Finding the Collective Spirit

Readjusting to life on Kiskeya after a visit to the US is always a complicated process that gets me searching for life here, paying special attention to the small things, and perhaps just thinking too much. To be honest, looking at the “big picture” in our world today can get me down and even hopeless. Lately, I’ve instead been trying to pay closer attention to the ways in which individual people are trying to grow, change and through that, affect the lives of others.

While trying to work more deeply on this process for myself, I’ve begun to see the examples that I have around me of others doing their best to live more justly in this broken world. When talking with one of my closest Dominican collaborators Beneco (with me in this picture) recently, I realized I was naïve to his desires to interact more fairly and equally with the people of his community and the communities he works in. As the first ever mayor of the batey* he grew up in, he is very well known and recognized and yet he’s still intentional about the way he leads and interacts. By introducing Open Space methodology to him and others, I’ve realized that there is a desire on the part of some leaders here to learn different ways of meeting, communicating and leading.

Talking with Beneco about Open Space and its participatory nature, he told me how it “takes the pressure off” of him when approaching a community. Traditionally, a leader is expected to have all the answers, while Beneco believes in hearing the various voices of the people, and being open to their opinions. Open Space has given him some different tools that help him accomplish this goal and encourage the participation of even the most humble and shy members of the community. Recently he shared with me a beautiful example of the fruits such a participatory attitude can provide. He recounted a recent meeting in the batey to me like this:

“There was a lot of tension building between the residents of the batey and the sugar company that owns the land. We didn’t know how to get everyone to come together, but using Open Space, everyone talked freely. A very humble woman, who hardly ever talks, stood up and shared how her cow had died as a result of the fumigation practices of the company. She felt free to speak and the people of the company listened because of the participatory environment of Open Space. After the meeting the company decided to modify their fumigation methods. They heard the voice of the people.”

Creating an environment where all people, regardless of color, class, etc. feel respected, and becoming a more participatory leader are some of the internal changes Beneco is focusing on to do his part. He, and the few others like him here, challenges me to look at the way I interact and use the positions of leadership naturally given to me because of my nationality and skin color. The fight for a more just world within what Dorothy Day called a “dirty rotten system” is full of obstacles that at times seem unsurpassable. But then I think of the strength of all the unheard voices, like the timid woman from the batey. Searching within myself for ways in which I can interact and live more peacefully and justly with others is a step along this vast journey. Supporting and walking alongside leaders like Beneco gives me the context for such a path, raising up unheard voices, learning from humility and finding hope in our collective will and spirit.

*derived from a native Taino word, batey is the name given to the traditionally Haitian immigrant sugarcane worker communities of the DR