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Autumn Newsletter September 2015
Alternatives to Violence Project Queensland
Secretary’s Report – Richard Dening Welcome to the Spring edition of the Alternatives to Violence Project Queensland’s (AVPQ) Newsletter and the second for 2015. This edition we’d like to update you on the workshops completed so far this year, let you know about upcoming opportunities to become involved. There’s also a comprehensive update from Valerie and Sally’s (AVPWA) recent visit to the Philippines.
Upcoming Basic Workshop Dates: 10-‐11 October
Times: 9am – 5pm, Saturday and
Sunday Location: Hall, Curlew Park,
Curlew Street, Sandgate
AVPQ is pleased to announce that for our next basic workshop we will be partnering with Year for Peace: Sandgate Region. Year for Peace representative Janine Quine writes:
This is a grass roots initiative that attempts to find more peaceful ways of living in this world. Our emphasis is on engaging and exploring with others the behaviour, values and attitudes that we hold within ourselves and as a community about such things as peace, war, women, the environment, and ‘the other’. We believe that unless we take responsibility for ourselves, and our actions, we will continue to have increasing unrest in our own life and as a nation. Year for Peace meets monthly and has hosted several education forums, community events and discussion groups.
AVP is the latest in this series.
Workshops completed so far in 2015 Community Workshops AVPQ completed a full round of workshops in the first half of 2015. These were conducted on:
• Level 1 7-‐8 March • Level 2 28-‐29 March • T4F 2-‐3 May
At Lotus Place in South Brisbane. The workshops were patronized by a small but very dedicated group of participants who engaged with the program in a variety of very meaningful ways. Four participants completed the Training for Facilitation workshop with Penny Barringham putting her hand up to become an apprentice facilitator. Welcome Penny!
Micah Projects Workshop In 2014, AVPQ commenced holding its training workshops at Lotus Place on weekends. Dialogue took place between Lotus Place staff and AVPQ as to whether our training would be of special interest to Lotus Place clients. The regular weekend workshops were thought to be too tiring for them, but our workshops are adaptable and an AVP “Taster” was held in early June for clients, volunteers and some staff at Lotus Place in early June. This was a success. One participant expressed the idea that in doing this, they could really become leaders. For the Peace Leadership course, a team of 4 AVP facilitators, Monique, Marian, Jude and Duncan between them conducted six 3½ sessions, which covered all of the ingredients of a Basic AVP Workshop. It was the first time a long program had been run at Lotus Place and was judged a great success. The staff would like the program to be included on an annual basis, and some participants have expressed a wish to continue with the regular weekend workshops. Some comments from participants were: “This course has given me knowledge and experience I can use both in my work and daily life.” “Great experience can feel the change and definitely would be valuable in day to day scenarios.” “Good for the problems we have at Lotus Place. If more people can do these courses, we may be able to resolve our problems here at Lotus Place”. Comment from AVPQ President “We are still evaluating the impact of this course on the facilitators and participants, but hope it will continue into the future”.
About Micah Projects
“Forgotten Australians” is a term given to people who spent considerable periods of their childhood in orphanages or similar institutions. Only recently have the stories of horrendous abuse of these children become public knowledge. The Forde Inquiry (1998–1999), or formally the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, was a special inquiry into child abuse in the state of Queensland, Australia, presided over by Leneen Forde AC, a former Governor of Queensland. The Inquiry covered 159 institutions from 1911 to 1999 and found abuse had occurred and made 42 recommendations relating to contemporary child protection practices, youth justice and redress of past abuse. The Inquiry resulted in reconciliation initiatives including apologies, commemorative memorials and events, establishment and delivery of the Queensland Government Redress Scheme, establishment of the Forde Foundation Trust Fund, and establishment of community-‐based support services. Further exposure of the horrendous crimes committed against children was assisted by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2009, with a National Apology in 2009. Community centres have been established in several parts of Queensland to provide a safe place for Forgotten Australians to meet and address their early trauma, hopefully finding some resolutions. Lotus Place in South Brisbane has been designed to work for a range of activities, including:
• opportunities for social and personal development through peer lunches, small group education, arts, training and personal development opportunities
• a base for the Historical Abuse Network • a regular calendar of group activities and events • a range of counselling and specialist services.
All the services and functions of the Centre reflect the feedback of Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants.
Workshops with incarcerated people Some uncertainty regarding the future use of Southern Queensland Correctional Centre meant that Centre Authorities and AVPQ agreed to postpone the initial round of workshops for this year. Courtney Gillott and Richard Dening visited the Centre in June to discuss plans for the second half of the year and have scheduled a number of workshops for the following dates:
• 25-‐27 September • 23-‐25 October • 27-‐29 November
Facilitators involved are looking forward to reconnecting with the inside facilitators and meeting new groups of participants.
WORKSHOP REGISTRATION FORM
Alternatives to Violence Project Queensland Sandgate Community Workshop sponsored by Year for Peace: Sandgate Region Basic Level 10-‐11 October 2015 at Curlew Park, Curlew St Sandgate. 9am-‐5pm both days. Enquiries Geraldine 0402 199 456, or Valerie 0422434336. ……………………………………………………………… Registration-‐Send this part to [email protected] or mail to PO Box 78 Sherwood 4075. Tel 3286 2593 Please register me for the Basic AVP Workshop. Name: Address: Email: Phone: Payment: $125 waged; $40 unwaged to AVPQ BSB 064123; Account: 10005406. Deposit is $40.
AVPQ Annual General Meeting – Date Claimer Date: Saturday, 14 November 2015 Time: 9:00am (9:30am Start) Location: Lotus Place, 56 Peel Street, South Brisbane (parking available) Further details and guest speaker to be announced.
Other AVPQ News… AVP Facilitators recently ran the program for a small group of resilient young people from an alternative school in Brisbane. We have heard reports of radically changed behaviour, which is spreading peace amongst their families. Further demand for AVP is being considered.
Valerie and Sally’s Philippines Visit, June-‐July 2015 This visit by Sally Herzfeld and Valerie Joy (Australia) was the fourth in a series of international visits, which commenced in October 2013. The aim was to enhance and expand the delivery of Alternatives to Violence workshops, which took place in association with the members of AVP Philippines, who are the decision-‐making body. Immediately before our arrival, two Basic Workshops had been held in Bohol, so there were considerable numbers waiting for the next two levels. With the training of 12 new facilitators, the development of AVP Philippines is a primary goal, although one person works with an international NGO and hopes to spread AVP to wider circles. International visitors bringing AVP to the Philippines will be warmly welcomed in consultation with local organisers Kins Aparece and Ludwig Quirog. De La Salle University (DLSU) This University is in Malate, Manila and is venue for the first workshop to be held in the capital. It was organised by Cyril Lituanas a senior administrator of DSLU, who had completed two levels of AVP in 2014. He arranged university accommodation for all 4 facilitators, and the venue was on top of the Henry Sy Sr Hall-‐a very pleasant outlook. We had our own caterer with Breakfast, Lunch and snacks being provided. 9 participants including Cyril finished the Basic, which is a smaller number than usual for the Philippines. All workshops were held over 20 hours, and usually took 2½ days. Following this, an AVP reunion was held for participants in Manila who had completed one or two levels in 2014. We enjoyed Light and Livelies all afternoon and it was good to catch up with news of these people.
College of the Immaculate Conception (CIC): This totally new venue is in Cabanatuan, about 4 hours drive north of Manila and was arranged for us by Frence Boiser, through his Student Catholic Action contacts. The College goes from Kindergarten to Tertiary levels, and the staff of CIC were the participants-‐ 20 in all. We were 5 facilitators this time. On arrival we were made very welcome by the College faculty with a very nice lunch and were shown the venue, which proved to be very suitable. We were accommodated in a motel
out of town, and on the second night, were hosted to dinner there by the CIC President, Father Elmer and other senior staff, who reported they had heard the workshop was a great success. We hope there will be a continuation of AVP in CIC, and will rely on the contacts made. On returning to Manila, we were made welcome by Quaker Charlotte Lapsansky, who managed to accommodate all 5 of us. The next day four of us flew to Bohol to commence workshops there. Three of our 4 workshops were held at the University of Bohol (UB), where we also held a 3 hour AVP “Taster” for 30 staff. AVP is well established here, through the work of Kins, the Dean of Research and Development. We were made welcome by the University President, Ma’am Jas, who has actively supported our work for the past 2 years. We enjoy free venues and for two workshops, lunch and snacks were provided. Administrative backup is arranged by Kins’ staff. Our final workshop an Advanced level was self catered, which meant there were no fees charged.
Administrative backup was provided by Marge Angelot, who has completed all three levels and works for the provincial government-‐ which is where AVP started in Bohol. Sally and I stayed in a rooming house near the University and paid for our own accommodation and all meals not provided during workshops. I am disturbed by the stories of physical violence in most of the workshops-‐ domestic and community. Use of guns and knives in households is commonplace and I hope AVP is making a difference with our graduates. We also made a visit to two prisons in Tagbilaran. A “taster” had been held in a Women’s Prison recently, and we were greeted very warmly.
We had 2 days off then and revisited Golden Links School run by the Theosophical Society and Quakers. Sally and I led singing games for one morning. There was feverish activity in Kins’ office making ready translated materials into the local language Cebuano ahead of our planned workshop in Loon. The arrangements were made mainly by Siarol, who comes from Loon. This town is a 1 hour drive from the capital Tagbilaran and suffered greatly in the 2013 earthquake. The venue was a chapel situated in the middle of town, with much activity going on outside-‐ball games etc. We all liked this sense of being part of a community-‐ they could see us, and we them. Accommodation, dinner and breakfast was provided by Pew Pew, who had done a Basic in 2014. The 14 participants were aged 14-‐27 and were so delightful. They knew more English than we expected, but the translated materials were
greatly appreciated and will be filed ready to conduct future workshops in that language. Several of them cried when we left. T4F and Advanced: The final workshops were conducted back to back, but the demand was there, so Sally, Ludwig and I ran a final workshop the 2 days before leaving the Philippines. We are delighted with the standard of the workshops and the evaluations show how much has been learnt. The “where to from here” segments were very interesting, but Sally and I did not comment a great deal. I think that AVP Philippines will gradually become established as a legal body, with a Treasurer and legal officer, and others providing a range of skills, which will take the load off Kins and Ludwig. Legal incorporation is very expensive, but I hope it can be tackled at some stage. It takes a great deal of organising to develop new places, and it was good to see the contributions of Frence and Siarol in the development of the CIC and Loon community. One of the new graduates comes from Mindanao, and expressed a desire for AVP to be taken there. This has been the wish of AVP Philippines since its inception, but wisely they are not taking giant steps before the program is well established at its base in Bohol. Having just run 7 workshops in close proximity to each other, they will not resume until about October this year. They are now very competent to run any of the three standard levels of AVP, without outside assistance. There is a demand each time for trauma healing workshops, and any of the other advanced topics such as Discernment.
Future Involvement: We would be greatly encouraged by any other outside interest, either people interested in visiting, or financial donations. Ludwig’s paid employment with United Religions Initiative takes him to many parts of Asia, and he brings an international perspective to the work. They are all interested to hear about the proposed International AVP Gathering in Nepal in 2017, and I heard people say, “we must save up for this”. Further training in Indonesia is an option, but we would be very happy if Nadine Hoover could visit
the Philippines in 2016 en route to Pati Indonesia, as there are now so many people who want to take AVP to deeper levels. Sally Herzfeld made several offers at CIC and University of Bohol, and Loon, to return to the Philippines to conduct HIPP (Help Increase the Peace) Workshops for school age participants. This is conditional on local facilitators being willing to be part of her team. The teaching of alternatives ways to respond to violence to young people and children would make a significant impact in families, schools and communities in the Philippines. Valerie Joy
