Dear applicant,

Thank you for your interest in becoming a part of our NVC Gatherings

We have a far reaching vision, that is based on a very different worldview, than the one we live in. We want to live in a culture that has attending to needs as a central principle.We see the journey to such a vision as both joyous as well as painful. Not everyone wants to be part of the journey nor do we have the capacity to bridge the gaps if misalignment between us and others is too big.

Therefore, in the spirit of nonviolence as we understand it, we want you to evaluate if we are a match, if there is a too wide a gap to cross between us or we are aligned enough to walk together.

We invite you to look at all the components below and check inside of yourself if you have a sense of enough alignment with them.

Please note: the concepts and structures are not complete, we are continually updating them as our understanding and learning changes.

COMMITMENTS:

I aim to take full responsibility for my feelings, my thoughts, my needs, my actions, and my experience that arise from partaking in the activities in the camp.

I aim to cultivate care and understanding towards others and others’ processes which I may witness.

I aim to engage with the practices at a level that I can manage given my current mental, emotional and physical capacity.

I aim to seek support when I find myself in disconnection with myself or others or triggered in any other way

I aim to ask for clarity rather than engage in a practice that isn’t clear to me if I am uncertain about any of the practices

I aim to share my own experience in the group rather than give unsolicited advice or express judgements about anyone else’s process.

I aim to respect the kaupapa and the environment of this land, leaving any item of flora or fauna as i found it and only my footprints behind.

As humans, we may have strong urges for sexual connection.  Rather than choosing to ban or to condone any and all sexual connections, if I find myself pursing a potential sexual partner at camp, I choose to pause.  As a holding team, we are aware of a potential of harm when a decision to initiate a new encounter is made from a vulnerable place of raw sensitivity. Therefore the holding teams’ recommendation is a period of 3 months pause during and after camp.  We also recommend you seek support from a member of the holding team while at camp.

To honour the sensitivities of each of us and build trust for deep sharing within the community, when talking about my experiences at camp, I aim to describe it in a way that keeps any personal details, including the names, of people involved as confidential.  
At the same time I aim for sharing with others at the camp deeply, knowing that we can not control any outcomes, and someone might still, intentionally or not, reveal sensitive data about me. In short I want to be choiceful and trustful about sharing.

CAMP'S COMPONENTS OF NONVIOLENCE

In addition to the above commitments we are asking you if you are in alignment with the camp’s elements of nonviolence (as we understand them) below.
Please take enough time to familiarize yourself with them. We encourage you to contact us if you have any questions, concerns or a sense of misalignment.

Susie Spiller - susie@wisecommunication.nz
Valerie Wycoff  - valerie@valeriewycoff.com
Miro Zaleta - mirozaleta@gmail.com
Jim Lovell-Smith - jimblenz@gmail.com
Irina Borowski - abandib3@gmail.com

Key assumptions and Intentions of NVC
https://baynvc.org/key-assumptions-and-intentions-of-nvc/

Key Commitments to Nonviolence
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uuDC-jDI9kqyhNW_i3eY8MHIF2ImWZ0_spEBmNeBuF0/edit

Camp’s Vision, Purpose and Key Values
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19FX1IOmHLDwT4tt8fV5vXQrmcn8UTIwmd9Ie5zcIfaE/edit
 
If you have doubts or a “no” to some parts, we invite you to contact us and engage in a dialogue with us to explore whether we can find some way to close that gap between us.

We want to acknowledge that for all of us, it can be painful to find the gaps.

If you discover that the gap is too big we are asking you to check whether you really want to come as we ourselves want to acknowledge that we do not have enough capacity to bridge gaps that we see as too wide.