Tuesday, November 22, 2011

You want me to do what?











Surely there was a misunderstanding when I suggested helping with a facilitation workshop (aka; getting signatures, setting up the papers, coordinating the admin, etc.) and Isabel wrote back that I would be co-facilitating a 4 day workshop in Spanish!

I thought I would clear up the misunderstanding and instead I had a great time facilitating.

More than 10 years ago, I trained with folks from the Institute of Cultural Affairs, now they form the Minnesota Technology of Participation or MnTop. I've used the participatory methods over the years in my work and it was a great opportunity to share them as part of a project here with ICA Chile to train disabled folks all over the country.

Isabel de la Maza was my co-facilitator and my mentor for the week. I am so appreciative of the opportunity she gave me and for the wonderful chats each day as we drove about an hour up and then down the coast to the small town of Quintero for the training.

The folks at TAC Cordillera, for whom I recently did the organizational analysis, also had Isabel and me help them with some strategic planning one evening.

It was a long week and probably the most extended time I've been immersed in Spanish this year. It was a pleasure and wonderful for my Spanish skills. The experience also made me realize how much I'm looking forward to working out in the community again.

Cheers,
Laura

3 comments:

  1. How awesome. What a great experience for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great experience indeed! Laura, with Rob already in DC, and with your community organizing background, your future in politics could be quite interesting. Think about running for Governor of Minnesota when you get back home.
    Start your own party. You could run as Prince Charming!

    Uncle Dan Rogers

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Sounds good Dan. You will have to be press secretary then.

    ReplyDelete