, and Paul McCold from Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Meeting has taken on this work.

How does AVP keep track of all the activities? I noticed in the website description [www.avpusa.org] that AVP continues to increase at a rate of 30 percent a year, which is phenomenal, and I wonder how an organization doing that well keeps track of all its different parts—doesn’t it need to?

We have a national gathering once a year and an international gathering every second year. AVP groups from other countries volunteer to take responsibility for the international gathering. In the United States, we need a board in order to qualify for nonprofit, tax-deductible status. So we have a designated president/clerk and a vice president/assistant clerk. They have virtually no duties until we hold the annual meeting, and then they clerk it. But we do have a committee that is representative of all the individual regional units throughout the country, and they, like other committees, mostly conduct their business by telephone conference and e-mail.

They are getting permission to be in prisons and communicating with them?

Yes, and with people around the state who were doing AVP and getting their reports. We had a report system that wasn’t working too well. That’s one place where the volunteer aspect failed.

The internet has helped tremendously with the communication between the various units. It grows rapidly because as people experience it and want to see it carry on, there’s no door or portal they have to go through; they can just say, "Send us stuff." We have a volunteer in Vermont who handles distribution of all of the printed materials that we have. So the newsletter, the National Transformer, is a major communication vehicle for people in the United States. All of the countries where it’s taken root have developed their own distribution system for literature, but a lot of them turn to the United States for materials. Many countries have newsletters of their own.

As you look to the future of AVP, what are your greatest hopes and fears?

My greatest hope is that it can be accepted as broader than just prison work and be a significant factor in helping to bring about a more peaceful planet. I think it’s applicable to human nature at all age levels. The Help Increase the Peace Program (HIPP), under American Friends Service Committee, is a version of AVP for teenagers. If you get their manual and look at it, you’ll see it follows the AVP program very closely. I’d also hate to see it become commercialized. I can believe that there are situations where perhaps we should consider compensation of facilitators, but I think one of its great strengths has been that people do it because they believe in it and get something out of it themselves and they want to help others, not for any monetary compensation that they might get. In the prison setting, the prisoners have said that the fact that facilitators coming in are volunteers makes the program more believable and acceptable. Once you start paying people, it can still do good, but it would become like all the other programs out there where people are getting paid to facilitate. I would hope that AVP could maintain its strong level of volunteerism.

• Conflict Resolution
• Non-violence
• Personalities

Features

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Robert Dockhorn

Robert Dockhorn is senior editor of Friends Journal.

평화가 곧 길이다! 때밀이 신학자, 평화운동가 박성용 박사 - 당당뉴스

평화가 곧 길이다! 때밀이 신학자, 평화운동가 박성용 박사 - 당당뉴스






평화가 곧 길이다! 때밀이 신학자, 평화운동가 박성용 박사전 세계에 평화의 물결을 이루자! 올해 10월, 세계평화행진 준비하는 ‘비폭력평화물결’의 공동대표
양재성 | hfmc1004@kornet.net





입력 : 2009년 04월 10일 (금) 22:08:56
최종편집 : 2009년 04월 10일 (금) 23:03:50 [조회수 : 4246]







[샘29호] 구독신청 '봄걷사' 샘지 게시판 새창 열어 바로가기, 클릭!





샘 구독신청 (구독료 1부 5,000원, 일년분 10,000원입니다)
채희동목사 추모 <봄걷사> 카페, 샘방에서 신청하시면 됩니다. http://cafe.daum.net/revchaeheedong

구독료 및 후원계좌 우체국 012534 - 01 - 000948 양재성(샘)
글 보내 주실 곳 hfmc1004@kornet.net 010-4348-9004(양재성)


샘 29호 내용 pdf 파일로 전부 보러가기! 클릭!

샘이 만난 사람

평화가 곧 길이다
때밀이 신학자, 평화운동가 박성용 박사

대담 양재성 목사 | 사진 심자득 목사


전 세계에 평화의 물결을 이루자
올해 10월, 세계평화행진 준비하는 ‘비폭력평화물결’의 공동대표

“언제나 평화는 어두움과 시작했죠? 2009년 시작이 이스라엘의 가자지구 공격으로 시작되었어요. 하마스는 팔레스타인 민중이 뽑은 법적 정당성을 가진 단체이며 실질적인 생계문제와 평화형성의 단체에 대한 가시적 조치에 대한 파레스타인의 요구가 전혀 먹히지 않은 절망적 상태에 직면해 왔습니다. 모든 생필품이 통제를 받고 있고 거대한 벽에 갇혀 있어요. 이건 사람 사는 것이 아니지요.”

새해에 대한 소감을 묻자 이스라엘의 팔레스타인 가자 지구 폭격에 대한 말로 말문을 연다.

“지금까지 어린이 300여명을 포함하여 900여명이 학살당했어요. 어린이 학교와 민간시설까지 하마스가 숨어있어서 폭격을 감행했다는 보고도 나오고 있어 인간이 얼마나 잔인할 수 있는지를 극명하게 보여주고 있어요. 유엔의 평화안을 이스라엘은 거절하였고 미국과 가자지구 안에 무기반입을 금하는 법을 요구하고 있지만 팔레스타인 민중의 실질적인 인권과 복지문제에는 등한히 하고 있습니다. 사방이 막힌 담벽 안에서 민중을 가둬놓고 하마스를 찾는다고 시가전을 벌이면서 토끼몰이식 사살을 감행하고 있으니 이 얼마나 끔찍한 상황입니까?
2009년 10월 2일은 세계비폭력의 날이다. 비폭력평화물결에서는 세계평화행진을 준비하고 있다.

“평화와 비폭력을 위한 세계행진(http://marchamundial.org/en)”은 유럽과 라틴 아메리카에서 지난 1년여간 준비된 캠페인으로 금년 10월 2일 세계비폭력의 날을 시작으로 90일 동안 전 세계 16만km를 걸으며 평화와 비폭력에 대한 전 세계시민의 염원과 행동을 모으게 됩니다. 한국은 10월 13일경에 3일간 들르게 되는 데 약 50여명의 외국인들이 올 예정입니다. 가자지구 공습은 평화에 대한 염원을 가중시키고 당위성을 부여하고 있어요. 이 캠페인에는 데이몬드 투투 주교, 브루스 개그논, 마이클 러너, 촘스키, 마르셀라 오소리오, 주빈 메타 등이 지지하고 있습니다. 저의 개인적인 판단으로는 금년 가을경에는 오바마 당선과 세계금융위기의 영향이 이명박 정부의 우익성향의 강성일변도의 현 분위기에 새로운 전환점을 만들 모멘텀이 있기를 바라고 그런 점에서 평화와 비폭력 세계행진은 하나의 좋은 기회라고 보고 있습니다.“




평화활동가를 양성하는 것이 가장 시급한 일
평화를 생활화하는 현장을 일구어내야

박성용 박사는 군사보호지역인 강화도 양사면 철산리 철곳에서 태어나 어린 시절을 그곳에서 보냈다. 강 건너로는 북한 전시마을이 보였고 마을 한 가운데엔 선전전을 할 수 있는 방송탑이 높이 솟아 있었다. 하루에도 몇 번씩 남쪽과 북쪽에서 선전전이 있었다. 남북 대립이라는 한복판에서 자랐기 때문에 평화에 대한 갈망이 누구보다도 강했다. 그것이 오늘날 평화운동을 하게 한 동기가 되었고 대화신학에 관심을 갖게 했다.
박 박사는 덕수상고를 나와 은행에 취직을 하기도 하였으나 신학에 대한 강한 열망을 따라 감리교신학대학에 들어갔고 대화신학과 토착화신학에 관심을 가졌다. 신학교를 졸업하고 첫 파송을 받은 곳이 이화령 근방 고사리마을 고사리교회이다. 그곳에서 7년 2개월간의 시골목회는 삶을 지치게 만들었다. 탈출구가 필요했다. 결국 유학을 선택하였다.
“미국으로 건너간 1991년 가을, LA폭동을 경험했어요. 한인 점포 2,000개가 불에 탔고, 한인사회의 최대 위기였습니다. 그때부터 기존의 영성과 자유에 대한 내 희망은 사회적 폭력에 대한 깊은 고민과 함께 평화에 대한 고민을 키워가기 시작한 것 같아요. 실제 관심의 영역을 자유보다는 갈등과 폭력, 평화로 전환하게 된 계기가 되었지요. 그 당시 통일단체인 미주자주연합의 학교선배인 한호석 선생과 정기열 목사를 만나면서 통일운동에도 관여하게 되었어요. 이 단체는 당시 95년에 동포회의에서 자주연합으로 전환되었고 2000년엔 필라델피아 6.15 지부장을 맡아 일하면서 통일문제와 소수자 인권문제에 깊이 관심을 기울였습니다. 2001년 마지막 학기에 911 사태가 발생했어요. 이제 더 이상 평화문제는 지체할 수 없는 문제로 받아들여졌어요. 박사학위 마지막 학기를 퀘이커의 영성원인 펜들힐(www.pendlehill.org)에서 지내며 그곳에서 평화세례를 확실히 받았어요. 완전히 삶에 정리가 되고 비폭력과 평화에 대한 삶에로의 결단이라는 극적인 전환이 이루어지게 되었지요.”

2002년 한국에 돌아와 유네스코아태교육원에서 시민사회 실장을 맡아 3년여 기간동안 일했다. 마침 2년간 아시아 갈등문제를 조사하게 되었고 특히 필리핀과 스리랑카를 방문하여 직접 조사하면서 전쟁과 빈곤의 문제로 인한 정신적 고통이 얼마나 심각한 수준인지를 알았고 아시아의 평화가 절실하게 느껴졌다. 유네스코를 그만두고 진로를 모색하고 있을 때 비폭력평화물결의 대표인 박성준 대표의 제의로 비폭력평화물결 공동대표로 자리를 옮겨 평화운동을 본격적으로 추진하게 되었다.

2008년 11월 25일 청파교회에서 열렸던 기독교환경연대 주최 환경포럼에서 강연하는 박성용 박사 ⓒ 심자득


비폭력평화물결은 유엔의 경제사회이사회의 특별자문기구로도 전 세계70여개 회원단체가 있는 국제평화운동단체(www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org)이다. 무장하지 않고 훈련받은 국제시민들이 분쟁지역에 직접 들어가 갈등에 개입하고 평화를 구축하는 전위적인 활동을 하고 있다. 비폭력 평화에 대한 전통적 모델은 간디의 사회방어와 사회변혁이 있는데 이제 새로운 제3자 개입모델이 국제평화운동에 출현하게 된 것이다. 스리랑카에서부터 시작한 이 모델은 상당히 좋은 결실을 얻고 있어서 UN에서도 국제평화운동의 5개 최상의 모델의 하나로 소개되고 있다.

“한국에서는 여러 갈등 해소를 위한 학습모델을 가지고 교육하고 있습니다.. 평화활동가들을 양성하고 있죠. 사람을 키우는 일이 가장 시급하고 소중한 일입니다. 평화는 수많은 사람들이, 아니 거의 대다수가 원하고 있습니다. 그런데도 우리는 사회에서 폭력과 갈등을 봅니다. 단순한 염원만으로는 안되는 것이지요. 사람을 죽이는 군인을 키우기 위해서 얼마나 많은 시간과 노력과 재원 그리고 기관들이 협조하고 있습니까? 군대복역과 예비군 훈련, 대학에서 군사학과 각종 전략학 강의, 군산복합체와 씽크 탱크, 언론과 정치간의 결합이 수없이 그물망식으로 얽혀서 소수 지배 엘리트의 특정이익을 위해 대다수를 군사문화로 지배하고 있지요. 비폭력도 훈련이 필요합니다. 일생을 건 훈련없이 비폭력 문화가 형성되기 어렵지요.
저의 기본 신념은 비폭력과 평화를 내면화하고 생활화하는 현장들을 일구어내는 것입니다. 그러기 위해서는 그 현장을 일구고 지킬 수 있는 사람의 양성이 시급하지요. 그런 사람의 양성은 실제적인 변화를 가져올 수 있는 훈련모델에 의해 창출될 수 있습니다. 간디가 좋은 예이지요. 비폭력 실천이라는 사티아그라하운동이 성공하게 된 배경은 그가 아쉬람공동체를 통해 같이 비폭력 훈련을 생활하고 서로 지원하였기 때문에 그들이 간디가 기획하는 다양한 사티아그라하운동을 지도할 수 있었기 때문입니다. 평화는 그냥오지 않습니다. 준비하고 사는 것을 통해 이루어집니다. 평화는 목적이자 과정이기 때문이지요. 평화의 한 걸음의 과정들이 곧 목적인 것입니다.”

나의 스승은 때밀이 일을 하셨던 나의 어머니
세상의 때를 해결하셨던 주님의 사역 따라…




박성용 박사의 어머니는 목욕탕에서 일하는 때밀이였다. 때밀이를 하면서 자녀들을 키웠다. 박 박사는 자기 인생의 오직 한 분의 스승이 있었다고 고백한다. 때밀이 어머니다. ‘때밀이 신학’의 시작은 그러하다. 예수께서도 거룩한 하늘을 버리고 죄악이 만연한 이 세상에 오신 것은 어두움과 죄악을 해결하시기 위해서이다. 세상의 때를 해결하시는 것이 주님의 사역이었다면 기독교인들의 사역은 당연히 그 일이다. 때를 밀고 계신 어머니가 박 박사의 삶의 자리가 되었다. 영혼과 삶을 들여다보는 거울이 되었다.

박성용 박사는 평화운동을 하면서 하나님의 실제를 경험하였다고 한다. 개념으로 수많은 신학적 지식의 아카데미아 영역에서 일종의 회의주의에 있던 그가 하나님의 자비를 실재하는 현실로 경험한 것은 바로 평화운동의 사회적 밑바닥에서였다. 그것이 그를 여러 사회적 갈등이슈와 문제들의 파도속에서 지치면서도 힘을 얻고 사는 비결이었다. 평화를 위해 일하고 사색하고 현장의 소리를 듣는 곳에서 “평화를 위해 일하는 자는 하나님의 자녀가 될 것이란” 그리스도의 말이 실제로 경험되는 실체로 다가왔다. 자비와 은총의 하나님을 경험하게 된 것이다. 그것이 과거에 수줍고 수동적이며 책상에 주로 앉아 있던 사색가로 하여금 이제 다른 형태의 적극적이고 의지를 지닌 부드러운 비폭력 투사로 바꾸어 놓았다.

“세상은 하나님의 실제를 알리는 암호입니다. 성과 속, 교회와 세상, 영과 육, 시간은 분리될 수 없지요. 24시간 하나님의 통치를 느껴야 합니다. 하나님의 주권 안에 있음을 느껴야 합니다. 평화운동을 하면서 매 순간 하나님을 경험하는 것이 나의 행복입니다. 하나님은 종교적 언어가 아니라도 세상에서 경험할 수 있습니다. 하나님은 교회 영역을 넘어서서 계신존재입니다. 교회의 존재이유는 하나님의 나라 실현이고, 하나님의 나라는 생명과 평화의 나라입니다. 하지만 한국교회는 평화에 대해 무지하죠. 깨어나야 합니다. 한국교회가 물량주의나 성장주의로 간 것은 본질을 상실하게 하였고 가치를 하락시켰습니다. 한국교회의 새로움은 진리에 대한 경험이 절실하며 근본, 본질에 대해 다시 서는 일이 절실합니다. 한국교회가 깨어나기를 성령이 탄식하고 있어요.

진리로 가는 길은 능동적 비폭력으로만 가능하며 거기서 나오는 에너지가 생명평화에 대한 헌신과 결단으로 이끕니다. 저는 요한복음의 ”나는 길이요 진리요 생명이다“라는 말을 거꾸로 이해합니다. 요한복음의 여러 차례의 ”나는...이다“라는 신비한 문법어의 본체는 실상 그것이 드러내는 길, 진리, 생명이 주어라는 데 있지요. 즉, 길, 진리, 생명이 그리스도인 것입니다. 그래서 길을 가고 진리는 인식하고 생명을 사는 프락시스(실천)에서 신적 사랑의 경험을 비로소 알게 되고 거기에 그리스도가 현존합니다...... 그리고 이를 통해 진정한 나의 정체성이 발견되어지는 것이지요. 따라서 평화와 비폭력을 위한 삶의 실천은 진리이신 신을 경험하는 길이요-그리스도가 유일한 분이 아니라 그리스도에게 가는 길이 유일하게 비폭력과 평화에 의한 것이다. 왜냐하면 샬롬이 하나님의 존재성이기 때문이다-이는 자신의 참 본성을 깨닫는 상호순환관계를 갖게 되는 것이지요.”

박 박사에게 영향을 준 책은 월터윙크(Walter Wink)의 책들(예,사탄의 체제와 예수의 비폭력)과 간디의 책들이다. 간디는 ‘영원한 샘’이라고 극찬하였으며 영성과 실천, 공동체를 위해 헌신한 분으로 비폭력을 가장 잘 실험하신 분으로 존경하고 있었다. 틱낫한의 평화, 노자의 도덕경, 퀘이커의 책들에 영향을 받았다. 특히 사람으로부터 충격을 받은 것은 역사적 평화교회인 일반 퀘이커들의 일상에서 여러 평화활동을 운동가보다 더 심도 깊게 생활로 살고 있는 것에 대한 미국에서의 경험이었다고 한다.

박성용 박사는 2009년 새해에도 할 일이 많다. 평화활동가들을 양성하기 위한 평화훈련자료들을 번역하는 일, 평화교회를 위한 훈련교재 작업과 그룹들을 이끄는 일, “폭력에 대응하는 새로운 평화훈련(AVP; Alternatives to Violence Project)"이라는 국제모델을 감옥, 학교, 공동체에 적용하기 위한 국내 전문 진행자를 앞으로 3년간 아름다운 재단의 재정도움을 받아 50명을 목표로 키워내는 일, 평화활동가들과 비폭력직접행동 훈련커리큘럼 원서강독 모임을 진행하기, “평화와 비폭력을 위한 세계행진”을 조직하고 캠페인을 벌이는 일, 7.27 한강 평화의 배 띄우기, 기독교평화아카데미 운영 등 집중력을 가지고 깊이 고민하면서 살아가는 모습이 이 시대의 예수를 보는 듯 정겹다.

▲ 국제 비폭력평화세력 회원단체들의 총회에서 장기 계획 수립을 위한 모임



국제시민평화세력의 출현
비 폭 력 평 화 물 결

평화를 원하면 평화를 준비하라
폭력의 실재에 대해서 간디는 스스로에게 던진 질문은 이것이다. 3억이 넘는 인도인들이 겨우 10만의 영국군에게 지배를 당하고 있는 이 현실이 어떻게 가능한가?? 평생을 그 질문에 대한 대답은 바로 저항과 건설적인 프로그램이란 적극적 비폭력의 실천이란 형태로 나타난다. 저항이란 ‘악에 대한 비협조’와 이를 위한 고난의 힘을 말하며 건설적인 프로그램은 현실극복을 위한 대안 시스템을 만들어 내는 것이다. 그가 확신한 것은 악에 ‘협조안하면 무너진다’는 것이며, 소금행진과 물레 돌리기 등에서 보듯이 약하고 부드러운 것은 사실상 제국주의를 무너뜨릴 수 있다는 적극적인 비폭력 힘에 대한 것이었다.

평화로 가는 길은 없다, 평화가 길이다
무기와 폭력의 지배와 강자의 논리를 넘어서서 부드럽고 약한 자들의 적극적인 개인과 사회의 변화를 위해 간디는 1906년 9월 11일 지지자 3000명이 모인 남아공의 한 호텔 앞에서 사티그라하(the truth-force)를 선포하였다. 평화 건설은 미래나 목적이 아니라 지금이요, 수단이자 과정이다. 평화는 단지 염원이나 말, 토론이나 행사로 실현되지 않는다. 군인이 ‘적’을 죽이기 위해 끊임없이 훈련을 받고, 학문(군사학), 과학이란 도구(무기), 이를 정당화하고 뒷받침하는 수단(대학, 연구소, 국방부, 무기산업) 그리고 이를 수행하는 공동체(군사전문가, 학자, 정치가)들이 존재하듯이 사티그라하를 자신의 피와 살로 그리고 영혼속에 각인한 새로운 비폭력 평화군(상티 세나)의 출현이 필요하다고 그는 암살당하기 직전에 말하였지만 그 꿈을 현실화하진 못하였다.

1999년 헤이그평화회의에서 이 꿈은 다시 살아났다. 데이빗 핫소(퀘이커평화활동가)와 멜 덴컨(공동체조직가)는 지난 세계대전이후 군사주의에 의한 평화가 실제로 가장 고비용저효율의 결과만을 얻었기에 국제평화운동에 새로운 전환, 곧 간디의 비폭력 평화군의 이상을 실현하기 위해 분쟁지역에서 평화인지력과 갈등해결의 능력을 갖춘 훈련된 시민평화세력(nonviolent peace-force)의 창설을 주창하였고, 이 국제단체를 따르는 30여개 나라에서 간디의 이념을 현실화하기 위한 단체들이 나타나게 되었다. 그중의 하나가 2002년에 출현한 한국의 ‘비폭력평화물결 www.peacewave.net’이다.

2001년 9.11 사건으로 시작된 ‘테러와의 전쟁’미명하에 분쟁지역에서 희생되는 90%가 무고한 시민임을 감안하여 이제는 무기와 군인이 아닌 시민이 시민을 방어하는 새로운 패러다임이 “제 3자개입”이란 이름으로 그동안 국제사회에서 진행된 비폭력 평화운동의 흐름인 사회방어(social defense), 사회변화(social change)에 의해 군사갈등지역에서의 강력한 시민개입이라는 3번째 새로운 흐름으로서 비폭력 국제평화운동이 나타나게 된 것이다. 그리고 이 단체는 현재 유엔의 경제사회이사회의 특별자문지위를 갖고 스리랑카, 필리핀, 과테말라 등의 여러 국제분쟁지역에서 갈등모니터링, 소년병의 구출, 인권운동가 보호와 동반, 활동지원과 자문, 국제단체와의 현지 활동가의 연결, 현지인 평화구축훈련워크숍과 갈등 중재 등의 활동을 하고 있다.

그대가 세상에서 보기 원하는 변화가 되라
한국에서 비폭력평화물결의 창설자인 박성준님(퀘이커)은 창립초기에 부드러움, 약함 그리고 경청의 힘을 기반으로 한 ‘움직이는 평화학교’ 및 열린 토론을 위한 ‘평화너른마당’ 그리고 시민들의 평화에 대한 참여를 위한 ‘한강하구평화의배띄우기’를 통해 한국에서 비폭력 운동의 단초를 마련하였다. 2006년에 직접 합류하면서 군인이 훈련받는 것처럼 비폭력 실천도 일생을 건 훈련과 생활에 대한 실제 적용을 하며 사는 평화일꾼이 필요하다는 신념에 따라 비폭력 힘과 실천에 기초한 ‘훈련’과 ‘직접행동’에 대한 다양한 워크숍을 시민사회에 제공하여 장차 국내외 갈등분쟁지역에 직접 파견하는 시민평화군 이념을 실현할 초기단계를 마련하고 있다.

궁극적인 비폭력 평화시민세력을 양성하기 위해 본 단체는 비폭력과 관련된 전문 활동가 양성을 위해 2007년부터 국제 훈련 모델인 ‘비폭력 대화(NVC),’ ‘폭력에 대응하는 새로운 평화훈련(AVP)’를 개설하고 그리고 2008년에는 ‘비폭력직접행동(Nonviolent Direct Education)’ 등의 훈련가 양성 워크숍을 개설하고 있다.
국제 비폭력 단체들이 세계 곳곳에서 사용중인 비폭력 활동가 양성을 위한 ‘비폭력 영성과 실천’ 모델 그리고 개인의 내면적 자각에 기초한 진리공동체 형성을 위한 파커 팔머(Parker Palmer)의 교육모델 등 다른 몇 가지 모델도 소개하고 있어서 이들 모델을 구체화하여 개인과 사회 그리고 신앙공동체(교회)에 실제적인 변화를 잉태하고 자신의 삶을 걸고 헌신하는 비폭력 평화지기들을 양성하는 꿈을 키워나가고 있다.

비폭력평화물결 www.peacewave.net
 
▲ 국제 분쟁 지역에서 국제 비폭력 평화 세력의 활동 사진 예들

Rowe Morrow. Toward a Good Relationship with Earth — Silver Wattle Quaker Centre

Toward a Good Relationship with Earth — Silver Wattle Quaker Centre

Toward a Good Relationship with Earth
Friday, September 21, 20186:00 AM
Monday, September 24, 20184:00 AM
Google Calendar ICS


Led by Rowe Morrow.

Download detailed course flier here

Are you feeling distressed by global warming? Not sure what makes the biggest difference? Looking for spiritual direction through action and testimonies? This course discusses what works, using permaculture principles and a global and cosmological framework. You will learn:


Ways to live effectively


What has worked in other countries and situations where people are struggling more than we are in Australia.


A larger view of life and the spirit

For keen gardeners, consider staying on a few days to participate in the Spring Gardening Week (24-30 September).



In the 1980s, Rowe Morrow discovered permaculture which provided a powerful basis for Earth restoration. A Concern was born. She considers permaculture ‘sacred’ knowledge to be carried and shared with others. Since then Rowe has travelled to meet many people anxious and concerned to restore their environments. As a teacher of permaculture Rowe has been inspired for many years by Parker Palmer, the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) and non-violent resistance. She works in difficult places, choosing people who have been disempowered and who would not otherwise have access to permaculture. Most recently she has been working in Afghanistan, and then with Syrian refugees in Mosul. Rowe delivered the 2011 Backhouse lecture and is a member of Blue Mountains Meeting.

Cost: $372 (Single)/ $342 (Shared) includes accommodation and catering

Note that Quakers may also seek support from their Local Meeting or Regional Meeting. Funds are set aside for this, so don’t be shy – it is an investment in the spiritual health of the Meeting.

If you need to be picked up from the Bungendore train station ($10 fee) or Canberra airport ($35 fee) please contact admin.office@silverwattle.com.au

If you are not ready to commit to the course but want to let us know you are interested, please contact us here.

Towards a Good Relationship with Earth
Thursday September 20, 2018 4 pm to
Sunday, September 23, 2018 1 pm
with Rowe Morrow
Author of
Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture 

• Are you feeling distressed by global warming? 

• Are you yearning to live a life connected to the needs of all of Earth’s communities? 

• Not sure what makes the biggest difference?

 • Looking to do work that is spiritually truthful?

 • This course discusses what works, using permaculture principles within a global and
cosmological framework. 

You will learn: 

• Ways to live effectively 

• What has worked in other countries and situations where people are struggling more than
we are in Australia. 

• A larger view of life and the spirit
For keen gardeners, consider staying on a few days to participate in the Spring Gardening Week
(24-30 September). 

Rowe Morrow discovered permaculture provides a powerful
basis for Earth restoration. 

She considers permaculture
‘sacred’ knowledge to be carried and shared with others. 

Rowe is widely known and sought after to run courses,
worldwide. 

She has travelled to meet many people anxious
and concerned to restore their environments. 

Rowe has
been inspired for many years by the work of Parker Palmer,
the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) and non-violent
resistance. 

She often works in difficult places, choosing
people who have been disempowered and who would not
otherwise have access to permaculture. 

Most recently she
has been working in Afghanistan, and then with Syrian
refugees in Mosul. 

Course Costs : Single room $372 Shared $342
Includes all meals, accommodation and course materials. 

Transfers: Airport $35, Bungendore train station $10
For more information see www.silverwattle.org.au
Registration Online: https://www.silverwattle.org.au/course-registration

==============

An interview with Permaculture Pioneer Rosemary Morrow

by Oliver on January 29, 2014 in News

A little bit about Rowe

Born in Perth, Rosemary Morrow (Rowe) was claimed early by the Earth; plants, animals, stones, weather. Some years in the Kimberleys as a young girl confirmed it.

Later she trained in agriculture science with which she was very disappointed, then moved to France where she lived in the L’Arche community. Later at Jordans Village in England she realised she would become a Quaker. Back in Australia in the 1980s Rowe’s Permaculture Design Course provided the basis for a concern for Earth restoration. She considers permaculture to be ‘sacred knowledge’ to be carried and shared with others. Since then, when asked, she has travelled to teach the PDC to others who, due to circumstances, could not access it any other way. This took her to immediate post-war Vietnam as well as Cambodia, Uganda, Ethiopia and other countries.

Rowe’s present concern is to make teaching sustainable and encourage others to succeed her as teachers.

A Permaculture Pioneer

Rosemary Morrow is one of the 26 contributors to Permaculture Pioneers – stories from the new frontier. In this short interview, introduced by co-editor Kerry Dawborn,  Rowe talks about the limits that permaculture has to deal with the problems of the world. Permaculture can provide skills and build confidence to adapt to changing environments, but a changing climate illustrates that migration may become necessary in extreme situations.

Rowe’s advice? “Apply the design principles as closely as you can you’ll end up with wonderful production of good systems, and that there isn’t a whole lot of room to innovate… creativity is applying principles, it’s not in going much beyond the palate that we have of principles for designing well.”

10% of all sales of Permaculture Pioneers whether in print form, or eBook form, continue to go to Permafund, supporting Permaculture projects around the world especially those that assist with resilience in the developing world and in places of extreme need. So why not purchase a copy and dip into the stories of these inspiring early adopters. Permaculture Pioneers is now available on iTunes.

2018 Program — Silver Wattle Quaker Centre

2018 Program — Silver Wattle Quaker Centre

Download the 2018-2019 Course Brochure here
Detailed information for each course is also available. The relevant links are located within each course listing below.


=====================

SEP 13 TO SEP 16

Australian Friends Fellowship of Healing Gathering
Thu, Sep 13, 20184:00 PM Sun, Sep 16, 20181:00 PM


Silver Wattle is supporting this event.
For more information click here

To register contact Elspeth Hull at elspeth102@bigpond.com

================
SEP
20
TO SEP 23

Toward a Good Relationship with Earth
Thu, Sep 20, 20184:00 PM Sun, Sep 23, 20182:00 PM


Led by Rowe Morrow.

Download detailed course flier here

Are you feeling distressed by global warming? Not sure what makes the biggest difference? Looking for spiritual direction through action and testimonies? This course discusses what works, using permaculture principles and a global and cosmological framework. You will learn:
Ways to live effectively
What has worked in other countries and situations where people are struggling more than we are in Australia.
A larger view of life and the spirit

For keen gardeners, consider staying on a few days to participate in the Spring Gardening Week (24-30 September).



In the 1980s, Rowe Morrow discovered permaculture which provided a powerful basis for Earth restoration. A Concern was born. She considers permaculture ‘sacred’ knowledge to be carried and shared with others. Since then Rowe has travelled to meet many people anxious and concerned to restore their environments. As a teacher of permaculture Rowe has been inspired for many years by Parker Palmer, the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) and non-violent resistance. She works in difficult places, choosing people who have been disempowered and who would not otherwise have access to permaculture. Most recently she has been working in Afghanistan, and then with Syrian refugees in Mosul. Rowe delivered the 2011 Backhouse lecture and is a member of Blue Mountains Meeting.

Cost: $372 (Single)/ $342 (Shared) includes accommodation and catering

Note that Quakers may also seek support from their Local Meeting or Regional Meeting. Funds are set aside for this, so don’t be shy – it is an investment in the spiritual health of the Meeting.
Register here

If you need to be picked up from the Bungendore train station ($10 fee) or Canberra airport ($35 fee) please contact admin.office@silverwattle.com.au

If you are not ready to commit to the course but want to let us know you are interested, please contact us here.

=====================
SEP
24
TO SEP 30

Spring Gardening Week
Mon, Sep 24, 20184:00 PM Sun, Sep 30, 20182:00 PM


Ah... Spring! What a lovely time for gardening. The weather is divine at Silver Wattle this time of year, and so is the land in it's fullness and potential. People come to Silver Wattle and say with delight, "I planted that garlic bed!" Don't miss your opportunity for such satisfactions.

For keen gardeners, consider coming the weekend prior (20-23 September) to attend Rowe Morrow’s permaculture course, Toward a Good Relationship with Earth.

Each day will have opportunities for shared worship and fellowship, and a balance of working and resting. Note that this week will also include some opportunities for Land Care work (e.g. bush regeneration & weed control).



This event is FREE. Donations of $25 to $60 per day (towards costs of food and accommodation) are appreciated
Register here

If you need to be picked up from the Bungendore train station ($10 fee) or Canberra airport ($35 fee) please contact admin.office@silverwattle.com.au

For those who are very keen gardeners, consider coming to Rowe Morrow's course the preceding weekend.


=================

OCT
4
TO OCT 7

Quakers and Concerns from Both Sides Now: Discerning and Supporting
Thu, Oct 4, 20184:00 PM Sun, Oct 7, 20181:00 PM


Led by Sue Ennis & Catherine Heywood

“You don't get a Concern because you want to do something. It comes because the Spirit wants you to do something.” How do you know if what is nudging, or moving you, is a Concern? How do we in our Meetings support Friends with a Concern? What happens after we approve the Minute of support? Over this 4-day weekend we will hear the stories of several Australian Friends, as they respond to questions about their experience of having a Concern. How does this resonate with us?

This course is for

- anyone who would like a clearer understanding of what “Concern” is in the Quaker context

- those who are feeling nudged by the Spirit to some action, or who are social activists wondering if their Meeting might support them

- those who might be asked to guide an individual or the Meeting through the process of discernment and support of a Concern.




Sue Ennis has been actively involved in social justice since the mid-70’s when she was part of a house-church in inner Melbourne. However since joining Quakers in the mid-1990s Sue has gained much from the Quaker understanding of ‘leadings, concerns, holding in the light and laying down a concern.’ This has helped her become more spiritually discerning, and spiritually supported in the issues she takes up. She would like to share this understanding with Quakers and other seekers who are engaged in issues of justice. Sue is an experienced Adult Educator who has led Quaker learning sessions locally and at AYM.

Catherine Heywood finds great joy in both teaching and learning, especially within her spiritual community. She brings to SWQC a working lifetime’s experience in adult education, including teacher professional development as well as her twenty plus year personal journey with Friends, her study in Organisation Dynamics, and more recently as a facilitator with Meeting for Learning. She is keen for Friends to understand as fully as possible both “the task, and the fine tools” which we have inherited from our Quaker predecessors. (Quoting words of Ursula Jane O'Shea in her 1993 Backhouse Lecture)

Cost: $372 (Single)/ $342 (Shared) includes accommodation and catering

Note that Quakers may also seek support from their Local Meeting or Regional Meeting. Funds are set aside for this, so don’t be shy – it is an investment in the spiritual health of the Meeting.

Register your interest here

If you need to be picked up from the Bungendore train station ($10 fee) or Canberra airport ($35 fee) please contact admin.office@silverwattle.com.au

=============

OCT
19
TO OCT 25

Art Nature Spirit
Fri, Oct 19, 20184:00 PM Thu, Oct 25, 20181:00 PM


Led by Brenda Roy, Barbara Huntington and Jen Newton

“The creative process like a spiritual journey is intuitive, nonlinear and experiential. It points us toward our essential nature, which is a reflection of the boundless creativity of the universe.” - John Daido Loori

Many of us wish we were more creative. Many of us are more creative, but feel unable to effectively tap that creativity. Be inspired and supported by the wonderful natural beauty of the Silver Wattle environment to give time to your creativity and the spirit through art making.
We invite you to take time out to rejuvenate mentally and spiritually, joining with others to deepen connection to your spiritual practice. We will play with different mediums and share stories and experiences that enhance and enrich the inner spirit, allowing your creativity to emerge through exploring and responding to the landscape. You will gain some technical skills relating to art practice and discover the beauty and restorative benefits of a stay at Silver Wattle.



BRENDA ROY



BARBARA HUNTINGTON



JEN NEWTON


Brenda Roy is a Friend from Perth and has been a weaver and maker for many years. She finds joy in playing with natural materials, and the glory and mystery of creating and combining colours and textures. She loves to make useful textiles which express her love of the natural world. Creativity is her daily path to gratitude, reflection and connecting with Spirit.

Barbara Huntington attends the NSW Mid North Coast meeting and also a local Buddhist group in Kempsey. She has worked for several years as an artist using textiles as her preferred medium, using embroidery, dyeing and felting to express ideas and experiences. She exhibits her art with the Fibre Artists Network. Barbara says, “For me creativity is a continuation of my spiritual practice. It helps me discover the mystery of spirit and supports me to look closer at many situations and events. It encourages a self discipline that I tap into, prompting me to keep exploring meaning where I may have easily given up. Being a member of a team who are sharing their creative skills to explore their relationship to spirit is an exciting and rewarding experience.”

Jen Newton’s art practice involves sitting in silence with the materials she is going to work with. She says, “I am often challenged by an idea of what I would like to create and sometimes it just won’t work ….I find that sinking into the silence and being present I find a way forward that is more often not what I thought I would do.” Jen works with recycled materials from textiles to steel and wire and has recently been exploring printing, layering textiles and paper, stitching and incorporating text into her work. Jen is a member of the Hobart Friends meeting and also meets with two small Quaker based spiritual groups that seek to know and walk with God. She is currently completing a course in contemplative practice “Igniting the Fire” with Drew Lawson.

Standard Registration $699

Supporting Registration $759

Concession $659

Early half of week $250
Register here
Contact us if you have further questions

=================

NOV
2
TO NOV 4

Indigenous Spirituality – Making Spiritual Connections
Fri, Nov 2, 20184:00 PM Sun, Nov 4, 20181:00 PM


Led by David Carline with Serene Fernando and Noritta Morseu-Diop

In this course we hope to make connections with each other, with the land, and with the spiritual wisdom of our traditions. Local Elder Shane Mortimer will offer a welcome to country. We will hear from Serene Fernando, a Gamilaroi woman who is producing a creative PhD research thesis looking at the spiritual beliefs of her ancestors. She is looking forward to sharing the wisdom she has found, and her personal responses to this. Noritta Morseu-Diop, from Thursday Island, hopes to be with us to introduce to us the spirituality of her salt-water people. She has a PHD in Criminal Justice and Social Work, and is organising a First Nations Traditional Knowledge Conference in August this year.

For our weekend come prepared for some listening, some yarning, some walking, and some time for personal reflection and connection.



NORITTA MORSEAU-DIOP



SERENE FERNANDO


Register your interest here

================
DEC
28
TO JAN 3

Year-End Retreat: Awareness, Attentiveness and Acceptance
Fri, Dec 28, 20187:00 AM Thu, Jan 3, 20198:00 AM

Download detailed course flier here

Led by David and Trish Johnson

We are being given another year, hopefully, of living in the Light. Whatever happened in 2018, let our hearts be opened so each of us may better understand and undertake what God is asking of us in 2019. 

The course will explore Quaker writings, the Bible and your Inner Guide for ‘walking in the Light’ with times for learning, sharing experience, personal prayer & reflection, and a range of exercises to open up spiritual space. 

The retreat will include an afternoon and overnight period of silence midway through, and is open for anyone from mid-teens onwards in age.

David Johnson is a convinced Friend of Conservative nature. 

David delivered the 2005 Backhouse Lecture to Australia Yearly Meeting on Peace is a Struggle, and wrote 

A Quaker Prayer Life (2013), and 

Jesus, Christ and Servant: Meditations on the Gospel According to John (2017).

Trish Johnson has been in private practice as a psychologist and trainer for over 30 years. Trish embraces mindfulness and neuropsychology in her clinical practice. She has served as Convener of the Committee of Elders at Silver Wattle. David and Trish were Co-Directors of Silver Wattle 2013-2014.

Download the detailed course flier here

========================


2018 Program

Silver Wattle Learning courses are designed to deepen Spirit through prayer and community living so that participants are renewed when they return to live and be in the world.

September 2018
Australian Friends Fellowship of Healing GatheringSep 13, 2018 – Sep 16, 2018
Toward a Good Relationship with EarthSep 20, 2018 – Sep 23, 2018
Spring Gardening WeekSep 24, 2018 – Sep 30, 2018
October 2018
Quakers and Concerns from Both Sides Now: Discerning and SupportingOct 4, 2018 – Oct 7, 2018
Art Nature SpiritOct 19, 2018 – Oct 25, 2018
November 2018
Indigenous Spirituality – Making Spiritual ConnectionsNov 2, 2018 – Nov 4, 2018
December 2018
Year-End Retreat: Awareness, Attentiveness and AcceptanceDec 28, 2018 – Jan 3, 2019