Workshop: Where on Earth are we going?

EDUCATE & INSPIRE: Workshop hosts Alan Preston and Dawne Sanson aim to help consider some of life’s big questions.

By Julia West

A workshop to be held in Mangawhai on September 1 aims to address the question of “Where on Earth are we going?” 

Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream is an educational programme developed by the Pachamama Alliance in response to the accelerating degradation of our planet. 

The Pachamama Alliance aims “to educate and inspire individuals everywhere to bring forth a thriving and sustainable world” according to their website. They believe “the solutions to the challenges facing the world today already exist. What is needed is the common will to implement these solutions now. The Alliance aims to “generate a critical mass of consciousness and commitment to create a positive future.”

The workshop is being hosted by Alan Preston and will be led by trained facilitators Dawne Sanson from Mangawhai, Susan Crowther, Toby Crowther and Scott Dalziell from Kaiwaka and Ruth Marsh from Kerikeri. They will take people through a journey over the course of the afternoon using a DVD presentation and interactive group processes to explore four questions: Where are we globally? How did we get here? What is possible for the future? Where do we go from here? 

Ms Sanson first attended an Awakening the Dreamer workshop in Orewa three years ago and in 2010 she participated in another workshop in Kaiwaka which was attended by 60 people. Dawne was “inspired by the vision and the sense that although it is an enormous vision and may seem overwhelming, I learned that individual people can, in fact, make a difference.”

“The aim of the workshop is to give hope and a sense of empowerment to participants so that each person will see what they can do at a local level to bring about change,” according to Dawne.

 “We’re hoping to communicate with a broad cross-section of the community and want to encourage all age-groups to attend,” says Alan.

Awakening the Dreamer: Changing the Dream workshop will be held at the Domain Hall, Mangawhai Village from 12:30 to 4:30pm on Saturday 1st September. For further information, contact Alan Preston on 09 431 5389, mangawhaitransitiontown@gmail.com or Dawne Sanson on 09 431 4421 
or 027 289 3185, dawne.sanson@xtra.co.nz