Shafa Home an Urdu word means a home
which heals your mind soul and body. Since its inception the thought of SHAFA
was conceived as a home, which would provide the hope and act as a spring bound
for people who wish to restart their lives again and re-establish themselves as
productive members for their families and society at large.
Although registered as a non-profit,
voluntary organisation, yet Shafa has always provided that feeling of home... home
away from home. That warmth security and sense of belongingness of a home.
Anyone entering SHAFA for the first time can easily notice this and maybe that encourages
them to be a family member of our Shafa family.
Recently Ms. Kim Maouhoub, a trainer
from UK visited us in connection with an orientation programme. Once she returned
to her country, she wrote a blog and sent it to us. We were overwhelmed by
reading it. We wanted all our family members, friends, well wishers and contacts
to share this happiness with them.
So here you are. Please read it and
revert back to us with your comments and suggestions.
"Anyone that knows me or has been in my airspace for more than
five minutes knows of my love for India.
There was a time when Delhi was a place I zipped through on the
way to either south India or the Himalayas, scooping up the odd friend for a
whirlwind coffee/dinner/shopping spree/enfield admiration party and leaving
them in my wake.
This year I have been lucky to spend more time in Delhi and have
increasingly grown to love this beautiful, chaotic, breath taking (literally,
and at times not in a good way) city.
It was an idea I had entertained for awhile
but a last minute breath of inspiration pushed me to google drug treatment
facilities in Delhi and send out a template email offering my services for a
two day ITEP training a couple of days before I left London.
I got few responses but with a blur of emails
and whatsapps I eventually arrived at Shafa in Rohini,
Delhi and was asked to take a seat in the cool lobby, which offered sanctuary
from the searing heat outside. There were a number of people there watching an
information film about the facility so I watched whilst I collected my
thoughts.
The CEO of the organisation soon came to collect me and ushered
me into his office. I had the sense that he was really trying to get the
measure of me and we proceeded to take it in turns to offer snippets of our CVs
in the work that we did and as general human beings. We built on our many
shared values and quickly established a rapport with lots of laughter and easy
conversation.
My test was not over yet I suspect, even though I was there to
talk to him about training his staff team he wanted me to meet ‘the guys’ as he
called the residents. We went upstairs and my heart came out of my chest as we
entered a huge hall with men sitting cross legged in rows…it was at that point
I started to get an idea of the size of the programme they were running. So
with the aid of a translator and a grand introduction from Ranjan I spoke to
the residents of the programme.
I am used to standing up and talking in front of groups of
people but to do it with the aid of a translator to an audience some of whom
are in withdrawal is quite an experience. It is hard to keep your nerve and
maintain eye contact and the normal means with which I communicate were put to
the test. And oh did I mention the fact I was being filmed, photographed and
monitored from the side-lines by the entire staff team? It was extremely
gratifying to see expressions start to soften and nods of the head as they
started to get why I was there. When I had finished speaking there was a chance
for them to ask questions which they did by first raising their hand and being
invited to stand and speak.
Many took the opportunity to do so and when they had finished a
member of the group seemingly overwhelmed by the whole occasion jumped up and
said thankyou ma’am which made the whole room laugh. Even as I write this now I
feel the tightness in my throat his beautifully spontaneous action provoked.
Having met ‘the guys’ I went downstairs to meet with the staff team
and some of the senior peers to discuss the mapping training I proposed to run.
They were extremely enthusiastic and it was agreed that the first of two days
training would take place the next day.
I cannot tell you how much fun it was to go home, amend my
material to suit the purpose and then go to work in rush hour on the Delhi
metro. I think my metro experiences alone could be a blog in themselves but
suffice to say as with every human interaction it gave me lots of opportunity
for growth and enough anecdotes to dine on for the foreseeable future!
It was my first experience of delivering this training to a mix
of staff and senior peers and I had to give careful consideration to my
amendments to maintain safe boundaries without compromising the work. In all
honesty I saw it as more of a challenge so I was taken aback with delight when
I saw the value of staff experiencing not only their own journey with maps but
their amazement witnessing the changes in those they had worked with for almost
a year. As with every training the mapping sells itself but with the hundreds
of times I have facilitated this process I have never seen anything quite as
beautiful as this.
Due to the confidentiality agreed which is crucial to support
the integrity of this training I cannot say more but I can say that everybody
engaged with a passion and joy that was infectious and it soon became apparent
that some members of the group were thinking of their own sessions and planning
their own bespoke maps.
At the end of our session mindful that I would be returning to
the UK I wanted to formulate an action plan with the team to ensure that this
would be carried forward.
Together we agreed phases of implementation
including cascading the training to absent staff, showcasing the maps to
clients, adapting maps to client need in terms of language and a Skype call
with me to review actions achieved and actions to complete.
Shafa published their own experience of the training. Tushar
said “I take the whole concept of mapping as one of the most important tools
that someone has given to me to play with. Session continued for two days and
still I felt that it was not enough. The whole technique enables you to find
out the solutions of your problems by using out own inputs to any situation.
More over I would like to add to it that it also helps to identify our true
self like our strengths, our weaknesses, our challenges, the people who matters
in our life the most etc. It allows a counsellor to record all the necessary
information about the counselee in a more systematic order” Sachin said
“Attended this session on Mapping which would be so informative i had never
expected. It was like peeling an onion layer by layer, same was the case with
this session on mapping it had different layers of valuable information within
it. A very thoughtful innovation to get information related to any body and any
sort. By attending this session I feel more powerful and confident, because for
the first time I saw things from a different perspective and tried to find out
solutions for my problems with the resources available with me. This was really
motivating and skilful technique for life.”
It is not uncommon at the end of the two day
training that there are emotional goodbyes, tears and hugs from delegates. Over the years I have been privileged to witness huge
events unfold, decisions made and action plans put into place through mapping
over the two days.ITEP node-link mapping is one of my favourite trainings to run, the privilege of
facilitating such powerful change is not lost on me and is always an honour. I
have forged powerful connections with delegates I may never meet again but the
link will never be broken.
I found it so hard to go after such an emotional three days but
I know that I will meet the Shafa family again. I want to thank them for
allowing me to work with them and am grateful for all the learning I underwent
whilst with them. I know because of them I left a better trainer.
By Kim Maouhoub,
Training Manager at Blenheim"
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