I first experienced the Symposium in 2011 in Vermont. During the Symposium I realized that I had to bring the Symposium to Indonesia (a country with the fourth largest populations in the world and with a huge impact on the planet). Ever since, my intention has been to share the message of the Symposium with as many people as possible in Indonesia, and to empower them to see that they too have a role in transforming the environmental destruction, social conflict and lack of a sense of spiritual fulfillment currently seen in the country.
My vision
I have always had a vision for bringing change to Indonesia and to contributing to global change. I see myself as a bridge to making that happen. Part of staying truth to the catholic tradition is to stay devoted to creating a hub of interconnectedness among creations, and with the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium I see an opportunity to bringing people together and to really learning to share our essence, our deepest gift of self with the whole community of life so that the dream of One single community with ONE mind, ONE heart and ONE soul/spirit becomes a reality.
How I brought the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium to Indonesia
Training myself to be a Symposium Facilitator
I was not a trained Symposium Facilitator; however, I had Gail, a sister from my community, as my mentor. I also had experience as a preacher and as a university lecturer, so I was comfortable presenting in front of groups. I reviewed the materials on my own and embarked on a trip to India to deliver about 8 Symposiums with Gail and our friend Orla from Ireland. I co-facilitated with them. That experience was all the preparation I had before going to Indonesia. Once there, Gail and I facilitated Symposiums in Jakarta and Borneo. The first Symposium was with indigenous people of Borneo who were so receptive of the message! My encounter with indigenous peoples there strengthened my work as I became more aware of the similar challenges that the people of Borneo and the Achuar in Ecuador face.
After those Symposiums, my focus shifted from bringing the Symposium to Indonesia to creating a community devoted to keeping the message alive.
The first Pachamama Alliance Communities in Indonesia
I had to be patient before I got connected to Peter, the current coordinator for one of the Pachamama Alliance communities in Indonesia. Months later, through a sister in the Netherlands, I was introduced to the group that I recently delivered the Facilitator Training to, and who are forming the second community in Indonesia, Eco-Camp. They asked me to present a Symposium and immediately after, they requested a Facilitator Training. I was in Ireland preparing for it when I received and email from Facilitator Christopher Le Breton from New Zealand telling me that he was going to visit Indonesia. I told him about my plans to train Facilitators and without hesitation he joined me.
The translation process
I started translating the Symposium and preparing myself to bring it to Indonesia, which wasn’t a simple task. The translation process proved to be a real challenge that required a level of technical experience I didn’t have. It was so difficult that I had to take a pause for about a month. I just prayed and asked the power of the Universe for help. Well, the inspiration and strength just came to me one day and after a total of 3 months I finished the translation.
All the work and time that went into the preparation process have resulted in over 20 Symposiums presented in Indonesia, 3 Facilitator Trainings and two emerging Pachamama Alliance Communities in two Indonesian cities.
