Next week Beams family member, Gail Hochacka, will be hosting a group of Salvadorans who are visiting the area and will be engaging in learning exchanges in rural BC as well as in Vancouver and Victoria. They come from the northern part of El Salvador, Chalatenango, which has a history of political violence and community resilience.

While here, they'll be sharing about some of thier work, particularly a current project: Exploring community resilience and human development in the context of climate change adaptation in El Salvador and Canada. 'Whew, that's a mouthful. They're also in partnership with Canadian NGOs Drishti Center for Integral Action and One Sky, and with mentors and colleagues at the University of Oslo. 

I had the privilage to visit El Salvador with Gail in 2008 and community members there really are extraordinary characters, doing some very cool things in community development, resiliance, and change making. I'd definitely recommend coming down to meet them or at least hear them speak.

There are two events:  

November 10th, 1-4pm

Liu Institute of Global Issues, UBC

"An afternoon of presentation and discussions on what it means to be a resilient community in the face of turbulent change and what it means to engage transformation towards a tomorrow that works for all." Awesome. Very relevant.

and

Nov. 9th, 7-10pm

Integral Café

Centre for Peace, 1825 W 16th Ave

(Info below)

Integrating the Spirit of Resilience for Community Response
to Climate Change in El Salvador

Four Salvadorans will be visiting presenting at the Integral Cafe on November 9th. Their visit to BC is primarily to share about a current project on community resilience and climate change adaptation. This evening will focus on how they are including the many diverse forms of resilience, particularly those that tend to be overlooked in mainstream development. Spirituality, for example, remains a primary source of resilience for many people and communities, yet remains fairly untapped.

These practitioners work with spiritual themes in ways that are truly profound, evolutionary, effective, and practical. In particular, they practice an embodied form of Lectio Divina with local people in rural communities. They will facilitate us through this practice at the evening session.

This skillful union of the spiritual and the secular is unusual and something we need more of on the planet today. In their approach, current issues like gender equality, climate change, and community resilience are seamlessly engaged with an integral approach to spirituality: embodied, evolutionary, and in relationship with the behaviours, cultures and systems arising in each moment.

Please join us for an evening of contemplative action and integral spirituality with our friends from El Salvador.

For more information about our visitors and this event, visit dristhti.ca or integralvancouver.com.

Hope to see you there!

The attached picture was taken shortly after a flooding event that eroded most of the hillside upon which this small town was perched. Many homes were flooded and filled with silt and soil. This house had a small wooden cross lashed to the window symbolizing how spirituality remains a source of resilience for communities, both in people’s every-day realities and particularly in times of turbulent change.