MORE POWERFUL VOICES IN PIE CELEBRATED

It was a memorable time as we welcomed the new powerful voices to PIE at our last meeting. The meeting started with a round of introduction where the existing members of PIE introduced themselves, their location, their wish and welcome note for the new members. There was a sharing order already prepared to be followed which had Kirthi to share first, followed by Paulina, then Busayo, Dawn, Jeanine, Arrey, Tam, Rangineh our co-facilitator, then followed by the new members Ruthibelle and Sabeena.

Kirthi introduced herself and shared the Panchakanya Stotra in Sanskrit – or the invocation of the five goddesses in Hindu mythology – Ahalya, Tara, Draupadi, Sita, and Mandodari. She explains that the welcome is intended to be an invocation of the five goddesses and the values they stand for – kindness, bravery, empathy, fierceness, and gentleness. She went further to say that whenever Hindus begin anything anew, they invoke their spirits so they give us an auspicious start.

Paulina was joining us from the Philippines - she lives in the middle part of The Philippines. She welcomed Sabeena and Ruthibelle into the PIE circle and wishes they will have an enjoyable stay with PIE and that our discussions will be enriched by their ideas. She welcomed our new members with lots of hugs.

Busayo is from Nigeria, and from Ile-Ife - the source of all beings, as they believe the site to be. She welcomed our new members Sabeena and Ruthibelle, and Anum (who isn't here just yet) greatly to PIE, to a wonderful relationship, to a place of passion where our passion is put together to move our community forward. She went further to welcome the new members to a place of wonderful voices where we put our voices together to bring about wonderful initiatives that will benefit our community. Busayo received the new members with a warm hug and the Love of God

Dawn Arteaga came next, she is in Washington DC. Her welcome went thus: “I am giving you all a sunflower today to welcome our new members into our circle. The flower stands for awareness - as Karen Axalan, an original PIE member shared - when it's sunny, the sunflower faces the sun, and when it's cloudy, they face each other and draw energy from each other”. She welcomed our new members into the circle where we face each other and lean on each other with strength and carry our community forward.

Next was Jeanine from Portland, Oregon, US. She said, “It's early and dark right now where I am. I am extending a heartfelt welcome to all of our new members and I am excited after having had a chance to hear and see them at the board meeting and also happy to have them with us at PIE. She extended her warm welcome!

Arrey joined us from Yaounde, Cameroon capital city was happy to speak that day because the cat is out (Code = her boss is not around ;)). Arrey said, it was a pleasure to be in the meeting. She welcomed our newest members - Ruthibelle and Sabeena, and Anum. She said that the country has experienced the Anglophone crisis, and that she is from a royal family - she said she is a warrior princess and that's her official title! She said she sees PIE as a site where we support each other, like this powerful band through which she's created a star with her fingers - we support each other and work together and are part of a community that we love and cherish together!

Tam, Tamarack Verrall joins us from Montreal, Canada, and has lived in the rural area and now in the city. She brought forth a rural greeting – She went further that living in the rural area has shown her that we need each other and the greetings that she has gotten when she travelled across the country in rural areas is from the heart. She welcomes our new members and says that it is such a joy to be together. She gave everyone a big rural greeting: “We meet each other and show gratitude to be together”!

Rangineh is our co-facilitator, and she joins us from California. She lived on the West Coast of the US. Her greeting was Khoshamadi, a greeting in Farsi. She said If we were in her home, we would sit together to have some tea and connect. It is part of Persian culture to have tea and eat food together, and share a conversation. Rangineh welcomed our new members with a sense of warmth and told them that she wished they felt like a part of our circle. She also acknowledges Anum and Shaadia, who hopefully will join us in October.

Ruthibelle is from Kingston, Jamaica, where she lives right now. She thanks everyone for the very warm welcome! Happy to be here and very much looking forward to building, learning, and growing together. She said she brought the gift of laughter to PIE because she laughs a lot – lots of smiles and lots of laughter.

Sabeena is joining from London and will not be attending the queen's funeral, but feels the communal sense of mourning. She brought the gift fair trade chocolate to PIE! Sabeena told us she is a big foodie and acknowledged the bakers in our group. She was excited to be herself and said it was a pleasure to be in PIE. She was grateful for the diversity and the opportunity to work together.

Break out Activity one

Break out room activities was announced by Rangineh and that it was going to be a mingling activity for three rounds. Each round was to have 3 different people with 3 different prompts. The three prompts were:

·           What called you to PIE?

·           What is one thing about yourself (or your life experience) that you’d like others to know?

·           What is one piece of advice/message you have received?

Inputs from Members

Ruthibelle shared the wisdom of Maya Angelou (see clip: https://youtu.be/aHvTWvKIPHo), of keeping one’s sacred space and enforcing one’s boundaries, and to avoid letting folks walk right through. Kirthi shared: “You will be different people to different people at different points in time. Part of that is because of how others see you. never forget who you are within yourself, because that part is inviolable.” Busayo shared advice from an elderly person – to always be herself and to not change herself to please anyone. She said it has made a difference in her relationships. Arrey shared: “The lesson for me was that you should always keep a space inside you that makes you inviolable. A sacred space where no one is allowed to curse you or hurt you. It's important for setting boundaries and preserving the best parts of yourself.”

Break Time

Tam during the break shared the Ho’oponopono prayer, drawing from a circle she was part of this summer: The prayer was "I am sorry, Please, forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”

Break out Activity 2

For the group: What can we (as facilitators) do better with the help of your leadership going into 2023?

For Ruthibelle and Sabeena: Please share best practices of inclusive facilitation you've experienced:)

Inputs:

Paulina shared that facilitation is really very good as it enables us to share and elicit information and ideas from all of us. It is open and we are able to share. Ruthibelle had a bright idea: She asked about our capacity to do more networking along regional lines on our platform – design initiatives to get people within their regions to speak with each other and build stronger alliances among themselves. Jeanine shared that it takes time to move the PIE group along and maybe there can be emphasis on a working session and another session for care (and create a caring space/meetings). Sabeena suggested having regional groups and get together to have regional meetings.  Dawn spoke about the community participation working group and its focus on the ethical guidelines, and the votes members have brought up requests for country/region level chapters. She talked about legal implications involved in collecting money to set up chapters. She also invited members to take the survey on the ethical guidelines. Tam agreed with Sabeena’s views and shared that women in Canada have done this informally. She says she would like to get back to doing this at a stronger level to work closely together to push for change.

*Rangineh shared that we will have two subgroup meetings in October and November. December will involve a retrospective look on 2022 and what we’ve done so far and an envisioning engagement for 2023.

Breakout room activity 3

In this current version of PIE, what does 2023 look like for us?

Given all that we have accomplished, when does it make sense for this Steering Committee to transition to a new or redefined set of goals?

Inputs: Sabeena shared that Arrey is going to do our branding for PIE. Arrey shared this: “Yes, I was actually saying branding is important for sustainability of World Pulse. For example, where could we like to see WP if we have the chance say 20/30 years from now? Would we love to look back and say we had a tiny part in building a durable time-tested value organization all these years? So, I see the board working on branding. I could only say the branding doesn't divert from the founding values of WP. Maybe there could be a way to strike a balance in raising fund for branding and supporting the community generally, but otherwise, a good and durable brand is very important.” Tam shared that Busayo and she talked about funding – and the idea of bringing World Pulse sisters together in their countries – but the dynamic can be very different in different countries. One major priority would be for those who can do serious work around raising voices of women in emergency situations and get some funding for them to actually do this work. Busayo seconded this and called for funding for women’s rights organizations.

It was a great time of interaction and celebration of the new additions to PIE. We closed the day with a waterfall of words that represented how we felt.