“The training helped me a lot to open up, express myself and talk about sensitive sexual traumas. It was my first time expressing myself in a group of men and women.
Something about the flow of the process helped me better connect with people, even outside the training room. I think I will give spirituality a second shot, trying to separate it from traditional religious institutions.”
~ Male participant, Kenya
This has been a powerful year for GERI in Kenya, East Africa, and beyond as we launched a new yearlong facilitator training program July 6 – 11 with over 30 new trainees.
The first module, held in Nairobi, took trainees through a full immersive experience of the GERI process, sharing six days of deep truth telling and compassionate witnessing on the essential and at times challenging issues of gender and sexuality. Trainees courageously unpacked their personal histories, deepening their individual learning and growth through this process. As one male participant reflected,
I finally could connect some scattered dots connected to the story of my father. I realized that I could not heal the relationship with my dad without healing elements of trauma with my mom since my childhood. Because it is a window that I never opened, I did not realize it existed.
This diverse group from Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Egypt – ranging in age from their early 20s into their 60s – came together beautifully through the process in this first module. As one young woman reflected,
The aspect of community stood out for me. The ‘I am because you are’ and ‘because you are, I am’ – Ubuntu – has come out clearly and made me feel a sense of belonging.
Module 2 of the training process was held in Meru, December 17 – 22, focusing on spirituality and sexuality.