Indigenous Women's Leadership Program

This past month our women's leadership reading circle finished reading its most recent book, The Book of Joy , written by Douglas Abrams about a week long conversation on the topic of living with joy between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  

Twelve women participated in the reading circle along with three staff members. We were very pleased when three of our long time members took on the role of facilitator for some of the sessions. We encourage all the women to participate and take a turn leading the discussions but it takes time to build up the courage to lead the group in a discussion of difficult and sometimes painful topics.  

Our main goals in these groups are to understand new ideas and learn some skills to help improve our daily life, but more importantly to create a safe space where we can share our stories and support each other on our journeys.  The facilitator is not teaching but book but opening up the space so that all can share, this usually means being the first to share and go deep as an example for the other women.  The book lent itself very well to this purpose.  Many chapters covered different types of challenges we face and how to use joy to overcome hard times.  

The women enjoyed the book very much. They have lived through many problems  themselves and know first hand the desperation and depression that can keep a person bogged down emotionally.  One woman said, "It gives me hope to see how these two people have endured some of the most difficult challenges one can face and yet still be so joyful and full of compassion."

Another group member stated the she was impacted by the benefits of forgiving, one of the eight pillars of joy discussed in the book. "I had never thought that by not forgiving I was letting the other person to continue to effect my life.  It helps to know that forgiving is, first and foremost, for me."   So powerful was the short chapter on forgiving for the group that they chose The Book of Forgiving for our next reading group.  

We thank you for your support of our program. Your generous donations help support the women in our region to access our programs  and become leaders in their communities.  We invite you to tell others about our program and why you support us in hopes that they too will become involved.