Newsletter: Winter, 2000

The Wisdom of Grassroots People
— Patricia Mathes Cane, Capacitar Founder/Director

"History is governed by those overarching movements (the Great Work) that give shape and meaning to life by relating the human venture to the larger destinies of the universe." Cultural historian Thomas Berry, in his book The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, describes the challenge before the human family: "To make the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period where humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner." Berry sees a four-fold wisdom available to guide us into the future: "the wisdom of indigenous peoples, the wisdom of women, the wisdom of the classical traditions, and the wisdom of science." Berry describes how some power beyond ourselves has given us this historical role, along with the ability to fulfill this role. "We must believe that we are cared for and guided by these same powers that bring us into being." Recent Capacitar workshops in the US and in Mexico affirmed this wisdom of indigenous people and grassroots women ever present to guide us into the future. Our newsletter describes some of these groups who show us a more integral human presence to the Earth community in humble, yet extraordinary ways. In contrast to the political rhetoric of an election year, these people speak with deep wisdom and courage in the face of great challenges.

In Tobasco, Mexico we worked with Chontal indigenous and popular healers who are reclaiming the rich culture of their ancestors. The two-day workshop, sponsored by SERPAJ (Service for Peace and Justice), started off with traditional dance, a Chontal cleansing ceremony, and a ritual of the four directions dedicating our work together for the healing and transformation of all being on the planet. The sixty-five men and women who gathered in a rural area near Villahermosa, had worked for many years as leaders of movements in human rights and justice. They recognized their need to heal themselves and to reclaim their traditions, as essential to the healing of years of injustice, violence, and ecological devastation. The women also spoke of healing destructive patterns of sexism and machismo, which no longer serve either men or women. In Tobasco, women and children still do not have legal rights at the state level for protection against domestic violence and sexual abuse.

In San Cristobal, Chiapas we worked with fifty-five leaders in human rights under the sponsorship of SIPAZ (International Service for Peace). Two men and three women participants, Tzotzil indigenous from the community of Las Abejas (The Bees), were survivors of the Acteal massacre. They are committed to nonviolence, even though the Mexican military surrounds their tent city which houses hundreds of refugees. These remarkable people radiated great wisdom and beauty as they shared their experiences of life and death. They were eager to learn simple healing methods to take back to their people who live in a situation of daily trauma, fear and intimidation. Las Abejas bravely face the forces of violence of their country, recognizing that their commitment to nonviolence and healing is the only thing that will ultimately turn the historic tide of destruction for themselves and for future generations.

Capacitar has also experienced this same deep wisdom in many grassroots people in the US. We recently worked at Grailville in Loveland, OH. The Women's Empowerment Center of Grailville is doing a fine job empowering local women with literacy, personal skills, and community outreach helping women reclaim their inherent wisdom and traditions. At Sunrise Center, Richlands, VA, Appalachian women are teaching each other about the power of women working together to better their community. In this coal mining area where women often suffer from a high rate of domestic violence, illiteracy and unemployment, Sunrise Center affirms the wisdom of Appalachian women who are close to traditional healing practices connected to the sources of beauty and nature around them.

Thomas Berry describes how the present is one of those moments of transformation "that can be considered a cosmological, as well as a historical and religious moment of grace…A comprehensive change of consciousness is coming over the human community…In the immense story of the universe that so many dangerous moments have been navigated successfully is some indication that the universe is for us rather than against us. We need only to summon these forces to our support…" Listening to and empowering the wisdom of grassroots people can be one way to affirm the grace and possibilities of our times.

The Center to BE—Wisconsin

Capacitar's collaboration with the Center to BE is empowering holistic approaches to ministry and community service in different parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Appalachia. The year-long training/certification in Multicultural Wellness Education facilitated by Capacitar Founder/Director Pat Cane, Ph.D., is a hands-on program involving theory, practice, and internship using a popular education approach. Training involves the learning of holistic practices, as well as the development of a methodology and sensitivity for working with different cultures, socio-economic groups, and grassroots people.

The twenty-two women and men participating in the training are applying the Capacitar body-mind-spirit practices in a variety of settings. Nurses are using the practices in cancer support groups, for alternative pain relief, and with hospital staffs. An Alzheimer's unit supervisor used the practices with staff and patients and found a significant reduction in the need for medications. The work has been helpful with staffs and clients at a women's halfway house, a residential facility for assisted living, a shelter for domestic violence, a twelve-step program, a program for substance abuse, and for people dealing with the stress of hearing loss. One participant worked with Guatemalan women survivors of torture and survivors of sexual abuse. Practices were integrated into a program for teens, and a spirituality program for adults. One religious worked with senior sisters in their 80s and 90s to promote wellness and to model different forms of prayer and spirituality. Another religious shared practices in her work of spiritual direction and with retired sisters from different congregations. A therapist at a free clinic in Milwaukee used the practices with refugees and clients from different cultures, and a psychologist taught them as part of a hospital mental health program.

The Capacitar training gives participants new ideas and practices to incorporate in their community service and ministry with the grassroots. A second cycle of training and certification in Multicultural Wellness Education will be offered in Wisconsin in 2001-2002 at the Center to BE. For information: Executive Director Marjorie Wilber 262-629-1937, Mwctobe@execpc.com.

The Power of Appalachian Women — Virginia
Carolyn Brink, RSM, Director — Sunrise Center, Richlands, VA

Women in Appalachia are being empowered through their participation in Capacitar at Sunrise Center in Richlands, VA. Deborah Haydu, wife and mother of two children, was first introduced to Capacitar in 1997. She took seriously Pat Cane's invitation to share the knowledge she learned with others when she got back home. Deborah led a workshop for 18 women at Sunrise Center, with an overwhelmingly positive response. Since that time Pat has been coming every year since to support the training of leaders in Appalachia. And Deborah has gone on to give a number of workshops to groups such as Head Start teachers and parents, health fairs, and a free health clinic. Last summer she gave two large presentations to about 75 staff members of Clinch Valley Community Action.

Kathleen McNulty has also been a Capacitar leader at Sunrise since 1998. She tells her story as follows: "I arrived in these mountains in 1987 running on empty, quite literally a member of what we call 'the walking wounded.' I had to use a cane while suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and gout and, as yet, undiagnosed Type II diabetes. I was sustained by the members of St. Theresa's Church and gradually became almost whole again. Sunrise Center's Sr. Carolyn Brink RSM, and Pat Cane and her program, Capacitar, welcomed me in, educated me in the restoration of my dignity and self-esteem, and my ability to continually learn, to heal and to change. This has taken me on a journey I have only begun to imagine. I am, once again, a 'whole' person, a tiny, but vital part of God's Universe, and I appreciate more fully who I am and what I am capable of accomplishing. I am now able to acknowledge my empowerment to be a full and active participant in life. I want to share these gifts with others so that they also may taste the wholeness of themselves, perhaps for the very first time."

Kathleen and Deborah share the leadership of a Capacitar group which meets monthly at Sunrise Center. Together they exemplify the power of Appalachian women who have grown by facing the challenges of life with grace and love, and who desire to share their wisdom by reaching out to women and families in their community.

Capacitar in Chiapas, Mexico
— Mary Litell, OSF, Capacitar International Team

Palenque and San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas: Polarity—It seemed such a mystery, impossible to describe in Tzotzil, until one of the participants said, "Oh it's like jumper cables!" It seemed that everyone had some experience of a "dead" battery coming to life using cables on the positive and negative poles of a car battery. The rest was easy. At the end of each day of our workshop sponsored by SIPAZ (Service for Peace and Justice) in San CristÛbal, a small group of Tzotziles from Las Abejas, "The Bees", gathered to discuss the main points of the day in their own language and to ask further questions. They came from a camp of people committed to nonviolence who have been displaced by the low intensity warfare in Chiapas. Other participants included mental health promoters working with displaced children, pastoral workers, health promoters, women working with abused teens, and religious—a rich community gathered together to focus on the theme of Trauma Healing and Transformation. Most were learning for the first time practices for maintaining health, energy and a peace-filled sense of self in the midst of a situation of conflict and violence. Their commitment was to bring these practices back to their communities or to people with whom they work. From us they asked only our time commitment, cultural sensitivity, and our accompaniment of their journey. At the end of our three days of work together, our group was filled with such radiant energy that goodbyes were not easy, knowing the danger under which these people lived.

The experience was similar in Palenque, where a small group of women gathered for a review of Capacitar practices and for learning some new work, specifically on the healing and transformation of traumatic stress. These women have regularly practiced Tai Chi and acupressure since Pat Cane and I first worked there four years ago. They wanted to discuss ways of sharing the practices with persons in local prisons, in their families, and with many in their communities suffering the effects of violence. We left Chiapas with a renewed commitment to solidarity with these inspiring grassroots leaders.

Capacitar's Growth in Bolivia
— Barbara Roose, Capacitar Bolivia Team

Sister Luz, in her late sixties, whose name appropriately means Light, travelled thirty hours from a hot tropical town in the lowlands to an altitude of 13,500 feet to participate in the first national Capacitar workshop held in La Paz. Inspite of several buses breaking down on route, she arrived as chipper as though she had left her house ten minutes prior. Her words at the beginning of the workshop reflected the feelings of the majority of the 19 women and men participants: "I have no idea what we are going to do, but the title of the workshop (Personal and Communal Healing and Transformation) intrigued me. Even though I have not left my area in a long time, I gladly agreed to represent our five Sisters here." At the end of the workshop her parting words were: "I feel so alive, I am going to teach my community what I learned. I am also going to encourage the Federation of Religious nearest me, to hold a Capacitar Workshop. For the first time ever in my life I received and gave a massage. Life is so wonderful!" Another dream for Capacitar-Bolivia had come true with the Conference of Bolivian Religious (CBR) sponsoring a workshop, as part of their national health education services. In spite of the recent violence throughout the country, eleven congregations sent people from cities and rural areas of Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Oruro and La Paz. The group included Bolivians, Brazilians, Colombians, several Spaniards, two Americans and a Peruvian. Participants worked with a variety of grassroots people including, prisoners, children, youth, the disabled, street children, the elderly, sexually abused women, and health services. They saw how various modalities could be applied to their specific groups and situations. Besides learning the practices, participants greatly desired to create in their busy lives a sense of balance and harmony between giving and receiving and between healing themselves and teaching others.

Continued work with the CBR is a great opportunity to multiply Capacitar's concern for peace and justice through its teaching and reintegration of the body-mind-spirit connection on personal and communal levels. We are deeply grateful to the CBR for this opportunity to share Capacitar with its members.