Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Letter from Germany

Nos biens chers petits Sœurs,

Pendant notre mini retraite Elisabeth Biela nous a parlé de vous rassemblées à Ouaguadougou et nous avons vu votre photo.

Vous ne pouvez pas vous imaginer la joie que nous avons éprouvée en vous voyant. Une de nous disait : « quand j’ai vu la photo j’ai senti comme une invitation de prier pour nos jeunes sœurs autrement que jusqu’à aujourd’hui ». D’autres s’expriment ainsi : » je suis profondément touché et il y a un grand espoir en moi que la mission continue car notre charisme vit en vous comme il vit en nous. Je suis en joie que des jeunes ont répondu à l’appel de Dieu tout comme le Cardinal Lavigerie, Mère Salomé et tant de sœurs avant nous. Nous nous sentons très unies à vous et nous prions pour vous afin que votre vie s’épanouisse dans notre mission commune.  Ce que nous réjouit c’est de voir la diversité dans vos visages et pourtant vous êtes une dans la diversité.

Avec joie et reconnaissance nous regardons notre vie et chemin fait dans la congrégation et nous prions afin que vous aussi trouviez l’accomplissement dans votre vie en suivant Jésus.

Notre désir pour vous est que vos rêves d’une vie remplie se réalise dans la joie de suivre CELUI qui dit de lui-même : »Je suis le chemin, la vérité et la vie. » Remerciez Dieu pour l’appel de lui appartenir et soyez des visages du Dieu d’amour et de compassion parmi vos frères et sœurs auxquels il vous envoie.  Nous nous sommes heureuses de vous avoir comme sœurs.

Nous voulons encore vous dire ceci : nous avons vécu notre vie et la mission dans un temps et un contexte précis. Nous avons eu la chance de vivre notre vie religieuse et missionnaire comme cela était proposé dans notre temps. Nous l’avons inventée et adaptée dans un monde changeant afin que les gens puissent comprendre la Parole et le Message de Jésus. Aujourd’hui vous êtes appelées de trouver de nouvelles manières de vivre la vie communautaire et l’apostolat. Osez d’aller de l’avant, n’ayez pas peur car le monde à un droit de comprendre le Message aujourd’hui.

 Nous sommes unies dans un même appel, dans notre amour pour le monde africain, notre passion pour l’humanité et notre sens de l’esprit de corps, même si nous le réalisons dans nos contextes différents.  Enracinées en Christ nous marchons ensemble mais chacune à son rythme. 

Qui sommes-nous qui vous adressons cette lettre ?

Nous sommes vos sœurs ainées de la communauté de Neunkirchen, non de Trêves. Nous sommes 18 sœurs entre 76 et 95 qui ont vécu dans différentes pays d’Afrique pendant 45 et 10 années. Tout ce qui touche l’Afrique nous intéresse car nous le portons dans nos cœurs.


Maintenant nous vivons dans une maison de la Caritas en pré-retraite. Nous vivons proches d’une maison médicalisée où nous visitons les personnes seules. Certaines d’entre nous visitent des réfugiés syriens et nous leur rendons des services à notre porté. Pour nous soutenir dans nos tâches quotidiennes nous avons une dames coordinatrice qui nous aime et que nous l’apprécions. D’autres s’occupent du ménage et de la cuisine. Nous sommes très reconnaissantes que la congrégation prend si bien soins de nous.

Le plus important est notre vie communautaire et la vie de prière. Notre première mission d’ailleurs est la prière pour le monde entier. Croyez-nous la matière ne nous manque jamais dans ce monde déchiré.

Nos forces diminuent et nous avons besoin de vos prières afin de bien nous préparer pour le dernier voyage.

Nous vous envoyons nos meilleures salutations.


Vos Ainées de Neunkirchen en Allemagne.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

MEDITATING WITH LIVING ICONS



During three mornings we meditated contemplating Living Icons of Today's Humanity. We are also to called to be Living Icons to each other. Our call is to be Christ-Like.  This will take place once we are in touch with our deepest humanity. Charles Lavigerie, our Founder, once said: "Few people, too few people have the ultimate vocation: Humanity"

Link to HUMAN website >>

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Avec l'archevêque de Ouagadougou


Avec l'archevêque de Ouagadougou, Mgr Philippe Ouédraogo, 14 juillet 2016

TRAUMA & 'DOWNLOADING'

  • In this workshop we looked at the realities of 'downloading' and 'co-sensing' form the perspective of trauma. 
  • "Downloading" is about reenacting habitual patterns of action, conversation, and thought.
  • Before we sense the other we are invited to sense our very bodies (process of embodiment).

  • Shared experiences about trauma (brainstorming): 
  • It is an experience which I have lived that has put me down and has prevented me from going on and it has affected the way I see reality. 
  • It is a painful experience that touches my life and I am not ready to look at it.  
  • It brings distress, tension, anxiety, a negative energy takes over and frizzes me. 
  • It is a wound. 
  • It is a body reaction towards a painful event that one has experienced


  • Insights about trauma (from the presentation):
  • Trauma is not much about the event itself, but about the way I have responded or integrated the event. If it is an event that I am unable to cope with, then my body develops the tendency to protect itself, it creates barriers. Our muscles will contract.
  • The body has the mechanism to release that stored energy that is used to protect the body instinctually. The problem comes when that energy wants to get out of the system and our mind refuses to do so.
  • Once we allow the natural releasing process to occur, then the process of overcoming trauma begins. 
  • Overcoming trauma makes us more resilient in life.



  • Life is traumatic. Trauma is part of life. Trauma is part of the evolutionary process of the universe. Trauma often starts at the very beginning of our lives, in the mother’s wound. We do not have a memory of that moment of our lives, until around three years we do not have images, memories of ourselves.
  • Our bodies are memory banks. All we have lived is registered in our body, the joyful and painful experiences. They will be with us forever and ever, but what we can do, is to transform the effects that painful experiences have in our lives.
  • If the trauma is not processed, creates post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD) with its own effects. If trauma is processed, we can talk of post-traumatic growth (PTG). A person who has suffered a lot, but who has gone through it and has transcended it, he / she experiences a tremendous growth. She/he becomes a wounded healer. Trauma keeps us in a superficial, low level of consciousness as we keep functioning from the ego level (in Theory U is called the 'downloading state')
  • We cannot force a person to talk about her/his own story, we can only create a secure environment where the person may feel he / she can flower. For this to happened, the person needs to take his / her responsibility.
  • A person, who always takes the place of a victim identity, takes refuge in suffering in order not to grow. We are invited to move from the victim to the survival identity. This puts us already on the journey and from there if we are able to heal the trauma, to integrate it in our life, then we become wounded healers.
  • Let us not be afraid to show our scars, as Jesus showed his after the resurrection.
  • In front of a traumatic event, an overwhelming experience, there are three different ways to react immediately: Fight, Flight, and Freeze.
  • One of the symptoms of trauma is apathy towards oneself, towards others, towards life ("I do not care"). There is no emotional connection.


DIFFERENT KINDS OF TRAUMA

  • Primary trauma: This is the trauma that occurs to someone while in the womb of the mother and/or in the first years of one’s life. We are especially vulnerable to the emotional state of our caregivers and to all that surround us. This period of our lives is pre-verbal. We don’t have images related to the traumatic events, nevertheless the body registers everything, the body has a memory.
  • Secondary Trauma: Secondary refers to the effects experienced by rescue workers, caregivers, and others who respond to catastrophes and attend to direct victims firsthand. The effects of secondary trauma are similar to those experienced by victims and survivors themselves.
  • Structurally Induced Trauma: Trauma created by policies that result in unjust, abusive, racist, or unsafe systems that cause hardship often on a long-term, continuous basis.
  • Developmental Trauma: Ongoing and structurally induced trauma
. Living under abusive or unsafe conditions that are long-term and continuous can cause trauma. The ongoing violence of poverty and systems that make people unable to meet basic needs such as healthcare is called structural violence and is a cause of trauma.
  • Historical Trauma: Historical trauma is the ‘cumulative emotional and psychological wounding’ over the lifespan and across generations emanating from massive group trauma. Slavery, colonialism, and persecution or genocide of one faction or religious group are examples. The ‘event’ or institution is in the past, but the effects are cumulative and are seen in individual and group attitudes and behaviours in succeeding generations.The trans-generational transmission of these traumas can occur even when the next generation is not told the trauma story, or knows it only in broad outline. A ‘conspiracy of silence’ surrounds events for which grieving and mourning have never taken place.
  • Cultural Trauma: Cultural traumas are created when attempts are made to eradicate part of all of a culture or people. This has happened for many native and indigenous groups worldwide.
  • Participation Induced Trauma: Another cause of trauma is rarely discussed: being an active participant in causing harm or trauma to others, whether in the line of duty or outside of the law, such as in criminal activity. What are the emotional and spiritual implications for groups or nations that bear responsibility for events such as the holocaust, genocide, suicide bombings, state- supported assassinations?
  • Societal or Collective Trauma: When a traumatic event or series of events affects large numbers of people, we speak or societal or collective trauma.
  • Witnessing Trauma: Trauma can be directly experienced, but it can also occur when witnessing or merely hearing about horrific events.

  • Source: Carolyn Yoder, The Little Book of Healing Trauma, Good Books, 2005


INTORDUCTORY EXPLORATION TO TRE



Some feedbacks: Some people felt released and relaxed, they appreciated the exercise very much. Others found it a bit miraculous and some were tired.


Friday, July 22, 2016

Baobabs de Madagascar - Baobabs, réservoirs de vie

                      



Le plateau Mahafaly est une immense étendue calcaire du sud-ouest de Madagascar. Il n’y a ni eau de surface, ni lac permanent, ni rivières.Il abrite près de vingt mille habitants, qui appartiennent aux ethnies Mahafaly et Antandroy. A Ampotaka et plus généralement sur le plateau Mahafaly, plusieurs centaines de baobabs ont ainsi été transformé en citernes et sont devenus.



Réalisation : Stéphane Corduant
Production exécutive: Mada-movie

Baobab Trees in Madagascar - Healing Seekers

                      



Very interesting video on the Baobab tree and its amazing qualities. Many of them already shared in our workshop. Very enlightening and inspirational! 

Thursday, July 21, 2016

OUR STRENGTHS AND BLESSINGS



Charisme: Tout à tous , Missionnaires pour le monde africain.

Formation: Professionel, Spirituel,  Confiance aux jeunes soeurs.

Ouverture: les besoins des peuples ,Apprendre la culture et La diversité de la mission. 

Attachement au Christ: Spiritualité  Ignatienne et Discernement.

Fidélité à notre héritage, histoire et au nom de notre congregation.

La vie CommunautairePrise de soin de nos soeurs et le support mutuel.

L’interculturalité et  l’internationalité.


*****

Charism: all to all, Missionaries to the African world

Formation: Professional, Spiritual, Trust to the young sister

Openness: Needs of the people, Learning the culture, Diversity of the mission 

Attachment to Christ: Ignatian spirituality Discernment

Faithfulness to our heritage; our history the name of the congregation

Community life:  caring for our sisters; mutual support

Interculturality and internationality

Monday, July 11, 2016

Leymah Gbowee: The Dream

                       


Through her activism to topple Liberia’s dictator, Leymah Gbowee was able to restore her own faith in humanity. Part 1 of “Three Short Films About Peace.”


Produced by: Errol Morris

COLLECTIVE DRAWING RELEASING WOMEN'S STRUGGLE IN TODAY'S WORLD



Dynamic: Collective drawing: Release a “heavy” experience connected with your “Woman identity” or you “African Woman identity”. Each group will have a common paper and each person will do her own drawing. After a while they can interact with other's drawings. Later on the participants were asked to shared non-verbally about the collective piece of art; finally they shared verbally (great release for many!)

Some feedbacks:


  • It was challenging to start.
  • It was the expression of my painful experiences
  • When I could express the experience in the images, I felt relieved.
  • At the beginning I felt resistance. I did not want to do it, but I said I do not want to get stuck, and then I entered into it.
  • Indeed our drawings were connected.
  • It was difficult to add into the design of the other.
  • I put myself in the place of the other and yet I came to myself.



Some learnings:

  • When we let ourselves be guided by the Spirit, we experience the flow of life.
  • It is really difficult to pass from the head to the heart.
  • Complementarity in the different experiences, yet remaining unique.
  • At times it is difficult to understand what the other is trying to express (body language).
  • Difference experiences and yet we came to a common message, a message of hope, of potentiality:


“A woman who is proud of who she is. She has the right to express herself. She knows her dignity and her place.  She can work and take care of her family. She is happy with her role to be a woman”.

Themes of the different drawings:

  • 'Nature' group: Woman bearer of life and hope in struggles through resilience
  • 'Lavigerie' group: The freedom of an African woman is possible
  • 'Water' group: Journey to fullness of life
  • 'Miséricorde' group:  woman source of life despite of suffocating.
  • 'Pape François' group : woman source of life for better life
  • 'Pelican' group: Passion for life in a challenging world


Commonalities found in all the drawings:

-    Life
-    Hope
-    Source
-    Giving birth
-    Struggles

FIRST STEP: INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE DRAWING








SECOND STEP: NON-VERBAL PROCESSING OF THE ACTIVITY






THIRD STEP: VERBAL PROCESSING OF THE ACTIVITY