On this very first evening, we can already focus on the way the workshops
are organized. After participants all introduced themselves, they were
all able describe their experiences (which still have to be turned into
Experience Reports) and above all, formulate their challenges, their desires,
and their dreams. But they had very limited time to do so, all the more
that the translation problems (lexicological problems for the translation
of specific words, but also material problems with the microphones) restricted
the speakers even further.
At the beginning of the session, speaking time was fixed at 8 minutes
maximum per person, which was obviously impossible to comply with
But to restrain people with such full experiences was frustrating. It
was felt that so many crucial subjects were not being considered.
In spite of human-sized work groups, the statements remained "lectures"
to some degree: each person stated his or her ideas without really listening
to others. It was nearly impossible to ask and to answer questions. The
elaboration of a common reflection was therefore exclusively handled by
the summary drafted in the evening by the workgroup facilitators. However,
during the elaboration of the "challenges," several participants
worked collectively, especially in common-language groups, to formulate
common challenges.
|