"As I'm coming to know" - the knowledge I was given from working with the children, the staff and my supervisor...combined with my classes; a gift far greater than I could have asked for!
Leaving Canada to go to St. Lucia - I reflected on what some of my biggest lessons were. I wasn't sure. I had no "right" answer. I thought perhaps if I looked at which classes affected me the most - these were Dr. Jacqueline Ismael and Jose Zorilla's classes. Dr. Ismael and my peers in the International Social Work class taught me how important it is to consider my own worldview before I go marching out to 'help' others and how important it was for me to consider the role that National Governmental Organizations and International Governmental Organizations play....in here, I learned to really critique and assess what were intentions and motives of corporation giants who proclaimed to 'do good'? Was it really 'good' work? Was it really practising 'social responsbility' if a corporation is going into an Indigenous community to 'train' individuals on how to be labourers for their mines when in reality the mines will close in 20 or 30 years? What then when the land is torn up and what then happens after the mine moves out - leaving behind a desecrated land and a people who are back to being unemployed and perhaps more unhealthy due to the mines and due to the fact that no real socially responsible programs that promote "mino-pimaadisiwin" is in place?
From Jose's class - I learned about the importance of asking - what exactly does "community economic development" mean? By whose standards are we saying "community economic development"? I've looked at economy and it's meaning and from what I was able to pick up - globally - including in my own community - economy is equated with money and income in the western sense. I looked up development and found that in the dictionary "development" suggests that the thing or person to be 'developed' is somehow lacking in some way.
These two things - looking at social responsibility and community economic development have left me in a place where I cringe at how blindsided I was thinking that community economic development was always good. I never really critically assessed or asked or even reflected on - just how good is community economic development when we are measuring ourselves and our 'progress' as Aboriginal people using Euro-western ideals of economic development?
Going to St. Lucia and carrying these thoughts with me in my backpack - I arrived in St. Lucia wondering what could be the best way that I could help without necessarily introducing 'community economic development' in a western sense? I was stumped. It was only in picking up a book on leadership by the Dalai Lama that I realized this is one area I know I am good at. I am good at making people feel good and good at motivating others. I've been told I can be inspiring. And so off I was - thinking up the possibilities of how to integrate my skills with the needs of the agency. I had to ask myself - how can I adapt myself to the community's needs and agency's needs?
I think this is where I realized more than ever I follow an Aboriginal approach - and it is here I realized that more than anything - Aboriginal approaches mean using a number of different approaches since it is about the wellness of the community and the wellness of the individual. In other words, because Aboriginal approaches stem from a collective source - this type of approach does not discriminate or subscribe to a "set" or structured paradigm that limits or confines the worker; rather it frees the helper to adapt since it always places the invidual, community or 'helped' as the central focus.
After an inital meeting of discussions about a Needs Assessment and some of the challenges of raising children in an orphanage - I came back to the table with a holistic approach - including the children's voices in the needs assessment and listening to the adults, volunteers and Board's voices about what mattered most. The response was overwhelming that the children were NUMBER 1 priority. And so I suggested Leadership training for the children and staff from the basis that we are all leaders and leadership begins first and foremost with Self. This is an Aboriginal belief - something I observed from my aunties and uncles, parents and grand parents. I heard countless Elders repeat that to lead or be a helper - we had to first begin with ourself and find inner balance.
Hence, the Leadership Without Borders Training Program was created to specifically be accessible to anyone, and which would first be piloted with the children and staff of the Home. I was excited to say the least because to me - it did not feel like I was 'developing' anyone...as no one needed to be developed - rather I was only helping to enhance people's strengths and capacities. I was in essence contributing to a different kind of "economic development" - people power which in my own worldview is far more powerful than money. What a challenge! Not only was I taking this on - I was hoping to bring in as much culture using spirituality (the Bible) in the workshops.
From Jose's class - I learned about the importance of asking - what exactly does "community economic development" mean? By whose standards are we saying "community economic development"? I've looked at economy and it's meaning and from what I was able to pick up - globally - including in my own community - economy is equated with money and income in the western sense. I looked up development and found that in the dictionary "development" suggests that the thing or person to be 'developed' is somehow lacking in some way.
These two things - looking at social responsibility and community economic development have left me in a place where I cringe at how blindsided I was thinking that community economic development was always good. I never really critically assessed or asked or even reflected on - just how good is community economic development when we are measuring ourselves and our 'progress' as Aboriginal people using Euro-western ideals of economic development?
Going to St. Lucia and carrying these thoughts with me in my backpack - I arrived in St. Lucia wondering what could be the best way that I could help without necessarily introducing 'community economic development' in a western sense? I was stumped. It was only in picking up a book on leadership by the Dalai Lama that I realized this is one area I know I am good at. I am good at making people feel good and good at motivating others. I've been told I can be inspiring. And so off I was - thinking up the possibilities of how to integrate my skills with the needs of the agency. I had to ask myself - how can I adapt myself to the community's needs and agency's needs?
I think this is where I realized more than ever I follow an Aboriginal approach - and it is here I realized that more than anything - Aboriginal approaches mean using a number of different approaches since it is about the wellness of the community and the wellness of the individual. In other words, because Aboriginal approaches stem from a collective source - this type of approach does not discriminate or subscribe to a "set" or structured paradigm that limits or confines the worker; rather it frees the helper to adapt since it always places the invidual, community or 'helped' as the central focus.
After an inital meeting of discussions about a Needs Assessment and some of the challenges of raising children in an orphanage - I came back to the table with a holistic approach - including the children's voices in the needs assessment and listening to the adults, volunteers and Board's voices about what mattered most. The response was overwhelming that the children were NUMBER 1 priority. And so I suggested Leadership training for the children and staff from the basis that we are all leaders and leadership begins first and foremost with Self. This is an Aboriginal belief - something I observed from my aunties and uncles, parents and grand parents. I heard countless Elders repeat that to lead or be a helper - we had to first begin with ourself and find inner balance.
Hence, the Leadership Without Borders Training Program was created to specifically be accessible to anyone, and which would first be piloted with the children and staff of the Home. I was excited to say the least because to me - it did not feel like I was 'developing' anyone...as no one needed to be developed - rather I was only helping to enhance people's strengths and capacities. I was in essence contributing to a different kind of "economic development" - people power which in my own worldview is far more powerful than money. What a challenge! Not only was I taking this on - I was hoping to bring in as much culture using spirituality (the Bible) in the workshops.