Letters from the Field

February 2005-Letter from Ireland and Peru

February 14, 2005?Letter from Ireland

Dear Friends,

A Happy Valentine's Day to you as I fly between continents from Ireland back to California on my way to Peru. As we celebrate a day of love for many cultures, I reflect on the many great lovers in our world who work to bring a spirit of compassion to the human family. While I packed my bags in Dublin last evening, I received an email from friend Ann Kendrick, a Notre Dame Sister, who told of the recent assassination of Sr. Dorothy Stang, SND, a 74 year-old nun from Ohio who has worked in Brasil for nearly 40 years. She was shot to death as she accompanied a group of peasants in a demonstration for their human rights. So in the custom of Latin America we say--PRESENTE!--in witness to those who give their lives in love.

The last few weeks have been quite remarkable, filled with grace and many synchronicities, as Capacitar takes root and blossoms in the Republic and in the North of Ireland. I never could have imagined all this a year and a half ago, when I first traveled with my twin sister, Mike, on a vacation tour of Ireland. As I was planning this trip in 2003, I received an email from Toni Ryan of Dublin, asking if Capacitar was doing anything in Ireland. Toni and her husband Paedar Kirby had just returned from Chile after being with the team of Capacitar Chile for a year. I said I would be happy to offer a few workshops after my vacation in Ireland, and the rest is history. For our first trainings in Dublin and in Belfast, Toni brought together participants from very diverse groups and sectors of Ireland?women's groups, drug recovery groups, religious, missionaries, teachers, psychologists, social workers, and those working in reconciliation and forgiveness. There was so much interest in Capacitar that we decided to begin a program of in-depth trainings with Toni coordinating the effort. Currently there are three cycles of one-year Multicultural Wellness Education trainings being offered in Dublin (with over 60 persons from the Republic along with 9 men and women from the North participating). A fourth cycle will start in May in Belfast that will include people from all sides of the conflict. And a fifth cycle will start in January 2006-2007 to mentor leadership and trainers for all of Ireland.

Through the multiplier effect Capacitar is now reaching many thousands of people in Ireland as well as in other countries through the missionary spirit of this culture. Fr. Tony Sheridan, CSSp has come to Dublin just for the training and then teaches the healing practices to large groups in Rio de Janiero, Brasil. Tony says that people in poor areas in Rio are so stressed by the violence and poverty, that they "come out of the woodwork to learn what they can do for their stress!" Paula Carron RSM and Ann Brady RSM of Newry, No. Ireland, recently worked in Zambia for a month using the Capacitar skills with grassroots groups. Carmel Bracken, RSM, uses Capacitar in her work with many groups in Nigeria.

Marion Baker and Bernie Coleman use the work with poor families and children in a preschool in the Tallaght center of An Cosan. Marion is putting together a proposal to get the Capacitar program certified for early childhood education. Certification is also being sought for a basic Capacitar health course, as well as the in-depth training. Helen Dunne and Catherine Heaney use the work with drug centers and recovery programs. Monica Manning and Cecilia Forrestal use the work with CAN, Community Action Network. Rita Kelly, MMM, Director of IMU, Irish Missionary Union, has introduced Capacitar into her trauma healing programs for returned missionaries. Fr. Michael Kane, CSSp uses the work at his retreat center An Tobar in Naven. And so on and on.

Capacitar is also building bridges of healing and understanding in Northern Ireland. Psychologist Karl Tooher and Liz Groves of the Conflict Trauma Resource Center, use Capacitar with grassroots women of West Belfast who have been victims of the Troubles as well as deal with poverty and domestic violence. Claire Quigly, psychologist and head of the Southern Trauma Region for Newry, Armagh and the Portadown (the region most deeply affected by the Troubles), has used Capacitar with over 250 persons. Claire enthusiastically says that the practices are so "robust" that people of the North quickly embrace the simple self-healing methods. Claire has also facilitated trainings for a number of community groups with Margaret Wilson, RSCJ. And Mercy Sisters Ann Brady and Paula Carron have taken the work into schools in the Newry area for teachers, children and families.

Under the fine leadership and vision of founder/director Toni Ryan, Capacitar Ireland grows daily with NGO status in process, curriculum being written for certification, foundation grants being sought, partnerships built and workshops offered in many sectors.

I am happy that Capacitar is being so warmly embraced in Ireland. Yet perhaps it is fitting that we can offer something back to Ireland in gratitude for the legacy that was given me in my early formation with the Sisters of the Presentation and the inspiration of their founder Nano Nagle. In many ways Capacitar's spirit reflects the radical response of Nano to educate and awaken the poor and marginalized through her schools in the fields and behind the hedges in an oppressed Ireland. With Capacitar's simple popular education approach we hope to offer ways to heal the wounds of the past and to reconnect with the deep wisdom and spirituality of this wonderful culture.

February 19, 2005?Lima, Peru

I had only a few hours of sleep in my own bed in California before I was again flying south to Peru for a national conference of grassroots health promoters. My visit to Peru felt like another full circle for me, this time in recognition of the inspiration of Liberation Theology that formed my commitment of solidarity with the poor. I first went to Peru in the mid 1980s to study Spanish and to be part of the summer school of Gustavo Gutierrez, founder of Liberation Theology. I offered some of the first Capacitar workshops in the early 90s in Lima, and since then Capacitar Chile has continued offering Polarity and Reiki courses to different groups in the region. Because of my busy schedule in Africa and Ireland I had not planned to return to Peru, but last year in Chile I met Estrella Mendoza, Director of Centro de Medicina Tradicional-ProVida (Center for Traditional Medicine) who invited me to offer a training at her national conference. Estrella was concerned that her health promoters knew many techniques, but had never taken time to work with their own wounds and trauma. So my training focused on "Sanando al Sanador, Sanando al Mundo."--Healing the Healer, Healing Our World. Peru is a very poor country of 24 million people with very high unemployment and underemployment (I heard unofficial figures of around 70%). Forty percent of the population lives in or around Lima, many in "pueblos jovenes", young towns with very squalid conditions. People move to the city from their small villages thinking that they will have opportunities for themselves and education for their children. One woman remarked to me: "Why would anyone think it better to live in such squalor in the city, in comparison to the simple poor yet healthy life of the mountains or forest!" Many people survive as street vendors, selling whatever they can to earn a few cents a day to feed their children.

ProVida began as a project of the Catholic Church in the 1970s to make medicines available to the poor throughout the country. Estrella Mendoza, a pharmacist, acupunturist, and educator, worked first to provide medicines to many, until she began to realize that the Peruvian people have valuable traditional medical wisdom. So she started an educational program in alternative medicine within ProVida to encourage the development of grassroots health promoters. Estrella's center offers classes in reflexology, reiki and alternative healing methods, besides offering individual attention in acupuncture and reflexology to those who have few resources.

Estrella and I talked at length about the importance of "healing the healer." My own teacher and mentor, Aminah Raheem, founder of Process Acupressure, always emphasized that the teacher/healer must be "clear and current". If not, it is very easy to project our own woundedness on those with whom we work, and get easily triggered by the trauma of others. So many of the healers and caregivers I work with internationally are affected by compassion fatigue or vicarious trauma. So the last few years of my work I have put a lot of emphasis on the importance of healing and transforming the wounds of the healer. I like to think that as we each work to transform our own shadow and woundedness, we become so much more able to understand others with compassion as well as to inspire and awaken in them their own healing process.

When I arrived for the ProVida training held in Villa Maria, Chaclacayo, 54 men and women from 19 departamentos (19 states out of 24 states) representing all regions of Peru, were eagerly waiting. Truly these were the angels of Peru, working with many thousands of people throughout the country. Most worked as volunteers offering their healing services to the poor who have few resources with herbs, foot reflexology, massage, reiki and other healing methods. Some participants had traveled for several days from the rainforest and jungle of the interior. One woman headed a team of 80 health promoters in her area. Many spoke Quechua as their first language. Sister Bertha, a tiny Quechua nun with dark vibrant eyes, introduced herself as one of the living Incas! She showed me a map of the enormous region of her ministry, where she visits and works with thousands of indigenous people in dozens of poor villages. It often takes her a month to return home from Lima?on trucks and buses, over bumpy unpaved roads, by boat and canoe up the rivers to her convent.

Most of the participants looked tired and stressed by years of struggle with violence and poverty. The Spanish words for burnout are very descriptive?"chupada" (sucked dry?Central America), "planchada" (ironed flat, flattened?Argentina and South America) The words "trauma" and "estres" are also used everywhere. All had learned healing techniques, but few had ever used the work for themselves, thinking that to take care of themselves was egotistic or selfish. Some years ago Maria Isabel Figueroa, who is part of the Capacitar El Salvador team (and former secretary of Archbishop Oscar Romero), said to me: "Pat, you must realize that we are healing and transforming attitudes and mentalities that we, especially as women, have been taught by church, society and family for many centuries. So this is challenging work!" Many "miracles" were described as people healed their own physical and emotional pain and anxiety with the simple Capacitar practices. This indeed was a new kind of "liberation" for those who were always giving to others and never caring for themselves. One woman, who had been victim of much domestic abuse through the years, at the end of the first day said "BASTA!" (enough!). "I want to stop being a victim and start living with peace within myself while I care for others!"

At the last minute before taking off for Peru I was inspired to pack our Capacitar labyrinth. This is a wonderful sage green Chartres-style 30 foot labyrinth on parachute fabric weighing only 12 pounds, made by Gene Marie Began, RSM, in California. Our Capacitar labyrinth has been all over the world since it was made in 1998 and has been blessed by many thousands of people who have walked the sacred path to heal their lives in the US, Central and South America, Africa and Ireland. I always tell the stories of these communities in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ireland or Mexican border communities so that participants can feel supported by the prayers and solidarity of others. And I ask them to pray for all those who in the future will likewise walk the sacred path.

The labyrinth was an immediate hit with the Peruvians who are familiar with sacred spaces and indigenous ceremonies. For almost everyone this was a first. Our evening walk in an open patio was very moving and at times very humorous. If you can imagine 50 eager Peruvians trying to follow the path to the center, many weeping tears that have been held for many years. Some returned to walk again, three or five or more times over the two days, surrendering to grace, letting go of pain and suffering from years of the violence, from poverty and abuse, opening to live and work with peace and commitment for the long haul.

On my last night the Peruvians lovingly celebrated with me their traditional songs and dances. It is a privilege to walk with these people as they awaken to their strength, light and beauty. They truly are instruments of Spirit called to heal and transform centuries of oppression. With ProVida and Estrella we are planning further trainings in 2006, as well as the possibility of offering a future in-depth training of trainers.

With peace and blessings,
Pat Cane