WORLD ELDER GATHERING – AUSTRALIA MARCH 2013
Led by AU Elder Chair Colin England with a dedicated
team including Full Leader Larry Dawson and Ritual Elder
Terry Wimberley this WEG promised many great features –
and whats more, fully delivered them.
The theme of “Sitting with the Elders” was fueled by the
attendance of two aboriginal leaders, Auntie Mary and
Uncle Graham who spoke of the amazing history and
culture of the ancient Australian lands when three hundred
languages and dialects used to be spoken.
The New Zealand perspective was provided by Maori
co-leader Daniel Nepia from the Auckland MKP community
who referenced the key moments of his native history start-
ing with the arrival of Captain Cook.
Continuing the theme of Life Challenges Ferahah described
the 23 years he spent with his family in a refugee camp in the
Sudan. And in the ever popular area of community development
founding father of MKP Bill Kauth once again explained his
cutting edge ideas. Whilst in another nearby venue Dee Read
of the Sydney branch of Women Within co-lead with Bill’s wife
Zoe Allowan the dedicated partners group; some of the woman
had first met at the UK WEG in 2009 and they were already
talking about the venue for the next WEG…. !
Once again there were high quality break out discussions
and Terry Wimberley offered a deeply soulful “Vets Circle”.
The close connection offered by the Australian Elder community
including the one week free “Home-stay” program created a
powerful sense of giveaway – and allowed the elders of the
world regions to feel welcomed and cherished.
After the WEG I visited the New South Wales Elder community
and met up with veteran AU Ritual Elder Pat Bishop at his
“Open House” i-group. We sat in a circle with ten warriors and three
women – talking about the potential offered by such co-gender
groups. It seems the Australian warriors have a bit of a passion
for this; it links up with the new style co-gender weekend thats
being pioneered by Billy Hill and Russell Hay further north up the
coast.
I hope to report further on these developments in the next couple
of months.
Simon
Soul Bison
International Elder Chair
MKPI
