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Post subject: A Vision for SICA Britain
 Posted: Dec 08, 2006 - 09:26 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Jul 14, 2002
Posts: 295
Location: 世界 Shijie
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A VISION FOR SICA BRITAIN
A message from SICA Britain Chair Miari Store:
I attended the recent National Council Meeting where I made a presentation on SICA. Some of the members of the Council asked me if they could have it in written form. The following is the gist of what I said which I thought might be of interest to all the members
of Subud Britain, not only the Council. This presentation followed the Council testing the following 4 questions.
How is it for Subud Britain when SICA is not active?
How is it for Subud Britain when SICA is active?
Where is my inner culture within me?
How can I express my culture in my every day life?
Since being tested in as SICA Britain Chair at Congress last August, I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to feel inwardly and outwardly what SICA was and what I should be doing as SICA Britain Chair. Part of this exercise had been spent on reading everything I could lay my hands on of what Bapak and Ibu Rahayu have said on culture in general and SICA in particular. Three things jumped out at me.
Bapak’s definition of culture. “Brothers and Sisters, the word kebudayaan (Indonesian for culture) comes from budhi and daya. You know the word budhi already from the symbolic name of our spiritual association. Daya is the force of movement or action, the working force. Hence kebudayaan is really a force, a force of life expressing itself and manifesting outwardly originating in the jiwa.” (From different talks which appear in Rashid Lyle’s book in Chapter 9 “Culture” published 1983 by Humanus).
The following comments were made by Bapak in response to Richard Engel’s report on SICA’s first year. “Yes, Bapak agrees we can make money through this cultural work” and “As you talk Bapak can feel that in fact this is the way Subud will spread. Subud can provide content for it and conversely Subud can make a lot of money from it.” (From notes taken at an SBIF meeting in Cilandak in July 1984)
At the opening of the WSC meeting on 1st August 1997 in Spokane, Ibu Rahayu said “And to make ourselves known to the outside world we already have our cultural wings, Susila Dharma and SICA. I hope these will continue to grow and develop the needs of Subud”.
(All of these quotes can be found on the very out-of-date International SICA website).
From this and my own inner feeling, I feel my role as SICA Britain Chair is to actively encourage, coordinage and facilitate SICA Britain to become active, to make money for Subud and to play an active part in bringing Subud into the world through our inner culture which covers creativity in the very widest sense.
I have also tried to assess where SICA Britain is today. In some ways I find it very encouraging. There are many individual Subud members expressing their individual creativity; some professionally and others for their own personal growth, for the pleasure of families, friends and local community and occassionally for the public at large. However, little of that activity is rubbing off to the benefit of Subud. Without exception all creative members I have spoken to have said the latihan has played a major part in their development. Therefore, I feel part of my job is to harness this energy for Subud so Subud can benefit from the synergy thus created which would be larger than the sum of its parts.
How to go about it was the next question I asked myself. For my part, I felt I needed some structure as I had inherited none. So using the recommendation of National Helpers when I was tested in that the two other candidates support me I have appointed them my deputy chairs.
Roland Bake to be responsible for Health and Family Care, Human Values and Devel-
opment, Music and the Performing Arts.
Emmanuel Martin to be responsible for Visual Arts, Architecture and Design, and
Writing and Film.
I will of course have overall responsibility, but will also have particular responsibility for Education and Training, Interfaith and Multiculturism, and International and inter-Wing activity. I am desperately looking for someone to take on the role of Treasurer, to be responsible for money, accounting, book-keeping and help with fund-raising. (Most of these categories were taken from the International SICA and Subud Britain websites).
Now I need your help. I asked all the National Helpers to go back to their regions and groups and test the same 4 questions as above, except instead of the words “Subud Britain” in the first two questions, substitute whatever their region happens to be and to urge the regional helpers to do the same things in their groups. The object of the exercise is that every member in Subud Britain will have the opportunity to test them, so if in a month’s time this message has not filtered through, please ask your regional helpers to do it with you. I have also asked your Regional Chairs to make room on their agendas for SICA and even more importantly get your group chairs to do so as well. There are two things I would like you to do in this time.
The first is to brainstorm. What would you like SICA to be doing? What do you want from SICA? At the SICA workshop held at Congress, from the few members who attended, the three things that stood out for me were nurture, networking and physical get-togethers. Do you agree? If so, these are just bones. Can you provide some flesh and clothing for them? I have asked the Regional Chairs to let me have your ideas by 1st March at the latest.
The second way I would like you to do in this time is to discuss ways of fundraising for SICA and then go out and do it. To help you to do this, I set a target for each group of £10 per member as listed in the 2004 Directory, which means for example, that the Ascot Group, of which I am a member, has 47 active members, and therefore the total target for the Ascot Group is £470. I would like to stress, I am not asking each member to cough up £10, although I certainly won’t stop them if they wish to do so. What I am asking is that group members work together and use their inner SICA to raise this money and that they have fun doing so. For example, as a Tour Guide, I am offering a guided walk along London High Street (The River Thames) on the 20th January. I am hoping to attract 20 people, Subud or non-Subud members, to join me at £5 per ticket, all of which would go to SICA. I would like 80% of the fund raising to be done by Easter and the balance by the National Council Meeting in June.
The 2004 Subud Members Directory listed 1293 members if I counted correctly which would give me a target total of £12,930 which I have evened up to £13,000. What would SICA do with it? I hear you ask. At the time of giving my presentation SICA Britain had £510 to its name. It is our hope that 2 ½ % of anything raised would go to Subud Britain and a further 2 ½ % of anything raise would go to WSA earmarked for SICA International. On a total of £13,000 this would amount to £650 or £325 each. £350 plus the £510 we have already got would be used as a contingency fund and would be used to cover admin., travel and other miscellaneous expenses. That would leave a hypothetical balance of £12,000 for Seed Funding. If needed I would like to use up to 75% or £9,000 on Capacity Building. As a voluntary organisation, our resources and time will always be limited and what I mean by Capacity Building is to have the wherewithall to be able to lay firm foundations which would enable SICA to develop its potential on a long term and sustainable basis and thereby benefit Subud Britain, its members and hopefully Subud in the world. One example would be to build and service a good communication system. Of the remaining £3,000: £2,000 would go to seedfunding workshops, exhibitions, concerts, theatrical productions, etc., all of which hopefully would be self-sustaining. The final £1,000 would be used to kickstart a new fund for a Thank You Celebration Fellowship to run along the lines of the Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowships whereby a certain category would be chosen each year – eg. architects, primary school teachers, vets, chefs, fashion designers, nurses, you name it, and members who fell within that category could apply for a Fellowship to visit another Subud country for say 1 to 3 months to widen their knowledge of their subject or particular aspect of it and share their Subud experiences with the members of the countries they visit. The only condition being that when they return they share their experience with the rest of Subud Britain. This might also work the other way round whereby a member from another country might come to Britain for a short time.
I likened Subud Britain to a human body – the head and torso of that body being the helper/committee/executive structure at all levels. Susila Dharma its right arm and hand, SICA its left arm and hand, SES is right leg and foot, SIHA its left leg and foot and Subud Youth its blood or energy which circulated throughout the whole body. I then related the experience I had three years ago when I fell up some steps and broke my left arm where it joined the shoulder and how it affected every aspect of my life. I felt that Subud Britain was like me with a broken left arm (SICA) and the effects on Subud Britain were not unlike the effects my broken arm had on the rest of me. I recovered the full use of my left arm through physiotherapy and with the help of the rest of my body, and so I believe SICA can recover with the help of the latihan and the rest of Subud Britain, but it could not do so on its own.
That was really the gist of my presentation, but I would like to add a postscript. Several members of the Council came up to me and asked me if I felt “satisfied”. I feel it is really too early to answer that question as I am unsure whether the seeds I have sown have fallen on fertile or stoney ground. Only the results will tell. However, I did feel enormously supported by the Council for which I am hugely grateful. During the weekend I also met with the Chairs of Susila Dharma and Subud Youth and I hope we made a start of building a relationship of working together and supporting each other. We exchanged ideas and tested for each of us how it was when we worked on our own and how it was when we worked together. We also asked to be shown
What is the true meaning of Susila Dharma.
What is the true meaning of SICA.
What is the true meaning of Subud Youth.
These last three tests I recommend everybody test.
Mairi Store
6th September, 2006 |
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