KAIROS ATLANTIC

KAIROS ATLANTIC REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE REPORT – 2009

Final Report by Kenn Stright

 What goes in to being a Regional Rep for Kairos from one AGM to the next?

 Last year I reported on my first year experience which had me go from local meetings to regional meetings to national meetings and workshops, including a visit to interested folk in St. John’s, NL. This year was much different but just as intense.

 At the last AGM we began to realize that indeed it was ‘The End of the World as we Know It’ as we heard of the National Kairos gathering o be held in June and as we heard that funding for the next AGM was to be dramatically cut. How little did we know of the financial crisis just looming before us, transforming much of what we had begun to think of as ‘normal’.  It didn’t take long for this to cut into the work of Kairos as we heard the first of the restructuring plans and then the end of the anti-Poverty fund. 

In the midst of the financial crisis, planning for the National Gathering, an unexpected move of the National Kairos Office, cuts in staffing, and a host of other issues, the actual work of Kairos still got done.

 Kenn joined the other Regional Reps for their annual meeting as well as attending the ACE Committee meetings (Oct. 17-20). An added item to the agenda was a workshop on Aboriginal concerns in preparation for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This meeting also told us quite explicitly how things would be changing in Kairos’ future. 

 Even at this point excitement was building for the National Gathering in Waterloo. The regions were to be the first to choose delegates to attend. One would have expected a rush of interested people to come forward. It took well beyond the deadline to get most of the Atlantic delegates in place and this constantly changed as the dates drew near. In the end Atlantic Canada was well represented, especially in the number and quality of younger delegates. The Atlantic delegation led Saturday morning worship for the event. I find it amazing how much time it took to get worship and delegates  in place!

 The National Gathering was better than any could have expected. The presenters and the program were simply excellent and the level of participation high. With no spring reps meeting, this proved an opportunity for the regional reps to get together and share plans and problems associated with the altered AGM’s being proposed for the Fall.

  One aspect of being the regional representative was the establishment of our regional blog. In many ways it has been a great success with articles and items appearing from across the region and all these become archived so they are never lost! However the blog was meant to give instant access to all groups and clusters to share minutes and news and updates. However, no-one is really using it in this way, instead sending most items to me. This is totally unnecessary!

 Being part of a local cluster is where the actual work gets done in Kairos. Our local group hosted a National Human Rights Workshop in association with National Staff.  I (and Bev) represented the Halifax group over the year on a coalition against bottled water. What an amazing amount of time this took but what a lot of progress was make in a very short time. Brother Omar returned to address the issues of free trade with Colombia and members of the cluster went with him to talk with the local MP. We changed Kairos Sunday to the spring and had Margaret Sagar lead us on ‘Whales, Wonder and Wisdom’ to celebrate Earth Day Sunday. We had members attend a preliminary meeting to look at the issues facing the churches that ran residential schools. What an amazing range to draw the interests of a diverse membership!

 We have found that local activity really does depend on the interests of the members of the group – whether the issues be environment, poverty, peace, Palestinian fair trade, or a plethora of other issues.

 The position of regional representative really does become all consuming. It needs someone who is very flexible with time and commitment, someone who is motivated to go out and ‘grow’ this movement from the grassroots, someone who can motivate oldtimers and newbys alike. It really does require constant effort and commitment. I think I was the only non-retired Representative and this is telling both of the commitment necessary and also the age of the movement itself. The National Gathering has gone a long way in approaching a new generation but we are a long way from being an inclusive movement.  I would love to continue in this capacity but am totally frustrated with my inability to make meetings and give the time necessary to do this well.