learning journey 2011

8/3/2019 Learning Journey 2011

1/5

A Women's Learning Journey to South AfricaNovember 1 - 12, 2011

The Berkana Institute invites you on a Women's Learning Journey to South Africa, to ex-plore the role that women are playing in recreating community, government, and them-selves. This journey promises to be a provocative, inspiring and transformative personalexperience as we encounter the promise and paradox of the New South Africa as it con-tinues to strive to become a truly "Rainbow Nation" 17 years on from its first democraticelections.South Africa, more than most places at this time, reveals the human experience in all its com-plexity-our capacity for hope in the face of oppression, for forgiveness that transcends de-humanization, for compassion that triumphs over aggression. These paradoxes and choicesare clearly seen in personal stories, in government decisions and policies, and in communitypractices. Getting to know South Africa is an exploration of the human spirit-their storyreveals our story.Women are playing the pivotal role in creating change (as is true worldwide now).The SouthAfrican Parliament is 45% women (the U.S. Congress is 17%).And in community after com-munity, women as informal leaders have stepped forward to solve local problems withoutwaiting for formal authority or resources. They have walked out of limiting beliefs aboutthemselves and their communities and walked on to create sustainable solutions to seem-ingly unsolvable problems. Women of all ages have used their ingenuity and caring to figureout how to work with what they have to create what they need.


2/5

Our Itinerary: November 1-12November '-5: JohannesburgWe begin by immersing ourselves fully in the contrasts and paradoxes that are South Af-rica. We will meet with women in high government and corporate positions, women in poortownships who have developed solutions to community issues, and young women workingwith social change. We will hear stories and myths of old Africa performed by a young sto-ryteller and poet. We will engage with top-level women leaders and aspiring young leadersin a formal seminar that explores our different experiences as women leaders and what wecan learn from one another. We will spend time in Joubert Park, an alliance of social serviceagencies creating a rebirth of possibilities in the heart of Johannesburg. (Joubert Park ispart of The Berkana Exchange, a learning community of pioneering leaders worldwide, andis featured in the book Walk Out Walk On.) We will visit the inspiring Constitutional Courtthat embodies the spirit of the new South Africa in its design, and visit the old Women's Jailon this site that's been transformed into space for women's rights organizations.November 5-7: Game ParkWe will begin reflecting on our experiences of Johannesburg in the South African bush. Inthe presence of Africa's rich and abundant diversity of life, we will intersperse game driveswith rest and reflection: How does what we are learning here relate to our own work andleadership as women?


3/5

November 7-11: Cape TownCape Town provides us with opportunities to be with women leaders of all types, as well aswith artists and authors. If Parliament is in session, we will have the unique experience ofobserving a governing body where women comprise nearly half of the members. We willvisit a diversity of communities, from townships where racial inequality is still rampant, tothe affluent downtown areas of this city that rival San Francisco. Evenings we can enjoy theexuberant and convivial nightlife of Cape Town.Off the coast of Cape Town is Robben Island, the prison island where Nelson Mandela andother future leaders of South Africa were imprisoned for more than twenty years. All toursare conducted by former prisoners; they describe how political prisoners converted thisbrutal prison to a place of study and preparation for South Africa's future leaders by theirunwavering practice of non-violence.On the beautiful coast east of Cape Town, we will spend a day with the South African Fisher-women's Association (with whom Berkana partners). These remarkable women had to fightfor their constitutional right to become commercial fisherwomen. They worked their wayout of dire poverty and abuse to create health and well-being for their families and commu-nities. In addition to commercial fishing, they have created othe projects for women to earnincome and develop themselves. (Worldwide, women reinvest 70% of their earnings back tothe community; men contribute only 30%.)November 11-12: Cape TownWe spend the last two days of the journey reflecting and integrating what we have experi-enced and making plans for our own personal journeys going forward. We will consider howwe are constrained or inhibited from offering our leadership; we will reflect on the women'sleadership we have just observed in South Africa; we will explore the questions that couldsupport us stepping forward with more courage and clarity. And we will close with an Afri-can ritual that affirms our intentions going forward.


4/5

About Walk Out Walk On and The Berkana InstituteThis learning journey is inspired by the book, Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey intoCommunities Daring to Live the Future Now, by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze.The authors invite readers on a learning journey to seven communities around the world-including Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa-to meet people who have walkedout of limiting beliefs and assumptions and walked on to create healthy and resilient com-munities. This book is based on Meg and Deborah's work with The Berkana Institute.The Berkana Institute offers this learning journey as part of our essential work in connectingand supporting path breaking leaders around the world who strengthen their communitiesby working with the wisdom and wealth already present in their people, traditions and en-vironment. We define a leader as anyone willing to step forward to create change in theirworld. We know that the leaders we need are already here.

How do I sign up?We can accommodate 25 participants on this trip. To learn more or to sign up, please con-tact Lauren Parks at [email protected] or call 603-661-2941. Deposits are due by August15,2011.How much does it cost?The price of this journey is $5900. This includes lodging, most meals, ground transporta-tion, activity fees and your flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town. It does not include yourinternational flight, trip insurance, personal expenses or gratuities.How do I purchase airline tickets?Participants are responsible for making their own air travel arrangements. The journey be-gins and ends from two different airports in South Africa, and tickets will need to be pur-chased accordingly. Participants will arrive in O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannes-burg (ORTIA) and depart from Cape Town International Airport (CTIA). (Your Johannesburgto Cape Town flight will be booked by us and is included in the cost of the journey.) If youwould prefer to purchase a roundtrip ticket in and out of Johannesburg please contact usand we will provide you with information about the local airlines, which can fly you fromCape Town back to Johannesburg.For more information, visit us at www.berkana.org/Women2011
mailto:[email protected]://www.berkana.org/Women2011http://www.berkana.org/Women2011mailto:[email protected]


5/5

About your hosts

~'~-. ' . .! -., ~ .

'a -l,.,-

Meg WheatleyAlthough Meg is well-known for her books and teachings, perhaps lessvisible is her deep heart connection to South Africa. She has been goingthere to learn, to work, to discover since 1995, one year after Mandelabecame president. It's in South Africa that she learned to bear witnessand to encounter the extremes of human behavior in stories of unspeak-able brutality under apartheid to transcendent forgiveness as the op-pressed and the oppressors began working together in new relation-

ships. She's developed enduring relationships with women leaders, participated in Berkana'swork there, and led three previous learning journeys to South Africa. She continues to learnfrom this nation's evolution, from its first days of bright hope and boundless energy to it'scurrent dilemmas of how to make the promise more real for more people.

Marianne KnuthMarianne is passionate about supporting people in coming together inmore authentic and life-affirming ways to connect to previously unseenpossibility. She is an example of 'Walking Out and Walking On' fromher work with co-creating Pioneers of Change, a global learning com-munity committed to fostering understanding, capacities and relation-ships needed by younger practitioners stepping forward to create thechange they want to see in the world; to co-creating Kufunda LearningVillage, a leadership learning centre aimed at the creation of locallyrooted solutions to community self-reliance challenges in Zimbabwe, and beyond. She hasspent the past 4 years living and working in South Africa, where her work has focused onmulti-stakeholder dialogue primarily in the children's sector. She recently returned to Zim-babwe from South Africa. A common thread in all of Marianne's work and explorations is adeep commitment and conviction that there is incredible wisdom and wealth in Africa, thatwe can all benefit from connecting to. Marianne and her husband Paul have the pleasure ofraising twins, Joseph and Emily, born September 2008.

The Berkana InstituteWhatever the problem, community isthe answer

learning journey 2011

Documents