An Innovative Workshop on the Climate Emergency
I recently participated in an innovative one-day workshop on the climate emergency. The workshop was for Co-Counselors in New Jersey, rural Pennsylvania, and New York, USA. However, the organizer had built a Co-Counseling connection with an RC leader in Kampala, Uganda, and Co-Counselors from the Uganda RC Communities were also invited.
Workshop leaders met with the Co-Counselors from Uganda before the workshop to begin building relationships and set up Ubuntu partners for the workshop. [Ubuntu means humanity. It also translates to “I am because you are” and is from the southern part of Africa. In RC, we use “Ubuntu” in place of “buddy.” People with stable Internet connections give support to those with less stable Internet by calling them on the phone so that no one is left out of a workshop or meeting.]
The workshop was a win-win situation for everyone. The folks from the United States got to consider global climate issues side by side with people who were on the front lines of facing the impacts. Everyone got to benefit from the experience of language interpretation. The Ubuntu partnerships, which many pairs stayed in for their sessions, built deeper relationships and the possibility for ongoing connection between individuals and Communities.
There were challenges, of course. The organizing job was more complex. It took time to get all the interpretation sorted out. Internet connectivity and power issues meant that many of the Co-Counselors from Uganda didn’t appear on video, which made it harder for others to engage with them as fully as we all would have liked. (At the same time, this was a powerful lesson for USers in the realities of global wealth inequality and colonialism.)
The appreciations at the end were an indication of the power of organizing a workshop in this way. We all got the great benefit of working together on this global issue that affects us all.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 216, July 2024)