Fourth Notes From India (3^rd Year)

April, 2004

2nd ANNUAL WENLIDO PRASHIKSHAK SAATHIN MILAN,
March 21-25, 2004
(WENLIDO TRAINER’S NETWORK GATHERING)

This gathering and training took place close to Nagpur (Maharashtra, Central India) in a beautiful training centre, far from the city, in that almost prairie/semi desert like environment, isolated amongst a couple of small villages.

Five of us arrived a day and evening earlier to make 48 posters with Wenlido principles, NVC (non-violent communication) principles and other reminders from the Instructor Trainings in English, Bangla, Hindi and Tamil (4 different scripts nonetheless!)! J. is a wonderful artist and I was thrilled she offered her help for this job! The hall was gorgeous, colorful, inviting and informative by the time we finished.

Slowly the womyn started tricking in from their long journeys …Delhi, Bangladesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

K. one of the womyn from Rajasthan had been robbed of her purse that morning in the train by a professional. He clung to the outside of the train, put his hand thru the bars of her window at 4 am and pulled her purse out with all her money, id’s and cell phone. What a shock!

The excitement to come all together and meet was great, and then the reality of there being 4 languages between us became obvious. The initial frustrations gave way after a couple of days when everyone got used to finding and utilizing translators. It does ‘cramp one’s style’. 22 womyn came out of the 79 that went thru the instructor trainings. More than one quarter, not bad considering how many womyn came to the Wenlido Instructor Trainings, because they were sent by their organization and did not have a clue what the training was about.

I realized how programmed I am, that when I speak in a group I expect the people to look at me. This is how I get my information of there being interest in what I say, and to check if I am on track. Well, in this situation, when I started speaking 3 other womyn would start speaking/translating simultaneously within their language groups and all of them would be facing their translators of course. Very disorienting! I learned quickly to use less words and let go and trust. This was a very different experience of having one translator repeating what I said, after me. It took some getting used to. In discussions I felt like a music director. “Bangla group, did you translate or are you in discussions now? Tamil, are you finished? Ok, who’s next?”

Our days would start at 6:30 am with meditation and physical workout until lunch. Around 10 am we would be hit with a wall of heat (43C) which stayed till dark. We revisited the basic techniques for better integration as well as practicing and expanding on advanced techniques, and learning more games. N. and S. came from last year’s batches without having been in touch with the WTNetwork (Wenlido Trainer’s Network) and had some catching up to do.

The afternoons/evenings were mainly spent with discussions on course content, different ways of presenting materials, scheduling and pressing organizational issues as well as dealing with safety concerns.

An overwhelming demand from the womyn who had taken the Basic Workshops was to have on-going monthly support groups. We worked on setting that up in the different cities/towns/villages and how to run them.

NGO’s (non government organizations) have been instrumental to get the Wenlido project started in India. NGOs are used to organize TOTs (Training of Trainers) on many issues like counseling, womyn’s empowerment, reproductive health, etc. What they are not used is the kind of commitment that this Wenlido work demands. That after these 14 days training the womyn are not ready by far to go out and teach in the villages. They are not used to support them thru an apprenticeship program, pay for a supporting trainer to come and external trainings/meetings to attend. The womyn’s salary does not allow for such extras like travel. The womyn are dependent for continued support from their organizations and their families. All these are important factors to be considered and discussed.

How to work out a fair information network with only a few English speaking womyn on email? How to keep the villagers informed (who may not even have a phone) and involved is not a small matter.

One evening the instructors and apprentices shared their experiences and challenges in teaching the basic workshops in their regions. I was so thrilled when I counted up that between all of us in that circle 53 complete Basic Wenlido Workshops (18 to 20 hour course) have been taught in India/Bangladesh in this past year! Very exciting!

The certification process was clarified again. The 4 certified instructors have committed to supporting the apprentices to go thru the process for becoming certified.

S. (from the very first Instructor training) taught more than 25 Basics this last year, been the main organizational support for me, assisted me in all 3 TOTs this year and received much individual coaching in advanced techniques and concepts. She has shown an amazing commitment to this project and I was glad the group accepted her as purple ribbon (qualified to teach advanced and TOTs). Realizing she and most others feel they are still only growing into those roles. The acceptance of S. in that position means the group becomes more independent of me and can move forward with the tools they now have.

The closing of the event was most difficult, many of them expressing their disbelief, sadness and even anger that I am not returning next winter. It was an emotional parting of ways in all directions.

The next few days I was lucky enough to be spending in a gorgeous Tiger Reserve (Tadoba) within 2 hours of the venue with S. for debriefing of events and planning ahead. We went on an elephant ride to find the ‘tiger’ who stayed quite elusive. The jungle consists here of some big trees and immense bamboo undergrowth and a couple big lakes with big human-eating crocodiles. No swimming here, no matter how tempting! The Reserve is very low key and mostly used by Indian government workers.

Next I spent the weekend with my good friend A. and her daughters in Auroville. Stopping in in her beautiful simple house in sight of the ocean, the many coconut palm trees and the early morning dips in the ocean, while the village men are pulling in their catches is so very special. I appreciated the closeness and quality time A. and I had together. And I loved the early morning drive on my rented scooter to the Matrimandir. This translates into: ‘Temple to the ‘Mother’, which is an incredible meditation chamber with a 3 foot crystal ball (biggest one in the world) in its centre!

Next I went off to Kanchepuram (Tamil Nadu) where some of the apprentices live in a commune (social activists). Only a 3 hour drive by bus. This town is known for its ancient temples and for the silk sarees. You come by the small family houses and you hear the clickediclack of the big looms. Some of the Tamil village apprentices came who did not have the needed organizational support to come to the Nagpur gathering. We did a great ½ day workout together and enjoyed the chance to discuss and connect.

I felt so welcomed and spoiled by the commune members and we had many laughs. A village boy gave me a great haircut and then 5 of us went to Chennai (Madras) for my send off. Two other trainers S. and G. had come from Central India. At the airport R. (apprentice) surprised us with her last minute appearance at the airport. Many tears, sweaty hugs and good-bye waves.

Then a long flight via Singapore (27 hours), Korea and into Vancouver. How happy I was to be welcomed by the smiling face of Alice at the airport!

In the evening there was a potluck with the wenlidokas from Vancouver. Sometimes my mind would be switching back and forth between realities. It takes a while to adjust to the drastic changes. It was good to hear from Alice how many of our struggles in India were not so different from the organizational struggles they have had here. The sun was shining and the mountains were beautiful with their snowcaps. The next day I took the 13 hour bus to Nelson. One week it has been now, and I am still adjusting, still see the colorful sarees in my dreams and have received 2 reports of successful Basic Wenlido workshops given by apprentices.

Don’t worry, I remember being told, the Wenlido Movement will go on, we are committed…

In the plane I thought of the catchy Tamil song, the womyn loved to sing, called aeroplane: The translation goes like this:

See the aeroplane there flying in the sky?

Like the poor people’s dream disappearing in the clouds…

The aeroplane flies above us in the sky

And our livelihood lies below the earth.

Are we bending down and searching for our life?

Or while working in the fields are we just dreaming?

However we struggle, we are not able to get up.

We also don’t know why we work like this.

Are we going to just barely survive like this forever?

Or are we going to start questioning and rise up?