Passing on the SALT in... Trinidad and Tobago
4-7 July, Trinidad
Since the first day that Autry, Rafique and Michael Mc Garrell landed in Trinidad, the Constellation online community has been flooded with enthusiastic messages. The three Constellation coaches organized the first learning event in Trinidad and Tobago with support from UNAIDS. Benedict, one of the participants, shared “Previously we had attended Meetings, Seminars, Workshops, Retreats, and what-have-you, just to plan and plan alone. There was no follow-up action and review is long. However, this workshop is a change. There is WoT, WoW, and in everything there is love, affection, living, breathing… We learnt removing the self, and then you recognize the passion.”
As David Dk Soomarie, from Community Action Resource in Port of Spain wrote in his blog: “Ironically enough, the Trinidad Experience did not begin in Trinidad, but in Guyana. A T&T delegation comprising of government officials and representatives from civil society got themselves "salted" at the Clara Lodge Hotel in Guyana. [...]
Personally, the visit to the Prison Officers remains a lasting memory in my mind, as I truly was impressed by the officers ability to dream amidst some extremely challenging situations.”
After the visit in Guyana, the Constellation and UNAIDS organized a learning event in Trinidad and Tobago. David explains the shift in mindset that took place during the event: “There were the sceptics, those who thought that this was another HIV workshop and those who thought it was a waste of their time. However, sometime along the day, the attitudes began to change. Participants, from a wide cross section of society, recognised that they all had the same dreams and as one group put it in their dream "The limit to your reach, is your capacity to dream."
Based on their common dream, friends from Trinidad and Tobago are in the process of developing their National AIDS Coordinating Program (NACP) and are doing it through the Competence Process.
At the end of the 4 day event, lots of laugher, SALT visits, deep reflections on the AIDS Competence Process, participants shared their testimonials of the ACP, separated by energizing ACP claps (shared in Rafique’s blog) :
“I will take it and apply it in my Ministry” said Alin.
“’Am I human’, is basic, and just after the SALT Visit team left, some of us in FPA began planning out how to go forward using terms of the Competence process.” said the Head of FPA.
Chad: “I have gone through many models. ACP was to my surprise a different one. I understood the Self Assessment Framework, moving from input to outputs. Here the levels were the competence markers.”
“All the members in Community Development Ministry and in the Social Development Ministry, we will get to apply the SALT and the Self Assessment Framework Models”, added the Government representatives.
Participants had some good suggestions for improvement. Most of them mentioned that the event was too short. They also said they wanted an opportunities for participants especially CBO’s to share their experiences.
“One of the UNAIDS officials remarked that he had never seen “a group of people so energised after spending 4 days in a workshop”. The participants shared their eagerness and excitement for the process to continue; realizing that the work has only just begun,” shared David Dk Soomarie, from Community Action Resource in Port of Spain.
Last by not least, Anderson Figaro, a participant from Couva shared his beautiful reflections in his blog:
“Salt of the earth, our dream of a better social environment, a better way of living, genuine inclusion, equity, can be achieved.
Let us dialogue, from the heart, the seat of our conscience.
Let us look deep into ourselves;
Let us be still for a moment and listen to that still small voice.
The one that tell you what is right and what is wrong, not the one that tries to influence you to rationalize the wrong to make it look right.”