Pleased to Be Moving Toward Becoming International Commonality Reference Person for Care of the Environment
In 2015, I attended my first International Care of the Environment Workshop. It was led by Wytske Visser and took place in Donostia-San Sebastián in the Basque Country.
There was something about working on leadership, connection, and closeness—and then falling asleep to the sound of a nearby stream—that restored hope.
I grew up in a village surrounded by elders who cared deeply about us. They also cared about the environment and our culture and showed us how to care for them. Life was slow, and that was good.
I see the hearts of my elders breaking about what’s happening to our current life and our future. Our rivers are drying up, and the seasons are failing. Capitalism continues to take hold and replace our not-for-profit Indigenous systems that would have sustained both our lives and the planet.
I joined Co-Counseling thirteen years ago. Like everything I do, I brought my elders and ancestors with me in my heart. I grew from being a Co-Counselor, to an RC teacher, to an Area Reference Person. I started noticing how scared I was about climate change and how deep my love is for the continent of Africa.
At the Healing from War Workshops in Poland, I really looked at hopelessness, discouragement, and fears about survival.
In 2018, I had a conversation with Diane Shisk (International Commonality Reference Person for Care of the Environment) about the climate situation. I shared a PowerPoint I was making for a class on care of the environment. I thought it was horrible—she thought it was powerful. Her exact words were, “Thank you. Very powerful.”
I have shown myself, good and bad, fully to Diane. She has been a real ally, backing [supporting] me to see reality past my distress and fully appreciate myself as a leader. As an African woman, I grew up surrounded by conflict and hardship, and now, as an adult, I’m surrounded by racism. It takes a bit of extra effort to be hopeful. Showing up and leading has made it necessary to reach for hope and work on whatever comes up. Leading on the climate emergency—in classes, forums, support groups, and workshops, and finally leading a delegation to COP26—is a constant reminder of the importance of our work. We reach for hope by joining the voices that are calling for an end to the destruction of our planet.
I am pleased to be an apprentice to Diane as International Commonality Reference Person for Care of the Environment and to be helping the climate movement go in a hopeful direction.
Nairobi, Kenya
(Present Time 206, January 2022)