Introducing RC to a Group of Kenyan Women
I have been slowly building a group of women, and now there are ten of us. We meet weekly, every Friday. Because we cannot afford to meet elsewhere, we rotate meeting in each other’s homes. Many of the women are realising that we can reach out to each other, address our needs, and heal our wounds.
During our meetings we each share our “new and good” from the past week and occasionally I share a bit of RC theory, drawing from my own personal experiences. At one of the meetings I shared my story while using the group’s attention to discharge. They could not understand and initially attempted to calm me down. I kept sobbing and continuing to talk. Then I gave each of them an opportunity to tell her own story. At the end of the morning, I asked them to Co-Counsel with each other.
Some of the group members have been struggling with the loss of loved ones, terminal illness, resentment, and anger. We came together initially to help each other share and understand these specific challenges. But later many of the women became aware of the grief hidden in all our traumatic experiences. Now they have started to see how powerful Co-Counselling is. This has had quite an impact not only on them but also on their families.
The mothers say their children are noticing that something is happening. The mothers are better listeners and are opening up and reaching out to their children. One of the sick ladies is allowing herself to discharge about her illness, and her health has improved tremendously. She is able to sit and stand up, walk around, and even dance, and she loves it. We are all greatly encouraged by her wellness.
Wanjiku Kironyo (the Regional Reference Person for Northern Africa and East Africa) and some other Kenyan RC leaders attended our last meeting. They shared more about RC, with special emphasis on colonialism, sexism, and male domination. The women in the group participated actively in the discussions and agreed that they would like to learn much more about RC. In my opinion, they are ready to start fundamentals classes.
How wonderful it is to continue exploring new ways of sharing RC. I am forever happy and grateful to be an RCer in Africa.
Nairobi, Kenya
(Present Time 185, October 2016)