Facilitating change inside and outside.
When I went to the Jakkur Lake this week, I experienced yet another dramatic internal change. I devised a participatory learning and action exercise at Jakkur Lake, motivated by the mother manual, with two other colleagues, about what the lake means to the visitor. The first change I noticed in myself occurred during the planning of the activity, when I became aware of my role as a facilitator rather than a designer. While planning the activity, I kept reminding myself and the group that we didn’t have to impose anything on the attendees. And it was while composing this reflection that I became aware of this consciousness. As a result, we developed a very deliberate approach to the Jakkur, in which we are first the receiver of change and then the facilitator of change in this context.
We were able to consciously listen and engage in the dialogue with the visitors because of this whole concept of being a receiver and then a facilitator. Every participant came from different backgrounds and had different views and attitudes, which made me realize how complex and diverse our world is. We were able to engage with their stories of encounters with environment and wildlife, as well as their concerns about space, and we were able to adapt these narratives within ourselves, leaving us with a little more than we had before. When we were stopped on our way home after wrapping up things by two people who wanted to deliberately contribute to the activity, this change inside, and outward notion became even stronger. It made me realize the change outward that we have left the place with the change of even thinking about the nature and the change of engagements. It made me realize how powerful an activity like this can be, and how much of an impact it can have on the space, the people in the place, and ourselves. And we were the facilitators of this change.
Crafted Blueprints 