Listees:Forgive the lengthy post and I know this is not poetry but perhaps
you or someone you know can provide material requested.

Chris Hayden

HELP: aids workers in namibia
I desperately need your advice, your input, and/or your help.
Sadly, at Catholic AIDS Action, we are already beginning to see the signs of
burn-out among MANY of our staff and volunteers. This worries me MORE THAN
ANY OTHER PROBLEM we're facing. Increasinlgy, there is no time, and very
little capacity, to undergo the traditional grief-and-mourning process for
each death, as local custom dictates. Now, in some regions of the
country,people are having to attend several funerals EVERY week, and not
only on Saturdays which used to be the only day.
Moreover, issues of economic need, such as paying for the funeral-costs or
caring for the dead relative's orphans, increasingly supercede the
psychological needs that people have.
>
Obviously, this situation can't go on without some additional supports.
>Without some regular respite, sharing, and personal (or spiritual)
>renewal,we'll most certainly lose the volunteers and staff we already have
>-- at least emotionally, if not otherwise... Moreover, this emotional and
>spiritual component is critical for us: Last year, when we asked many of
>our 550 trained volunteers why they had decided to
>
>affiliate with Catholic AIDS Action in the first place, all of them
>articulated motivations of altruism, of religious conviction, or just
>because they wanted to do something useful. But how long can these good
>motivations sustain them? The tasks they face are often overwhelming, and
>we all know that the AIDS pandemic will get worse before it gets better.
>
Based on this, we decided to hold a 3-day national conference of personal
renewal. (The idea is that this would be a prototype, which could then be
replicated on a regional or local level.) Tentatively called 'CARING FOR
OURSELVES IN ORDER TO CARE FOR OTHERS," it will draw upon local and overseas
faculty to address issues of:
>
>
> § UNDERSTANDING LOSS
>
> basic information about the stages of death and
>dying
>
> local customs and perspectives
>
> $ UNDERSTANDING BURN-OUT
>
> what is it? how do we know the signs of burn-out?
>
> accepting one's own limitations
>
> § COPING AND GRIEVING
>
> bereavement issues coping with mass trauma;
> life after genocide theological perspectives special
>populations,
> e.g. children and orphans
>
> § THINGS YOU CAN DO THAT WILL HELP
>
> - experiential sessions (how-to advice) on
>
> meditation,
>
> visualization,
>
> yoga,
>
> prayer,
>
> massage,
>
> aroma therapy,
>
> dance,
>
> journaling,
>
> peer counselling
>
> nutrition, etc
>
> § MAKING A PERSONAL COMMITMENT
>
> § COMMEMORATION
>
>
>The target audience of the conference -- the first of its kind in Namibia
>--will include human-service and health-care professionals, volunteers, and
>family-caregivers (including people living with HIV/AIDS), from all parts
>of the country. We hope to hold the conference in June or July, this year.
>We have already identified lots
of excitement, several possible co-sponsors (although more are welcome), a
venue (in Windhoek), and some funding -- BUT HERE IS THE PROBLEM, where you
come in:
We need to prepare a booklet of hand-outs or short tips, which will include
background information, various coping stratgies, and practical "how to"
information that the participants can take home with them, in order to try
with volunteers and family members in their own communities. [NOTE: When
a conference like this was tried in Zimbabwe, a year or two ago, the
organizers found that local people were VERY OPEN to practical suggestions
drawn from other cultures, including Asia (e.g. yoga) and America (e.g.
journaling or certain types of peer counselling). It's almost as if the
unprecedented magnitude of death and loss gives people permission to go
beyond their own traditions - something that is otherwise very difficult to
do.]
>
At any rate, this is where we need help from you -- PLEASE!!!! We need
short articles, suggested techniques, sample workshop-sessions, personal
>testimonies, nutritional tips, and other ideas that we can include in this
>booklet. For whatever we use of yours, we'll give you (or the original
>author) credit, OF COURSE!!!! Truly, we have almost no decent resource
>materials here, and so this is quite URGENT!!! (This material will
>suppllement whatever local references we use, of course.)
>
Our time-line and format are this: We're aiming to finish the first draft
of the booklet in March, in order for there to be a
final-review-and-editorial process, followed by translations into at-least
Afrikaans and Oshivambo (in addition to English) and, finally, publication
in time for the conference. In total, we anticipate a booklet or 25-30
pages, with illustrations, so items should be short(one-two-pages, each),
and easy to read (in VERY SIMPLE ENGLISH).Thus, we really need YOUR HELP,
now!!!! BY THE END OF FEBRUARY, AT THE LATEST... If you have anything, or
know of anything that we can use --please get this to me AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE. Of course, you are free to forward this message to others (in the
event that they can help), or else contact me with any questions or thoughts
you might have.
>
Items can be sent:
>
> via e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> via air-mail (but this can be risky): POBox 86266, Windhoek,
>Namibia
>
> via fax: ++264-61-248-126 (dedicated fax line at work)
>
> via DHL: Lucy Steinitz, Catholic AIDS Action, 17 Jan Jonker Road,
> Klein Windhoek, Namibia
>thank you FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, in advance, yours,
>
>
>Lucy Steinitz
>
>National Co-ordinator
>
>Catholic AIDS Action
>
>Windhoek, Namibia== this message comes from: ==
>
>
>THE KIEKEBUSCH-STEINITZ FAMILY
>
>(Lucy, Bernd, Elsita, & Sergio)
>
>and... OPTIONS CONSULTING, cc
>
>PO Box 86266, Windhoek, NAMIBIA
>
>phone & fax: (++264-61)-250-267
>
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>-

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