There is no outside

At the end of a beautiful day one of two days of Open Space with the Fraser Valley Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society.  One lovely teaching from the Elders today: in Halkomelem there is no word for adoption, because there is no concept of a child being outside of family.

Cool.

It is a curious set up, this particular Open Space.  We have 70 people in a circle and a dozen Elders sitting at tables outside of the proceedings, but that is as it should be.  In Sto:lo culture, the role of the Elders is not to participate but to notice.  In this respect they are not considered to be outside of the circle at all, but really deeply engaged with it.  At the end of the day, three Elders shared their reflections of the day, and all three talked about how important it was that the staff of the organization met this way.