Module 10 Community Give Away Day 4

Overview	Time
Purpose	Learning Objectives
Major Sections	Equipment, Materials, and Supplies
Transparencies	Handouts
Trainer Resources	Room Requirements
Trainer Outline	Predelivery Preparation

Overview

This is graduation/affirmation for participants. Closure consists of two parts. The first part has a community give away whereby each participant will have made one Native gift to contribute to the give away, and affirmation to each participant. The second half is a closing provided by the host partnership.

Time

Approximately 2 1/2 hours

Purpose

To provide a forum for individual and community affirmation and ritual in a Native-specific way, through exchange of handmade articles among the participants. The host partnership will create a closing ceremony and individuals will receive their "certificate of affirmation" with their polaroid pictures at this time.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

Identify affirmation and embrace it.
Demonstrate use of traditional ceremony in community renewal or new rituals to reinforce community renewal.
Identify the value and importance of affirmation and community service.
Work on completing giveaway item.
Provide objective evaluation of training.
Create a closing ceremony on their own.
Receive a symbolic commitment to reconvene at later times and to keep their circle together.

Major Sections

I.	Lecture: Directions to participants	(15 minutes)
II.	Ceremony/Exercise: GiveAway	(45 minutes)
III.	Exercise: Open Expression	(30 minutes)
	BREAK	(20 minutes)
IV.	Evaluation: Self-Administered Form	(15 minutes)
V.	Closing Ceremony: Presented by the host partnership	(30 minutes)

Equipment, Materials, and Supplies

Microphone for facilitator
Drum, singers
Art supplies for gifts (see Module 2)
Certificates or pictures of participants with affirmations written
Handdrum for presentation to host partnership
Organizing Reference Sheets/Transparencies
Drum/Singers
Blanket to place gifts upon

Transparencies

T-10.0:

Module 10 Purpose and Learning Objectives

Handouts

HO-10.1:	Evaluation Forms
HO-10.2:	Glossary

Trainer Resources

TR-10.1:	Evaluation Forms
TR-10.2:	Glossary

Room Requirements

Open, no tables, chairs against wall, PA system

Predelivery Preparation

1. Make sure participants know in advance to bring their gifts with them.

2. Have drum and singer(s) ready.

3. Identify someone to say speak or sing closing.

4. Prior discussion with host partnership about closing ceremony.

5. Have evaluation forms ready.

6. Have drum or other symbolic gift to Host Partnership ready.

7. Have the Polaroid Pictures mounted with affirmation messages.

Trainer Outline

I. Lecture/Plenary: Finding or Recreating Community Rituals T-10.0: Module 10 Purpose and Learning Objectives (45 minutes)

A. Instruction

1. Gather everyone into a circle.

2. One facilitator announces the beginning of our closure for the GONA, and that it is time for us to give back to our communities.

3. A formal give away will be conducted and each person should have with them the gift they made.

B. Discussion Points

1. The act of "ritual" within a community is a means to convey community values to the members of that community. Our rituals tell us what things we value. When we sing happy birthday to a friend, it is a ritual which conveys our value for life, our value for passages and growth, our value for the relationship which we share with that person.

2. Indian Tribes and Native societies traditionally had many rituals and ceremonies that helped to sustain the values and culture of our societies. Most tribes maintain many of these rituals or ceremonies today. Some rituals have been lost due to the historical trauma imposed upon Native cultures.

3. Rituals help societies describe order, meaning, and a sense of belonging and purpose for its members.

4. Ask the group to voluntarily identify some of the rituals or ceremonies from their tribes that helped their communities to remain healthy and in balance. What about rituals which taught us belonging and purpose?

Typical responses: Naming ceremonies; age passages ceremonies; give aways; potlaches; honorings; fasting.

5. There are some rituals which have been lost. There are other rituals which are so sacred, they can only be performed under certain conditions or by certain persons. We do not want to offend anyone by suggesting a disrespectful pursuit of sacred ceremony or ritual. Rather, GONA wants each of the participants to look within our own traditions and talk to our own elders or cultural resource people to identify the ceremonies or rituals within our own communities that could help restore health, harmony, and balance.

6. There are also contemporary, panIndian rituals or totally new multicultural rituals that can be adopted by families or communities. Ask the group to voluntarily identify some new rituals that can be used in our families or communities to help restore harmony and balance.

Typical responses: Family talkingcircles; support groups; sobriety birthdays;

7. Introduce the Give Away. This was common among most Indian groups to show the value of our communal existence, our interdependence, our honoring of our relations, and the importance of giving back to community.

II. Exercise: Ceremony/Gift of the Circle (45 minutes)

A. Instruction

1. A blanket is set in the middle of the floor (Pendleton or other type).

2. Facilitator asks participants to come forward and place the gift they have made during the past 4 days on the blanket for the give away.

3. It is announced by the facilitator that in addition to these items, a drum will also be given away. The drum is introduced as a means to symbolize the circle which has been created at the GONA training. The drum will be given to the host partnership at the conclusion of the give away so that they can use the drum to call together gatherings in the future.

4. A song is sung using the drum in honor of the crafts prepared for the give away and in honor of all the GONA participants.

5. Presentation of Certificates and Gifts: Each participant is called forward to accept their certificate (which is the Polaroid picture taken of them at registration, bordered by the affirming messages from GONA colleagues). The facilitator will read off a few (1 2) of the positive affirmations from each card for each participant, as they come forward. As they accept their certificate they can take one gift from the blanket.

6. The drum is presented to the host partnership.

7. Finally, the blanket is given to someone selected by the GONA trainers from the participant group, someone who the group thinks has taken risks and modeled for the group.

Note To Trainer: This exercise is for the participants. They will experience ritual, ceremony, and an environment for healing. Although a moving experience, trainers MUST AVOID THE TEMPTATION to overlay their own need for ritual or ceremony with this exercise. Trainers are cautioned to make their own time within the training team to conduct ceremony between trainers, or ceremony that is pertinent to the training team. The facilitator for this exercise must be aware of the time frame and understanding of the need to respect the time limitations of this process. Since this is the last day, many participants will be concerned about making flight times or other arrangements for going home.

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III. Open Expression (30 minutes)

A. Instruction

1. This is an opportunity for anyone who wishes to speak.

2. The facilitator will invite anyone who has something that they want to say, that this is the appropriate time to say it. The facilitator will ask that the person use a microphone if the group is larger than 75 people. The facilitator will judge and determine if this open expression will run into the break period and either control the time for each speaker or announce that this part of the agenda will run into the break period.

Note To Trainer: This exercise is for the participants who wish to make spontaneous expressions to do so. This time is not for trainers to dominate the time allotted for speaking to the group. Trainer discipline is strongly encouraged. Again, if trainers feel the need for lengthy oration, appropriate time should be made for the training team during their evening debriefings.

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BREAK (20 minutes)

IV. Written Evaluation (15 minutes)

A. Instruction

1. The facilitator or evaluator will hand out one evaluation to each participant and ask that they take the time now to fill out the questions and turn it in. (HO-10.1: Evaluation Form)

2. Facilitator will collect evaluations or instruct participants how evaluations will be collected.

V. Closing Ceremony (30 minutes)

A. Instruction

1. The host partnership has been informed in advance that they are responsible for an appropriate closing ceremony. This ends the GONA.