LET THE HEALING BEGIN!
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From: Meredith T.
Date: Monday, April 7, 2008, 5:33 PM
Subject: Let the Healing Begin!
ID: 260407

Hello Joyce and other friends of the Kenya Collaborative; As you know, the initial goal of creating a cyberspace consortium of women's organizations and spirit led groups was to facilitate collaborative work in Kenya. Jeanie Derousseau has done a wonderful job crafting an internet space for us on Light Pages, but now it is time for the next step. We must transition from a simple Bulletin Board where messages are shared to a functioning collaborative. I am inspired and encouraged by Joyce Oneko's words of hope in her last post. How do we help the healing begin? There is much to be done to care for those who were displaced and harmed during the recent unrest and restore a lasting peace! Three words come to mind: communion, communication and community. Let us begin our work together in communion, stating our positive intention to jointly create a sacred space where spirit can enter in to coordinate our tasks, maximize the positve impact of our efforts, and bring about healing.

Let us begin a process of active communication, listening sensitively to each other about the work each of us is doing there, and the needs of the people in Kenya as expressed by Joyce, Dr. Karambu and others. Communication, will enhance our ability to coordinate and support each other's projects.

Let us model a new collaborative effort amongst many groups and thereby demonstrate how spiritual community can work together in powerful ways to make a difference in one troubled area of the globe. The time is right. We are poised to make a giant leap forward in demonstrating our spiritual unity; identifying a common goal of service in Kenya can be the impetus to actualize that dream. How might we coordinate our efforts and collaborate together? I believe if we step out an act, the answers to that question will unfold before us. The United Religions Initiative (www.uri.org), promotes 'Cooperation Circles' on their website, and they are also administered by Light Pages' webmaster, Bruce Schuman. What wonderful healing might begin in Kenya, if some of the members of the Kenya Collaborative worked collaboratively with URI to identify circles of women from the diverse tribal factions in Kenya!

URI Cooperation Circles are created by people of different traditions who come together to initiate acts of interfaith cooperation. Each group includes at least seven members representing at least three different religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions. Each circle is given an interfaith peace building guide filled with innovative theory and practical exercises for building lasting peace.

Would Peace x Peace be willing to host such circles on their wonderful website which facilitates sister circle connections, perhaps linking them to other circles in northamerica and elsewhere which could support their peace building efforts? Simultaneously, there is a great need to address the material support of those Kenyans who became homeless or lost everything in the recent outbreak of violence. Organizations like Huairou (www.huairou.org) and Global Partners for Development (www.gpfd.org) could be tremendously useful in connecting us with those most in need and perhaps informing us about how best to help.

The Kenya Collaborative brought together those holding a vision of peace and security in Kenya, but it is hard to know how to begin. Sometimes the first step on a journey of a 1000 miles is the hardest to take, but I trust that Spirit will lead us if we follow the old African proverb, 'While praying move your feet'! As I write this post to the Kenya Collaborative, I am also ccing it to key leaders in the United Religions Initiative, the Huairou Commission, Global Partners for Development, and Peace x Peace. I hope a dialogue will ensue. Let the long journey to healing begin!

Meredith Tenney