Congratulations to Sherry and all the graduates!

Check out more photo’s from Naropa Commencement 2010 here and here.

You can find the Commencement 2010 Address “Our Place in the World” by  The Hon. Melanne Verveer here: Ambassador_MV.mp3.

–Diane

http://www.naropa.edu/video/sherry.cfm

I have just gotten permission to share part of my thesis with all you from one of the women I interviewed. Her name is Pastor Heidi McGuinness.   As I had mentioned in an earlier entry I want to continue to advocate for the rights of the South Sudanese people who are enslaved.

Five years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 that was signed by the Sudan’s North and South, there are tens of thousands of children, women and men who are still enslaved.   Slavery is a crime according to International Law.   Article Four of the United Universal Declaration of Human Rights denounces slavery and the Genocide Convention of the United Nations condemns forceful removal of children from their parents.  Yet,  it is still happening…. Slavery exists in Sudan.

On page 20 of my thesis Pastor Heidi is speaking about her life and what she had experienced as a young girl in Germany and Sudan.  This is a quote from my interview.

Everything I observed, experienced and learned about the injustices against humanity made me an advocate for human rights.  It all formulated who I became and who I am and who I encourage others to be, on behalf of the human family but also on behalf of creation.  The raping of the earth and the seas and the land and the sky.

By the time Rwanda occurred it was over in two months.  Eight hundred thousand people were hacked to death. When I heard about the South Sudanese genocide I decided that I had to do something and invite others to do something too.

The first time I went to Sudan I realized that slavery was a part of it and I became an abolitionist.  What was so shocking to me in documenting the stories of men, women, and children was the bestial savagery that was inflicted upon them in captivity: intentional burnings, blinding, branding, intentionally inflicted wounds, amputations, mutilations…on men, women, and children.  I saw horrific evidence of torture.  I am committed to being a modern day abolitionist both in advocacy and action because of what I had seen done to such beautiful people, siblings of mine.

A lot of good people were silent in Germany.  Fear and hate are cousins.  Fear makes people become silent.  Martin Luther King Jr. said, “An in justice somewhere is an injustice everywhere.”  Another quote that is so salient, “in the end it isn’t the voice of our enemy that we’ll remember but the silence of our friends.”

Too many of us are silent and too many of us are not doing enough to be a voice for the voiceless ones, or to bring the voiceless ones to us so that their voices can be heard.  To have all these egregious assaults on the human family and for us to not have put an end to the genocide in South Sudan that raged for twenty three years, that included slavery.   Still the genocide has raged in Darfur since 2003.  Yet I have heard insensitive people say “well, the numbers are down in Darfur.”  Can you imagine speaking about a human being in terms of numbers being down?

I hope you all had a chance to watch her YouTube video.

Be Well,
Sherry

Pastor Heidi McGuinness is a modern day abolitionist in the South Sudan… the first time I met with her I immediately felt a connection to her and one of the first things she did was look deeply into my eyes and say, “You know I think that you have something to share about your life and the trauma you have experienced…. your story needs to be heard too.”

Since then her words have been in my mind and now three weeks before my thesis is due I have to include my story as well. The hardest thing is to look into the past and be brave enough to reopen old wounds to share with the world the pain and struggle of an immigrant and also to admit that I am a survivor of child abuse. My hope in sharing this reality is that a young person who may be living with this kind of abuse will read my thesis and feel a sense of connection and feel a sense of hope that despite the negative verbal/physical assaults there is light at the end of the tunnel. They will feel that one day they too will go to university and make something of themselves. It is through the shared suffering that we can heal and it is also the triumphs as well that humanity can connect. Simply said it is all for love that I do the work that I do. It may seem cheesy but for me it is how I survived years of trauma and abuse. Love is how I was able to forgive….

I feel incredibly blessed to have met such a beautiful person such as Pastor Heidi. We still speak and she gives me so much love and support. She is a very busy women but she gives and gives, it is so amazing. Please check out this story on youtube. It is her work in the South Sudan. I feel a great responsibility to the South Sudanese people to get their stories out as well.

Bows and blessings,

–Sherry

Sorry I went M.I.A for a while. At the moment my thesis is at a stand still. My doctor has put me on strict bed rest for the next week. I have some weird stomach flu and it is not very fun. Writing to all of you is about all I can do right now. What I can say about my research on women in social justice is the common thread the women all seem to have. It was in the formative years that they began to realize the importance for the elevating the voice of the voiceless ones. Each and every one of the women understand the interconnection of all issues. Race, class, and gender, it’s all interconnected. They can not be separated.

I do not know how many folks out there are aware of an organization called “Bead for Life”. Their mission statement:

“Bead For Life creates sustainable opportunities for women to lift their families out of extreme poverty by connecting people worldwide in a circle of exchange that enriches everyone.”

I volunteer at BFL once a week. I also interviewed Torkin Wakefield, she is one of the founders. She has been involved in social activism since her college years! Please go the website www.beadforlife.org.  There are some wonderful stories about the Ugandan women involved in the BFL family. You can also read about how YOU can get be involved. I hope you enjoy the stories. The stories will pull at you heart strings so be ready! Hope to be vertical soon! Til then take care!

–Sherry

I went to the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA) conference in February and it was great! A lot of Naropa students and faculty from the Contemplative Psychotherapy program attend every year. This year, was in San Diego which made it much more fun! In this conference, you not only had the opportunity to see experienced therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists working on demo groups, but you also had the chance to notice how much contemplative education makes you a very insightful, and courageous professional. I saw how being in a program that focus in community and group work has trained me to be a skillful group psychotherapist! The conference boosted my confidence. I could see clearly how valuable contemplative education is.

I am also in the process of working on my resume and looking for jobs. Being a bilingual therapists is very valuable so I strongly recommend future student to learn Spanish and to people from other Spanish speaking countries to please come to Naropa. We need more contemplative Spanish speaking therapist!

–Diane

This is my last semester and it is going really fast! I am taking on more clients. Because I was given a stipend to work mostly with the Spanish speaking population, I have not worked with individual English speaking clients yet. I asked for some English speakers this semester because I want to broaden my experience in my internship. I will be offering therapy to two English speaking children, and two teenage girls.

In addition to these clients, I am preparing a body image group in English and in Spanish, and a parenting group in Spanish. On top of all the work at my internship, I am starting to work on my Master’s paper topic. So far, the topic on my paper is about how one recognizes, accesses and develops the therapist’s and clients’ intuition in the fast-paced/goal-oriented environment of Mental Health agencies. I believe the contemplative education offered at Naropa University helps students slow down in the speedy society we are living in. It is easy to be pushed in all directions when our environment is fast paced and goal oriented if we are not grounded. Contemplative education helps therapists become more in sync with client’s need. Slowing down helps us access our intuition which allows therapy to be guided by our most reliable knowledge, our inner wisdom.

Your support helps Naropa educate therapists like me. Please consider making a gift to Naropa now.

–Diane

I have just started the slow and painful process of transcribing my interviews with five amazing women. They have all been so generous with their time, and I am struck by the stories of their lives. It was extremely important for me to find women from very different cultural and spiritual/religious backgrounds so that I could capture the global action that is being done.

Anita Khaldy is an Arab/Asian women who is a mission statement all on her own. She emailed me this morning and included this amazing poem and I wanted to share it with all of you, so that you get an idea of the deep spiritual life that she leads. And it is because of this spirit that she acts against oppression.

This is her poem on faith and love

The Disciple

And the disciple asked -
“Master !”

‘What is hope, life and happiness?”

And the Master replied,
“Hope is the capacity of the human spirit to see beyond darkness,
To soar above thunder storms.
Patiently to await..a bud’s full blossom.”
“Life is a wondrous dream.
All powered and energized..
By the all consuming emotions of ‘Love’
Which lies steering..
At the base of every heart
Love is love .Loved..
For love’s sake alone.
For no ulterior reason,
And no wanting in return.
‘Love’ is an uninterrupted symphony.
Whose notes ring of ‘Joy’ uncompared.
“Happiness is the realm of the Mystic.Sage.Philosopher.
It’s a stage of ‘Divine Realization’ that
Life is to be loved and lived in peace.
Hope, Life, Love and Happiness are
The touch stone of the unstuck music of the soul.

And the Disciple asked,
“Who can possess these gifts?”

The Master kept silent for a while..
Then said,
“Son..the one who has found -
Love and Devotion for God.
Seeking spirit and love with every element of his being.
The one who loves God
and loves others in relation to God.
The one who love is purely- Out Going.
Is yielding,. Long suffering, is self-sacrificing..
In his handiwork and affections for mankind.
He has found Hope, Life, Love and Happiness.

And the Disciple said -

“Give me this nectar of life.

And the Master replied

“Go and discover it
In the innocent smile of a new born child.
Go find it in the sacred verses of scripture..

It’s in the vibrating pulse of the universe. Known to Saints…who
Quietened their souls and listened.

It’s in the dances and rituals of the past and today. In the twinkle of the
Young dancer’s eyes. As she gives herself completely to the tempo. The beats

It’s in the magnificent symbols of Gods and Goddesses. All etched in
Stone. Reminding us that life is fleeting…and spirit alone. Eternal.
It’s in the stories and myths of our fold. It’s in our quiet confessions
And our deepest aspirations.

Go find it in your self.

–Sherry

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to introduce a new student guest blogger: Sherry Gobaleza.  Sherry’s featured on the latest Annual Fund postcard (which drops in the mail tomorrow).  She’s in the BA Interdisciplinary Studies program and she’s an active volunteer at BeadforLife.

–Jim