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| Warriors without Weapons |
About a year and a half ago, I first heard
about Warriors without Weapons from a friend who had been part of the program
in 2012. As we sat in his apartment on that cool November evening, Mukund
described to me how the month that he spent in Brazil, working together with an
inspiring and enthusiastic group of people, had transformed him. Every single
moment of the time that he was in Santos – working long hours under the sun,
singing songs with the neighbourhood kids, and learning to love in some of the
poorest neighbourhoods in the city, each moment had left an indelible mark on
his being, and had really taught him about the meaning of community.
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| Community participation is an integral part of the transformation philosophy |
The idea of community was something I had been
pondering over for a while. A few months earlier I had completed my thesis
focussing on a migrant community in Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai. The research had
been eye opening, but raised more questions than it answered, and exposed me to
the deep inequalities that exist in this city of contrasts. More importantly it
had shaken me out of the sort of idealistic reverie that young people hoping to
change the world are prone to.
Dharavi wasn’t an impoverished and wretched
place that needed our help – it was dynamic, vibrant, and clearly fully of
amazingly resourceful and driven people, who had overcome social and economic
challenges to set up and run thriving businesses, turning this informal settlement
into an economic hotspot. In Dharavi, the power of resourcefulness and
community initiative was on full display.
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| This Dharavi community funded and collectively built a school and open community space for the neighbourhood |
What particularly interested me about the
Warriors program was that it wasn’t just some idealistic social justice
crusade. “Sure there’s a lot of holding hands, but the program is really about
identifying the dynamic energies and abundant resources of the community in
order to envision a realistic and attainable goal,” Mukund says. So it is a step-by-step
process to concretely transform communities by mobilizing their own strengths.
These weren’t poor people that needed our help – what the program did was
provide a platform for them to help themselves. I immediately placed this in
the context of Dharavi, and something seemed to click. Of course, going for the
program wasn’t going to be easy. WWW receives hundreds of applications each
year, but only sixty participants are selected for the month-long immersive
workshop.
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| Discussions with local residents for a community building project |
This thought that was born on that fateful
evening will hopefully culminate this July, when I’ll finally make the
long-awaited trip to Brazil! In January I took the plunge with the Yes Path,
the selection process for the program, and couldn’t quite believe that I’d been
selected. Ever since then, life has been exciting, unexpected and
transformative! I’ve come to learn that the Warriors’ Transformation philosophy
is not just about transforming communities, but also the self – a process that
has already begun. Through the Yes Path, I began to introspect, think more
deeply about my choices in life, and the values and belief-systems that we
often take for granted. Now, with the Abundance game, the second step of this
transformative process begins.
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| The beginning of this year was also the beginning of a transformative process! |
The Abundance game is aimed at enabling
each of us to fund our way to Brazil through various means. When I first
decided on creating some kind of crowdfunding campaign in order to raise the
money, I was frankly nervous, even a bit embarrassed. Asking for help isn’t
easy for the best of us, because it feels like an admission of our own limitations,
making us vulnerable. I didn’t think I could do it, but I’ve now slowly begun
to challenge these unfounded apprehensions. I realized that before starting, I
had to trust in myself and the value of what I’m doing, to understand that
people around me are ready to share my dream and support me, and ultimately to realize
the immense value of the people I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with in
my life – this is what the Abundance game is all about! That brought me out of
my shell, and it has been liberating. Now I’m ready to share my experiences
with you, and all I need is your love and support in return!
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| Help me join a global network of change-makers who are transforming communities around the world! |
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