In my visit to Blue Mango, a women’s development center in Tamil Nadu, India, the director, Tamar DeJong, asked if I might facilitate a session with the center’s workers. She wanted to create a dialogue about values, and begin to create a shared future vision. I do this work all the time, so it seemed a natural fit. However, in this case I had exactly 18 hours to plan it and to figure out how the heck to do it given my language limitations. I am only an English speaker – and everyone else spoke Tamil. Only Tamar was able to speak both languages.
At this point, I had a pretty clear idea of what Tamar wanted to achieve, and had observed the women in a group situation in which translation was occurring. I knew that I wanted to hear everyone’s voice and I also had seen that each woman, when sharing, tended to take a significant amount of time. While I’m not sure if that has to do with the language itself or the honor of being listened to – I knew that asking them to reply quickly was not going to work. I also had personally witnessed the challenges of how much got lost in translation – not only of literal terms but of concepts and ideas. So many things did not translate culturally – ideas and ways of doing things that were not shared. As such, I knew that many of my facilitation techniques would not translate very well.
In spite of all that, we had a resoundingly successful hour. The first task: sit in a big circle on the floor. The first insight: clustering in groups was the norm and the idea of forming a circle may well be a western convention. With more direction from Tamar – we got to a circular shape, albeit one with a few bulges where friends clustered together. We then listed on the chalk board all the things they liked about Blue Mango – a list of about 20 items that included the bus, the tuition center (an after school program), the crèche (day care), a high protein lunch, good wages, and savings programs. In an effort to give every woman a chance to speak, the list was numbered, and each person was asked to just say the numbers of the two items they valued the most. In a reasonable amount of time every person had their two check marks recorded. Not neat, speedy or efficient – but every voice was heard.
We then divided into four groups of roughly equal size, clumped around four of the staff members who were charged with recording thoughts about what type of environment they worked best in. The question of how you want to be treated in the workplace was a challenging construct – but with a few examples, everyone seemed to get the idea. It was at this point that, other than directions, everything was conducted in Tamil. While I was curious about what was being said, the energy and time it would have taken to translate back to me was not value added. Instead, I used my eyes and my ears – focusing on engagement, energy level and participation. And it was here that I realized there was a freedom in letting go of the language and observing on a more basic level.
The final exercise was perhaps the most challenging – having them project what they would like the people in their village to be saying about Blue Mango three years in the future. There was a fair amount of direction-giving, examples, and explanations. And still blank looks. Finally, a flash of insight when someone asked if this was like a dramatica. Yes – Yes – Yes!!! Immediate understanding – they were to make up a drama, a story. They got promptly to work.
The ending – words (translated from me) reminding them that this was only the beginning of a process of dreaming and thinking and talking about what they might create together. Encouragement that they, if they worked together, could continue to make Blue Mango better and better.
Although that is not really the ending – this small hour of group work continues on. The staff will continue to take what was offered to make something more of it. It is my hope that the women of Blue Mango will be better able to describe what Blue Mango gives to them and what they can contribute. And for me – lingering memories of women fighting for a better future for themselves and their children – against formidable odds.
And as usual, I received far more than I gave.
4 Responses
I traveled with Cultural Connections to Blue Mango in the summer of 2010. Just want to say I am SO enjoying your reflections here. It is giving me another opportunity through fresh eyes to continue processing my experiences there. Than you. I hope we will meet one day. Sue
Thanks, Kris. Lessons for all of us, even when we supposedly speak the same language.
It was a joy to watch Kris faciliting this values and vision session with the women of Blue Mango in S. India. Even more, I felt joy seeing the women of Blue Mango claim the vitality and “fruits” of their work and frienships at Blue Mango: their sharing of resources with those who have less (“rice and sambhar program”), their afterschool tutoring program for their children (“tuition center”), their “savings” programs, and of course their work in a “safe” and respected environment. I am so grateful for what the US women who travel with Cultural Connections (“Women Weaving Worlds”) receive but also continue to give through these global connections and shared life. Thanks, Kris! Deanna Brown
What an inspiring story! Well done and thanks for sharing.
It makes me realize that there are many culture and language gaps even in our own country. As a facilitator, it would probably be wise and valuable for me to have a “translator” who understands the needs and goals of their group as well as what I’m trying to communicate. Check in points with the translator can lead to small changes in language that connect with that culture using their words giving more frequent and meaningful lightbulb moments where the group really grasps the idea and runs with it.