Dear Nigel, How inspiring indeed!
I've just posted your story on the listserv [email protected], which has about 150 people on it, primarily Haitians but expats too who are either using or interested in using open space. thank you again! john > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: NigelSeys-Phillips > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 3:10 AM > Subject: Re: [OSLIST] Open Space - Cambodia - > Street Children - Version 2 suitably inserted - > long(ish) > > > It's now upside down but hopefully still makes > sense?? > > See lower down if required! > > > > > > > > "A Better Future for Us - The Issues and > Opportunities" > > Phnom Penh, Cambodia. > > > > > > > > As part of the World Bank's Asian initiative to > communicate and connect with marginalized and > minority groups, and in conjunction with the 2006 > Annual Meeting being held in Singapore this > September, a programme of Open Space meetings has > been instigated from the Singapore regional office. > > > > Using Open Space, and inspired by Peggy Holman's > piece from Columbia where she worked so successfully > with 2000 street children, we have explored the > opportunity of working with street children across > Asia to really understand what is important for > their future. > > > > The programme kicked off in Papua New Guinea where > the indomitable Father Brian Bainbridge led a group > of some 100 children and young adults > > > > My contribution to date - an amazing (to me!!) > meeting in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, with > some 150 street children.but with a difference. > > > > The children had all come from the horrendous > circumstances of working for a living on the Phnom > Penh city garbage dump - a literal mountain of fetid > rubbish where garbage trucks arrive every few > minutes to dump their waste directly onto this pile. > The children made a living scrabbling for anything > sellable the moment the back was opened, running in > front of the bulldozer set to plough it down. > Plastic, material, glass, food - anything sellable > that might make them up to US$1 per day if they were > truly lucky > > > > Taken in by an astounding NGO "Pour Un Sourire > D'Enfant" they now work at school six days a week. > They are fed three simple nutritious meals a day, > given uniforms and books, and educated towards a > career and a productive life. The vocational side of > the school has a restaurant (teaches cooking but > cooks all the meals) a laundry (teaching skills for > housekeeping jobs) a child care centre, a sewing > school (who also make the uniforms) a gardening > section (who beautify the grounds) a hairdressing > school, a bakery (where everybody gets delicious > fresh French bread during the day) and a new > mechanical school (which will ultimately maintain > their vehicles). The school has about 750 children > on the vocational side and almost 2000 on the > general education side - and almost every single > child graduating with vocational qualifications goes > into a job and has the opportunity to break the > grinding cycle of permanent poverty. > > > > Their parents are "paid" in rice for every day > they are in school - without this they could not > afford to let the children go to school because one > less pair of working hands means one less income > opportunity, which is not something they can even > think about sparing. > > > > Open Space proved (to me for the very first time > as facilitator, which is about as far away from a > personal comfort zone that you could possibly get, I > think, but then I was "created" in Open Space by > Father Brian and Viv Walters - to whom I will be > eternally grateful) its power yet again. > > > > My opening of the space was translated into Khmer, > and with the exception of scheduled interventions by > me over the two days all the other work was done in > Khmer - a quite beautiful language to see when they > finally wrote it down. But when everybody around you > is speaking a totally foreign language (and where > you haven't even learnt the essential, but probably > deeply inappropriate, "Three beers please") meaning > that you have absolutely no idea of the subject, the > discussion or the questions being asked there is > only one solution - just be there and keep smiling! > > > > We tackled the theme - > > "A better future for us - the Issues and > Opportunities" > > > > And within the two days allowed we - > > > > a) Posted about 110 topics on the wall > > b) Reviewed, discussed and wrote notes for our > Proceedings Book on 92 of those topics (which they > proudly took home with them, alongside their > Certificate of Attendance) > > c) Prioritized down to 10 and discussed and > created action points > > > > > > What came up - and remember these are street > children from approximately 12-18 years old? > > Well, some of it is still being translated but > major topics prioritized included - > > > > 1) Corruption and how to reduce it in > Cambodia > > 2) How to develop the economy in Cambodia to > give us greater work opportunities > > 3) How to export more products made in > Cambodia > > 4) How to limit illegal immigration so > Cambodians aren't disadvantaged > > 5) How to use the results of the Khmer Rouge > trials to benefit the people of Cambodia > > > > These, and the way the children came at them, are > a great tribute to the power of Open Space and its > ability to genuinely achieve openness and safety for > those who would otherwise not have a voice. > > > > In our Closing Circle, where some very good > English === message truncated === http://circlesofchange.com participatory learning & leadership http://harvesttime.cc harvesting for justice that all may have enough http://beyondborders.net changing lives through education and exchange email: [email protected] telephone: 202-236-6532 John Engle P.O. Box 337 Hershey, PA 17033 * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
