From noon on February 15 to the end of February 16, 2022, Caritas Dalat organized a workshop to summarize the People's Self-Development (PLD) program and present the results of participatory action research in 2021. The workshop was organized online and in person, including many bridges to groups with the theme: Footsteps of People's People's Development in the spirit of 'we are together'. This is an opportunity for the Communities, Parishes, and Associations of persons with disabilities (PWDs) that Caritas Dalat is accompanying to look back on the past year, and motivate each other in the new year on the path of working together to take care of the Common House.
After the online opening ceremony at 1:30 p.m. on February 15 in Dalat, 5 groups were divided to share activities, successes, and lessons learned in the past year. Including meeting rooms: Group 1: 3 Parishes (online), Group 2: 9 Associations of persons with disabilities (online), Group 3: Dinh Trang Hoa Cluster (in person) including 4 Communities, Group 4: Dalat TTMV Cluster (in person) with 3 Communities, Group 5: Da Tong Cluster (in person) including 6 Communities. The groups spent time sharing in-depth about the activities and ways the Communities worked together over the past year, stories, lessons learned, especially how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, and share plans for 2022.
These working days were offered to God in an intimate Mass presided over by Director Father John Bosco early on February 16. From 8:00 a.m., the online workshop begins with a spontaneous coexistence warm-up performance by a community dance group, creating a joyful atmosphere for attendees. Ms. Maria Song Tu then presented the overall results of the People's Self-Development program in the past year. Although the epidemic forced many plans to be canceled, it also opened up many opportunities for online courses to improve the capacity of both employees and the Community.Then the stories of some Communities and Groups were shared with each other. "Since establishing and joining the group, everyone understands each other and loves each other more than before", that was a sharing before the conference of Ms. Ma Huyen. The participatory action research (PAR) method was also presented and experiences of implementation in the community were shared by Ms. Njan Dung, Caritas Dalat staff and Mr. Hoang Duc Nguyen, CSDM staff.PAR is a method that helps Groups or Communities see their current situation more clearly, deeply analyze the problems they are facing to make determinations and commitments in collective action.
In the early afternoon, Director Father Gioan Bosco presented the “We Together” campaign of Caritas Vietnam on the basis of the Pope's two encyclicals “Laudato Si” and “Fratelli Tutti”. Francis. Together, we care for our Common Home and our brothers and sisters, especially the vulnerable. Sr. Anna Hang developed the campaign with specific activities and stimulated more initiatives from participants. Knowing how to live more for each other, slow down, work together, and discuss together are additional ideas for us to act together today for a brighter tomorrow.Afterwards, Deputy Director Maria Goretti Hong Phuc helped participants generalize about People's Self-Development, a collective process in which people commit to taking action to make changes in their lives, communities, and societies to meet their needs, and to solve their problems. Participants also raised principles, roadmaps and roles of parties in the change process. People-centeredness, participation, respect for opinions, a shared, comprehensive vision… are principles that must be followed throughout the people's development process.
At the end of the 2-day workshop, the participants shared some of their remaining thoughts. "Even though I'm sitting with a screen like this, I can still see a little bit of the spirit of other Communities. I hope COVID ends quickly so we can meet people in Tutra and Dung K'No in person to share and confide." Those are the shares of a representative from Da Tong.
We hope that what our brothers, sisters and relatives have learned in these two days will continue to be planted and watered, so that our dreams can grow and bear fruit in the family, in the Parish, in the Group and in the Community, and then together spread social change. May we, regardless of religion or belief, continue to commit together to build a better world, a livable Common Home for all people and all species.
PS: The Self-Reliant Development Program has been implemented by Caritas since 2014. In this program, people will proactively lead their development process in community solidarity and solidarity (the goal is to meet sustainable livelihoods, preserve the environment, preserve local resources and indigenous culture, assert economic and political rights). The program started from 6 ethnic minority villages in Lam Dong province. By 2020, in phase 3 of the project, in addition to the 17 ethnic minority communities, the program invites 8 more parishes and 10 disabled people's associations in Lam Dong province to participate in the process of creating change.
GracePhuc
