The second last week of March left us with no time to catch our breaths. Along with the Kisse Connection, Unlearning Uncentred, the Duniya Sabki workshop and performance, Nishant and Sanyukta also participated with End Point Review Workshop with Changelooms from the 22nd to the 24th of March at the Vishwa Yuvak Kendra.
The first day of the workshop entailed a very interesting outdoor activity that involved setting up a tent and passing people through a volleyball net-like contraption, all while some of the members were blindfolded or tied up. The session ended with very intense conversations around leadership. What does it mean to be a leader? How does/should one create space for making mistakes – for the self and others? How do we create an inclusive culture for our teams? As always the conversations were deep and the comments from the facilitators were insightful. Deep Jyoti Sonu Brahma, the founder of the Farm to Food initiative in Assam, and an Ashoka Fellow, spent the evening with us, sharing his story. The evening was perhaps the most exciting as renowned theatre practitioner, Jaya Iyer came into do a workshop with us – we played and were happy! She was there to help the group put together a short performance on their Changelooms journey.
The second day was spent in looking at the journey that the organization had made in the last 6 months in terms of its vision, culture, people, processes, structures, and shared leadership. We knew we had made many changes and come a long way, and just seeing it all mapped out made us realize how invaluable the past 6 months had been for us. Kanika, our mentor and Yasar, our coordinator, constantly asked us difficult questions, and challenged and pushed our boundaries. Of course the workshop was very emotional. We wrote letters to our mentor and she wrote us a letter. We spent the evening brainstorming strategies to stay connected to the Changelooms community. A few plans of collaboration, and a few other strategies have already been implemented. For the worst scenario, we have all set an alarm on our calendars to remind us of the day in 2021. 🙂
The last day was overwhelming with the participants and facilitators whispering words of love and inspiration to each other. Tearful goodbyes led to the closing ceremony where all the organizations set up their galleries exhibiting their gorgeous work. For us Changelooms has been inspiring! At any point in time if you are swirling in angst about the world not making sense and are at a loss to find any hope for the future, do spend your time exploring the work that our fellow Changeloomers are engaged in. Here are the links:
Kshamtalaya
LECIN
Bucket List
Bodhi Tree Foundation
The Optimist Citizen
Swatantra Talim
Vidyodaya
Dinajpur Notun Alo Society
MASH Project
Red Brigade
Thank you, Changelooms!
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