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Posts By: Charles Gibbs
Sacred Opening in a Time of Pain and Possibility
Photo by Charles Gibbs
The call of this moment
and of all moments
is to seek the light
and to face the darkness
within and without
with unflinching honesty
and unswerving devotion
to journey at least a little each day
toward enlightenment –
living in love,
fearless, joyous and free –
in service
to this glorious and wounded world.
As the coronavirus flows invisibly over the face of the Earth transforming life as we have known it and creating seemingly ….Keep reading this post >
The transformative experience of wholeness
My life has been blessed and guided by transformative experiences of wholeness.
Here’s a brief story about one of them:
Scarcely a year after the 9/11 tragedy shattered the world we thought we knew, I hailed a cab at 4:30 AM on the empty streets of lower Manhattan.
I learned that the driver was from Pakistan. Informed him that I had many friends there.
Soon he was sharing about his life.
He had recently lost ….Keep reading this post >
A Transformed Tomorrow
I am full of gratitude for the week of rich learning we shared in Sierra Leone, living out Constellating Peace from the Inside Out. As part of that thanks, I offer the poem below. For me, our week together was an embodiment of the summons this poem offers.
A Transformed Tomorrow
As all around us torrents
of tears from suffering sisters
and brothers, from infants
to elders, drench the Earth
we are despoiling, and old
forms like ….Keep reading this post >
Celebrating and Nurturing Women’s Leadership in Peacebuilding – Malindi Reflection
Thank you for your leadership.
These words, spoken by a Kenyan woman peacebuilder, both gladdened and surprised me – gladdened because it’s always nice to have someone affirm a positive contribution they feel I’ve made; surprised because my focus had been on serving, not leading.
She spoke at the conclusion of a five-day retreat whose theme was Celebrating and Nurturing Women as Peacebuilders. Co-convened by Catalyst for Peace and Green String Network, ….Keep reading this post >
Kenya Day 5 – Nairobi, Kibera/Kibra
Amy and I left Angi’s early today for a women’s circle in Kibera/Kibra (the name depends on your tribe), the largest “informal settlement” (referred to by many of the people who live there by the less elegant term – slum) in Nairobi, stopping along the way to pick up Nyambura, who has done a great deal of work in Kibra.
Nairobi is in the midst of what seems to be an ….Keep reading this post >
Kenya Day 4 – Malindi and Nairobi
Thursday was a mostly easier day. We stayed at our beautiful Airbnb overlooking the Indian Ocean until early afternoon, when we went to the Malindi airport for our flight back to Nairobi. For a good part of the morning, we sat on the open-air, covered terrace and shared reflections about the women’s circle of the previous day in Mombasa.
It was clear, as it had been after the circle in Nairobi, ….Keep reading this post >
Day 3 in Kenya – Malindi-Mombasa-Malindi
Up in the dark at 5:30 AM and prepared to depart by 6 AM on the 2+ hour drive to Mombasa where we were to have a meeting with about 20 women peacebuilders from the Mombasa/Coastal area. After spending a good deal of time bouncing our way north on an unpaved, rocky road with arid, rocky land that reminded me of Palestine/Israel stretching out to the east and west, we ….Keep reading this post >
Kenya Trip – Day 2, Nairobi and Malindi
Flying high over scattered clouds out toward the coast from Nairobi to Malindi, over mostly brittle brown lands bearing witness to the drought that has been visiting Kenya for some time. The dryness of the land stands in stark contrast to the living waters that flowed through our gatherings earlier today at the Green String Network office and the nearby Wasp and Sprout Café.
About 15 women and 4 men gathered ….Keep reading this post >
Kenya Trip – Day 1
My colleague, Amy Potter Czajkowski, and I have journeyed to Kenya to learn more about the work of women peacebuilders in Kenya and to explore what Catalyst for Peace might be able to do to help invite and support women’s leadership in peacebuilding and development. After getting to bed at 1 AM this morning on the tail of a long, long journey from Washington, DC to Nairobi, Kenya, with a ….Keep reading this post >
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