[Dialogue] Fwd: Maasai

Sun Nov 9 16:10:48 PST 2025

Yes, I would love to hear even more--Diann

On Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 5:41 PM Sunny Walker via Dialogue <
dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:

> THANK YOU DICK! I'm feeling blessed already by this conference I did not
> attend.
>
> Peace,
> Sunny
>
> *Sunny Walker *
> *She/her/hers*
> *On **Arapaho, Cheyenne, Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), and Očeti Šakówiŋ
> (Sioux) tribal land*
>
> Certified Facilitator (Also Certified ToP Facilitator)
> ToP Methods Mentor Trainer - Upcoming Courses
> <https://www.top-training.net/w/>
> Virtual Facilitation Collaborative Senior Facilitator
> sunny.sunwalker at gmail.com
> 303-587-3017
>
> For diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging inquiries:
> sunny at diversityinnovators.com
> www.diversityinnovators.com
>
> For virtual facilitation inquiries:
> sunny at virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com
> www.virtualfacilitationcollaborative.com
>
>
> On Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM Richard Alton via Dialogue <
> dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>
>> *The Smoke That Thunders*
>>
>> The ICA has tried to have a global conference in Africa for many years
>> and now we have finally done it. People from 20 countries (10 from Africa)
>> gathered in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to look at how we all are responding
>> to the times we are living in. At these conferences one is always shocked
>> by the people one meets and the projects one visits. Although the Falls,
>> the smoke that thunders, is amazing.
>>
>>  I was struck on the first day by a Maasai women fully dressed in her
>> tribal garb.  We broke into our working groups, and I found we were in the
>> same group, Climate Change.  Her name was Josephine Ndirias from Kenya. She
>> turns out to be the Executive Director of the *Mukogodo Girls
>> Empowerment program*. It turns out she is from Nanyuki, Kenya. I had
>> been to Nanyuki to visit the ICA Canada project, ilnqwesi, and had lunch
>> with one of the Maasai leaders, Saaya, who turned out to be Josehine’s
>> cousin. “My goodness, what a small world.” It turns out that Josehine’s
>> work is the continuation of the Maasai work started by by Asha Spencer and
>> Miriam Patterson many years ago. Asha and Miriam were there in Nanyuki for
>> a year. We spend the next couple of days chatting about people we knew-
>> Josehine’ still talks with Miriam Patterson on a regular basis. And we went
>> through all the people I use to know: the late Vice President Biwott who
>> use to demand money and vehicles from ICA if we cared about our lives. I
>> was totally startled by Josphine and our meeting. We could have spoken
>> together for the whole Conference. Conferences do that for you- the people
>> you meet! Over 100 people to meet in person. Wow, 4 from China and one from
>> Hong Kong plus 15 from Nepal.
>>
>> But not only the people but the projects you visit! We visited *Ele
>> Collection* (www.elecollection.co) whose purpose is to Remove all
>> Plastics. They have women plastic bottle collectors all over the Town/Park
>> collecting bottles. They pay them by the pound. The Ele-Collections says
>> its goal is to clear Victoria Falls and the National Park of Plastics.  Ele
>> processes the plastic bottles into building and road material which they
>> sell. This all came about from the owner and a friend walking in the
>> National Park and being attacked by an elephant. The owner’s friend was
>> killed. They finally killed the elephant. When they opened the elephant’s
>> stomach, they found it was full of plastic bottles. No wonder the elephant
>> was mad! Ele Collection is about saving the animals from the scourge of
>> plastics. Ele is a business who gets a lot of support from local companies
>> and is constantly expanding. We were all struck by the methodology and
>> skills shown. They claim they are the only local plastic re-cycling system
>> in the world. We had to come all the way to Victoria Falls to find them.
>>
>> On the way to Victoria Falls I read two books. Just finished Paul
>> Kingsnorth book, *Against the Machine, on the Unmaking of Humanity*. He
>> points out that we are facing “increasingly impossible lives in the
>> high-tech globalized world that has resulted from the consumer economy”. We
>> are slowly being capture by a world that is unreal and losing a sense of
>> being human. This second book, *Inspiring Transformative Change*, is on
>> image shift and its focus on enabling group processing is what will allow
>> us to rediscover the real world of personal interaction and human
>> consciousness. The *Change* book is written by Elise Packard and Jane
>> Stallman. It will come out in early 2026.
>>
>> Great Conference- the people and projects were worth it. Conferencing is
>> an amazing way to find the Human Element in Global Development! Go Africa,
>> where we all find our roots!
>>
>> Dick Alton, lives with ICA’s Greenrise Community, helps manage ICA USA’s
>> Global Fund and way too involved in the Methodist Church’s Net Zero by
>> 2050. Getting ready for his 84th birthday.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *Southern Africa is gifted with *
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 9, 2025 at 10:29 AM Richard Alton <richard.alton at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Richard H. T. Alton
>> ICA Global Fund
>> United Methodist Creation Care
>> The Last Chapter
>> T: 773.344.7172
>> richard.alton at gmail.com
>> Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2
>> Won't you be my neighbor?
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>>
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