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Letters from the FieldFebruary 5, 2004 Dear Friends, Greetings to you from Good Shepherd Center, a beautiful rural place of retreat near Pretoria. I have just finished several weeks of work in South Africa and am resting here briefly before the long flight to Ireland this evening. My time here has gone quickly with incredible growing interest in Capacitar in many parts of the country. This trip I have worked on two different levels: facilitating 3 different groups (in Johannesburg and Capetown) of our 1-year formation program in Multicultural Wellness Education, as well as offering trainings for grassroots caregivers sponsored by the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) AIDS Office. Thanks to Sharon Ries, our Capacitar South Africa coordinator, the in-depth trainings brought together some truly remarkable people who are committed to learning the Capacitar skills to use in their work, outreach and ministry. Some participants, such as Mali and Corinne, are working with youth and HIV/AIDS in KwaZuluNatal, where 90% of some communities are infected. Another woman, Thozi, is working with young women and the homeless in the Johannesburg area. Khobus, an Afrikans journalist came to the training because so many journalists are dealing with secondary trauma as they daily investigate and write about the violent crimes of the area. We now have 2 groups running in the Johannesburg area with 40 women and men committed to the year of Capacitar training. In Capetown and the Western Cape coordinator Sharon Johnson and Lucille Kent gathered together for the in depth training another fascinating cross section of people focused especially on healing the violence and trauma of their region. Detective/Captain Tony Penso of the Rondebosch Police Department brought 2 of the staff of his Trauma Counseling Centre, which monthly counsels over 120 victims of violent crimes. Ginn Fourie, whose daughter was brutally murdered 10 years ago, came to learn skills she could use in her healing work with the perpetrators of her daughter's murder as well as with ex-combatants from all sides of the conflict. Tzwake works with many African refugees from war-torn countries. Nyameka Goniwe was part of the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) process, representing the Craddock 4, a famous case involving her husband who was brutally burned alive with three other men during the apartheid years. Elaine is a white farmer's wife in Zimbabwe, where because of the political situation there is unable to do any farming on the land. She would like to bring Capacitar to Zimbabwe. As Capacitar grows in South Africa we have received some good media attention on 3 TV programs—including an international African morning news show, and Spirit World, a Sunday morning feature program. Fine collaborations continue to develop with two major organizations—CANSA (Cancer Association of South Africa) and SACBC (Southern African Bishops Conference) AIDS Office. For CANSA I will offer a training for regional leaders in August and will contribute a manual of Capacitar practices for cancer Caregivers. With SACBC I am again offering a series of trainings for AIDS caregivers, as well as working with Education for Life, a program of formation for youth throughout Southern Africa. Sometimes I wonder what impact Capacitar is really making on people who deal with such overwhelming issues as AIDS. Two days ago I led a workshop for 47 men and women representing different HIV/AIDS SACBC projects. Nearly half the group had participated in my training last October, and were back eager to learn more. When I entered the hall to start the training I was greeted with so many warm smiles and hugs, and caregivers enthusiastically told me how Capacitar had made such a difference in their lives. They had used what they learned for themselves, their families, AIDS orphans, the dying and their communities. And Capacitar gave them strength to keep on going in their outreach to so many people affected by the pandemic. The 2005 series of trainings I am doing for SACBC focuses on Trauma Healing and Compassion Fatigue (Vicarious Trauma). In my work last October with over 400 persons representing 120 different AIDS projects and organizations, I was continuously struck by the strong connection between AIDS and unhealed trauma. Caregivers are overwhelmed with burnout and secondary trauma that often triggers in them memories of past trauma and violence. People struggle in their dying process with AIDS, unable to let go because of anger, guilt and unfinished business. So many of the caregivers suffer body pain and deep depression. So my current trainings give tools to work with healing the past and to provide a way for caregivers to better care for themselves. SACBC will be publishing our Capacitar AIDS Manual later this year. February 14, 2004 Happy Valentine's Day from Ireland, where our first in-depth training has been very well received. Toni Ryan, Capacitar Ireland Coordinator, gathered together 25 men and women to be part of the 1-year formation program here. Participants came from both the Republic of Ireland as well as from Northern Ireland, so it is good to have this cross border exchange. Helen and Catherine work with SWAN, a family drug (heroin) recovery and support group. Both women had participated in last May's introductory workshop and wanted to learn more. Liz, Marion and Bernie represent AnCosan, a fine grassroots women's education center in Tallaght where I had also worked last May. They will be using Capacitar practices with staff, women and families, many of whom deal with issues of domestic violence, drugs and poverty. John is involved in developing a family resource center in County Mayo, and has invited us to do a training for families in his area in May. Tony is a missionary priest working in Brazil and Dervilla is a medical mission sister working in Africa. Rita, who heads the Irish Missionary Union of returned missionaries, sees the Capacitar work as important for religious. Karl and Liz are part of the Conflict Trauma Resource Center (CTRC) in Belfast, an organization with whom we worked last May. Both Karl, the staff psychologist, and Liz have already been using Capacitar practices as part of their outreach to groups, including work with teachers and children in Belfast schools. For me the fascinating and enriching part of working with people over a year's time is watching, encouraging and supporting remarkable growth and transformation in each person as well as in the entire group. There is a lot of interest and enthusiasm for the work in Ireland, so we have decided to run a second cycle of training starting this September and running through the end of 2005. During our time in Ireland we had the opportunity to work with several other groups including women from different drug recovery programs who do outreach to families in Tallaght, a poor area of Dublin. Toni Ryan and I also traveled to Portadown and Banbridge in Northern Ireland to work with HURT—Homes United by Rampant Terror. Portadown and Banbridge have been the places of greatest violence in recent years with equal numbers of victims from both sides of the conflict. Members of HURT all have family members who were killed during the Troubles. Garth Porter and the coordinators of HURT are combining trauma studies along with personal and community development to help the families heal their pain; so Capacitar was warmly welcomed. Two women in particular stand out from the gathering. One woman had watched her fiancÈ brutally murdered, was chased by the killers, and then later taunted by the group responsible. Another woman's son had killed her husband and then committed suicide. Both women had experienced the tragic loss of their loved ones over 12 years ago, yet the pain of their wounds was as strong as if the loss had occurred yesterday. In the schools of Banbridge children from all sides of the conflict go to the same school, with all the strong feelings of victimhood and blame, so there is interest in our offering something to teachers and children there. In May, as well as in future visits, Toni and I will collaborate with both HURT and CTRC in Belfast, first working with separate groups and then hopefully bringing people from different sides together. This kind of work is delicate, demanding much sensitivity, respect and presence, as well as humor and good will. Capacitar's role is to offer to people from all sides of the conflict skills to heal the wounds and memories, to soften the resistance and hardened hearts, so that people can ultimately choose to move beyond victimhood to mutual understanding and healing. In our Capacitar work in such different worlds, I am continuously struck by the beauty and strength of so many people struggling to awaken and move beyond the violence and trauma of the present condition. John O'Donohue, in his lovely new book "Divine Beauty", speaks of this transformation of the woundedness of trauma: " The beauty that emerges from woundedness is a beauty infused with feeling… This is a beauty that has suffered its way through the ache of desolation until the words or music emerged to equal the hunger and desperation at its heart…Where woundedness can be refined into beauty a wonderful transfiguration takes place…Compassion is one of the most beautiful presences a person can bring to the world and most compassion is born from one's own woundedness. When you have felt deep emotional pain and hurt, you are able to imagine what the pain of the other is like; their suffering touches you…The beauty of compassion continues to shelter and save our world." Thank you for supporting Capacitar's efforts to transform the woundedness by awakening healing, compassion and beauty in our world. Peace and blessings, |
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