Today the weather has made a radical shift to cool and rainy, after weeks of sunshine. We are at a crossroads of programmes, with the dathun, a month-long (mostly) quite retreat ending on Saturday, along with the first Magyal Pomra Encampment, the gathering of the Dorje Kasung, to happen here. Arriving in their stead is the Youth Leadership programme, followed by Kyudo, Family Camp and Sun Camp. The summer schedule is in full swing.
The teachers of Warrior Assembly told me that DCL seemed to be running smoother and more accommodatingly than ever before, and I have to agree with them. The core staff are mostly very experienced, and know each other very well, and the volunteers that have gathered have formed strong connections with Dechen Choling and each other. Perhaps some of the reason for that is also that we have various systems of communication and support in place to help people to settle in. We allocate an experienced member of staff to be the 'mentor' for any new arrival, and for a month (or possibly more) they will help them in matters of body (knowing where to wash clothes), speech (how to make a suggestion to the managers) and mind ("are you ok?").
Another system we have is regular community meetings. For the volunteers we usually have a bi-weekly gathering to check in and discuss any pertinent issues. For the core staff we have longer meetings, with longer intervals between them. We tend to have a lot of gatherings that deal with getting things done; the emphasis of these meetings is more on 'being' with each other, and exposing any problems or conflicts that people are having. Getting core staff to come to the meetings has proved over the years to be rather difficult, as they can be somewhat confronting. However, usually people leave feeling that they have communicated with each other on a deeper level that normal.
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