elana, thank you for sharing your story. it is powerful. i wish you courage and strength. somehow, using open space and these methods which give us more experience in democratic practices, in countries which have only recently become governed by democratic govts, is particularly compelling.
i'm typing this message in petion-ville haiti. we are three days before the presidential election and things are fragile. yesterday, homemade bombs were exploded in three different areas of port au prince and petion-ville killing several and injuring dozens. today, a grenade was discovered which didn't explode, on the road between the cyber cafe where i am now and my home. people are scared. its hard to predict what the next days will hold, especially sunday, the election day. ... we who are practitioners of open space often talk about the difficulties of convincing leaders to let go of control in their organizations. when it comes to letting go, and pushing people to do so, the stakes can be very very high. two weeks ago i opened the space for a group of rotarians and educators on the subject of promoting literacy in haiti. we were about 50. the man who gave the opening welcome for the meeting, the president of the petion-ville rotary club and a very successful business man, is pushing for change. he's pushing for others among his colleagues in the elite sector to commit themselves to transforming haiti and to invest in social structures and programs for the poor masses. he is soft-spoken man but has a clear message. and he has earned the right to be listened to. his two younger brothers were both assisinated in 1992. like him, they were pushing the elite sector to "open the space." they also were wealthy businessmen. stakes can be high when we're pushing to open space. john petion-ville haiti _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html =========================================================== osl...@egroups.com To subscribe, 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign up -- provide an email address, and choose a login ID and password 3. Click on "Subscribe" and follow the instructions To unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@egroups.com: 1. Visit: http://www.egroups.com/group/oslist 2. Sign in and Proceed