What is in a Name??? Final Day of the workshop in Pune

Today, on the second day of workshop some new faces were there, who were not able to make it on the first day due to personal engagements. The day started with a movie- Courage to speak. Since adults rarely talk about stammering, a lot of suffering of children who stutter, gets brushed under the carpet. But in this movie a little girl, Carolina decides to talk & share her experiences through this documentary. The story begins when Carolina in spite of her severe stutter, decides to participate in the annual debate in Canada. She does it, because she wants to highlight the struggle she was passing through. Role of Society, Family, teachers & other children are explored with great sensitivity & honesty. After the documentary participants share their thoughts on two counts- 1. What memories did the movie bring back? 2.Does Carolina teaches us something to be practiced in our own lives?

Many participants saw a lot of similarities in their childhood experiences in India & what CAROLINA faced in Canada. The movie brought back many emotional moments to the mind of audience & there were many moist eyes. We also felt that courage was the only solution to the problem we were faced with. Gopal gave a presentation about Pune SHG, the beginnings, issues faced, short & long term goals etc. After a break we started with an energiser "Nani Pani". Later we played a participatory game, emphasizing the role of active listing, innner silence & total receptivity during communication.

Then next exercise was about speaking with a relaxed bounce, maintaining eye contact & with a gentle smile on face. After tea we played the "name game", uttering our names with a bounce & smile. Then we noticed that many of us were trying hard not to stutter! So, our next round was that of "Voluntary stuttering" on our names. The challenge was to stutter on our names differently in every round. This put our imagination and creativiy to severe test. But we all performed well. Some of us, started voluntarily and suddenly slipped into a natural stutter! But finally a point came when we all felt quite comfortable with our stuttering ON OUR NAMES.

Next step was to practice saying our names with a gentle bounce and, again with a prolongation.
In between, we watched video clips- Sssstutter and Transcending Stuttering. We talked about Phil Schneider's comment: What hurts us is not our stammering- What hurts is being 'different'. Why do we have to fit in? Why cant we accept that we are different and be at peace with ourselves?

Finally, we shared some web resources, discussed short term plans and dispersed.
Some of the important targets emergings for the group were:
1. We should start within our own job environment, conducting sensitisation sessions etc.
2. Start to work with children who stammer in local schools.
3. Developing our knowledge base about this ill-understood health condition
4. Client reviews of various therapies available in the country.
5. TISA-PUNE should bring out a news letter

It was 7.30 pm by the time we dispersed- but with a great sense of achievement and that "we are not alone in our struggle". We also thanked sincerely the IT firm in Hinjewadi and we are hopeful more and more organisations will take up this cause in the larger interest of their staff, who may be suffering from this health condition.

We want to thank Ms Savita Kulkarni, who enriched the workshop with her insights and inputs, as a person, who does not stammer but empathises with and works for people who are 'different'.

If you have any questions feel free to contact:
Jai Prakash Sunda (09271205627)
s-s-sachin (09412058272)

(I felt so happy that I want to come again and again to Pune! Is any body reading?- sachin)