Get Off The Chair

[Just some more ramblings...] I was reminded of a development principle today that is very simple but seldom used: Get off the chair and on the floor. (It can be stated in a number of different ways.)

The team here has been working hard, they have achieved some pretty special things in the communities, but it was a very simple act that turned them and the program upside down. One day in a community discussion, instead of sitting on chairs provided they pushed them aside and sat on the floor - where every one else was sitting.

For the Program team: It was this, something they had just not thought about intentionally before, that led to the community ownership that exists today and has transformed their thinking about being among the people - being incarnational.

For the community: It is this that leaders tell me changed their attitude to these development people. "They sat on the floor - with us"! 

Moving from the chair to the floor was not just a physical change, it changed the perspective (of both groups), it showed that "we are in this thing together", we are true partners. We are all on the same level. We are willing to get dirty together. We do not think of ourselves higher or more privileged.

I suspect that this is a principle that needs to spread beyond the development world. One of the worst things that religion did is introduce the platform (in all its guises). It has become a form that some people protect to make themselves feel more important, more powerful, more privileged, more in control. Sadly, (in my opinion obviously) some religious leaders have become masters at dominating and protecting their platforms, and so have many development professionals.

Development professionals (and religious professionals) are supposed to be partners, they are supposed to be at the service of the communities they serve, they are supposed to be servant leaders. So, if that truly is what the goal is, and as far as I know the goal is still to be like Jesus, then we need to get the professionals, the leaders off the chairs and onto the floor. It is possible to lead from there, Jesus and others (Gandhi and Mother Teresa) have proved it.

Of course this is all predicated on the hope that we are willing to give up the idea that we are the all powerful, we are willing to give up the limelight, we are willing to give up total control and 'settle' for what may be chaotic, dynamic, unpredictable, unfamiliar - but truly a partnership of organic transformation.

I'm Going to be an Engineer

Lasindu is a 9 year old boy living in the Hambantota district. He loves cricket, his favourite subject at school, where he is in Grade 4, is English and when he grows up he wants to be an engineer. He has had an Australian sponsor for the last 7 years - and he has a great smile.

4 years ago, Lasindu's Mum and Dad were chosen by their community to take part in a Home Gardening project. They have about 2 hectares of land, but for most of the time they owned the property it was overgrown.

Today as I walked through their organic garden things are different. Now I am not a gardener, I have a talent for killing anything that is planted, but the expert in permaculture tells me that this garden is excellent. The garden has been designed with short, medium and long term crops that serve both their own needs and now are beginning to produce enough fruit to sell at the market. There are 200 pineapple plants, 2 months old, (it takes about 8 months to produce ripe fruit); 40 coconut trees, the two most fruitful of which are set aside for market; numerous bean varieties, herbs and spices, cinnamon trees, leafy vegetables, and just recently they are beginning to grow flowers. They have done so well that Lasindu's Dad is now a lead farmer, which means he mentors a cluster of farmers, assisting and training others in soil preparation, organic farming and design.

All of this means that Lasindu's family is now self-supporting and have increased their household income - which means that when he goes to school about 3km away, [which he didn't do today because he wanted to meet me :) ] he now does so with new shoes, new text books, on a new bike and having had a healthy breakfast. At home his family now eats three times a day - and they eat fresh organically grown vegetables. When one of the family get sick they can now not only afford to go to hospital, but they can afford medicine or treatment when necessary. "I don't worry as much about things", said Lasindu's Mum.

Over the past 15 years the program in this area has transformed the lives of almost 1,000 families through the introduction of home gardening; more than 3,000 children have been sponsored, over 400 women are members of a society that trains them in vocational skills that increase their income and their self-esteem. Some are employed by the society to make brushes and coir products, earning between $85.00 - $150.00 a month, (which is good additional income). Over 4,000 families are receiving fresh, safe water to their house and maintaining the water systems through their contributions.

This program is owned by the people, and they are proud of what they have achieved - in a closing statement at a community meeting a woman announced: "I love my country, and I now love my life and my community".

The Killing Fields

I woke up this morning in Colombo, feeling sorry for myself so, after chatting with the person in my life that keeps me grounded in reality and helps me keep perspective, I decided to go for a walk along Galleface green (the sea front). It was here, as I walked and talked with God, that I was reminded of another sea front that I had visited just this past week and the people that lived in the area - and I realised that I had no right to feel sorry for myself...

The Killing Fields: Mullaitivu

I was travelling through what to some has become known as "The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka". It is a narrow stretch of land that is between a beautiful lagoon and the open sea, in the District of Mullaitivu on the North East coast of Sri Lanka.

On December 26, 2004 thousands of people lost their lives and homes here. (But that's not why they are called the Killing Fields.) Over the next few years houses were rebuilt, lives were reestablished, families fought to reclaim 'normal' in an area that was a Tamil majority and a LTTE stronghold. "My life was pretty good here, my husband and I were quite well off, our children were at school, our house and our property were nice", said a woman who I met at a women's psychosocial support group.

But then in the 100 days prior to May 14, 2009 the "Tsunami' houses that had reestablished home and safety, were again destroyed, but this time many more lives were lost in what the Sri Lankan government calls the "Wanni Humanitarian Operation". The 'humanitarian' agenda was "wiping out the darkness of the North and the East... [to] conquer and protect motherland" (inscription at the Victory Monument at Pudukudirippu).

Farah-03

Some say as many as 300,000 (Tamil) civilians fled from their homes in the districts surrounding Mullaitivu and gathered in the same 32km area designated by the military as a "safe area, a No Fire Zone". By May 14, when the two Sri Lankan military fronts met in the middle of the safe area, at the Farah-03 a Jordanian ship that had run aground on the beach in 2006, thousands of people were dead - four days later the 25 year war was officially declared over.

Over the last 4 years the government have steadily removed any reference to the LTTE except what they choose to sanitise and use for their own purposes. Just out of town there was a LTTE 'Heroes' cemetery. But today, after bulldozing the site, it is one of dozens of Sri Lankan military barracks in the North and the East, heavily manned and a constant reminder of occupation.

It is in this context that our project Reconciliation through Mental Health Integration in Northern Districts (REMIND) seeks, with the partnership of the government health services, to help victims of psychosocial distress find ways to manage and re-imagine their future.

Mullaitivu CSOs

One of the vital elements of this project are Community Support Officers: community members, trained to identify distressed people, who offer ways into networks of support, whether that be medical care or support groups. The young CSO women that met me told me their own stories of trauma and loss, but when asked why they do what they do: "because someone needs to care and try and help - I can".

Yeah, really is time for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and do my job!