How to stay open to the possibilities?

A Reflection on How to Cultivate a Capacity to Stay Open to the Possibilities even in the midst of Chaos and Contraction.

Our on-going journey with this year's Leadership Programme is teaching us something important about the impact of context, about the strength of Kufunda as a place for learning and dreaming - and the need to be able to carry this out into a world in break down.

The Kufunda 2016 youth programme has experimented with a modular approach where the youth spent some time at Kufunda, and then returned home to implement some of what they learnt, and then returned again. We have hosted a total of three modules over the six month programme. Some of them were unfortunately a little shorter than planned because of funding challenges. So when the participants returned this time round they had been home a little longer than originally planned.

Our first Check In with the participants was about their reflection on the last few months they had just spent in their communities.

What they shared was a strong reflection on the situation in Zimbabwe at this time. On the one hand it was heavy to see how much their energy was challenged by the gradually more depressed atmosphere caused by the economic hardship.

They all mentioned their feeling of being increasingly more under pressure to go out and find money to cater for school fees, food and necessities in the home. Being back at Kufunda gives them time to breathe and shake off some of the most distractive energy that automatically occurs when people surrender to hopelessness and anxiety.

There was a sense that just a few days at Kufunda gave a renewed sense of possibility. The atmosphere here, coming back together, having time to reflect, to connect to self, and to each other brought relief and Joy. New ideas beginning to trickle forth.

They are NOT hopeless. Their energy drives them towards learning and absorbing as many new skills as possible to create their own life, to travel the road of the unknown.

They are back here because they want to learn…

Having been out in the stark reality of a country with a cash crisis people are more hungry for the practical skills – permaculture, mushroom growing, animal husbandry. They see the real need for these practical skills, and have already dived in fully in this module of working with practical skills for sustainability.

There is a strong Spirit of supporting each other: With what is going out there, there is this need of each of us supporting each other. Its time to be there for each other.

In the village they feel the possibilities: The question we hold is how to support them in developing the resilience to be able to continue to experience and explore those possibilities when they are back home, back in the place of challenge and contraction?

It is wonderful to feel their energy lift on their return to the village - but the real test is how to maintain it when they are not in our safe and protected space.