An open, experiential workshop hosted by the Australia Yearly Meeting (Quaker) Indigenous Concerns Committee which will celebrate the good news of Indigenous affairs in Australia as well exploring our role in creating a just equitable Australia for all Australians including First Nations People.
Leaders: Chris Hughes & Harald Ehmann
Contact: Chris Hughes chughes@actu.org.au
Chris Hughes
Harald Ehmann
Costs: 3 day cost single room $334, day rate $55/person/day
Aim: To celebrate the good news of Indigenous affairs in Australia as well as develop strategies to deal with on-going discrimination and difficulties experienced by Indigenous Australians.
Synopsis:
The Quaker belief of that of God in each person ‘enables mutual respect and self-respect to develop… We have a responsibility to protect each other’s self respect’ (Quaker faith and practice 23.33).
‘For reconciliation to be effective, it must become more than a cosy word that makes us feel good. Real reconciliation reflects actual relationship. It demands the honesty and courage of self-knowledge, and the letting go of many previously held attitudes. To work for real reconciliation, we shall need to summon fresh Light to help us face what we must about ourselves and our culture. We shall need a spiritual awareness that challenges our comfortable parameters, and a faith strong enough for us willingly to go where we have never ventured before.’ (Susannah Brindle 2000, This we can say 5.34)
These two statements summarise the essence of this workshop.
If you join us, you’ll be part of an experiential workshop which seeks answers to the following questions:
- What makes it difficult for us and me to connect with Aboriginal People?
- What is the core nature of racism, how is it perpetuated today, and how does this fit with our Quaker Faith and Practice today?
- How can I overcome the barriers to connecting with an Aboriginal person?
- How can I contribute to truth, justice and equality for Aboriginal People?
- Why is it good to celebrate that I am white and totally good and powerful?
We will approach each of these questions with loving and caring awareness, there will be optional opportunities to practice skills that help us respond, and we hope to have one to two Aboriginal persons join us in the last quarter of the workshop.
You can expect to leave the workshop with
- A strengthened ability to connect with an Aboriginal person
- An understanding of the nature of devastating present-day racism
- An awareness of the role of Quakers in eliminating racism
- A capacity to personally contribute to the elimination of inequality
- A clear awareness of being a totally good white person.
Source Materials or reading: Will be available by April 2012
