South African Elder Body Meeting (26.11.24)
On Tuesday 26th November 2024 evening 9 elders met, online, to begin the process of establishing an elder body to represent the elder community of MKP South Africa.
The need for a body to represent the elders of South Africa has been a missing component of MKPSA for many years and the call for a body to be constituted has grown over the past few years.
The aim of the body is to provide support and guidance for elders and the MKPSA community.
The meeting started with a statement from Francois Euvrard.
Francois has been our longstanding Ritual Elder and has held space for the elders for many years. He has had to wear many hats in many roles. He recently relocated to a farm in the Overberg and is wanting to enjoy the farming life.
The establishment of an Elder body has been a long time ambition of Francois and the establishment of such a body will allow him relinquish many of the role he holds.
Francois stated that. “On the establishment of the Elder body, I intend to take a step back from my elder duties. I will assist with the formation of the body by sharing my vast institutional knowledge and community connections. During this phase I will mentor other elders into the roles I holds in preparation for my step back. I will remain a member of the MKP elder community.”
Francois has served the MKP community for many years and we will honour him for that.
Present were:
Gary Wheeler
Louis Grundlingh
Neil Smith
Spiro Yaffes
Shaun Renton
Flooris van der Walt
Kieth Dawson
Tony Naidoo
Michael Wohlman
Francois Euvrard
The meeting discussed a way forward to establish an Elder body that can serve the MKP community and provide support where it is needed. Four areas were identified that needed to be established to form a foundation for the body to exist and function.
Constitution – Governance
NWTA – Training
Community – Oversight
Diversity – inclusion
Constitution – Governance.
The body needs to be constituted, and governance guideline put in place. A team has been established to establish these. They will connect with other MKP elder communities globally to seek input from their established documents. From these they will formulate documents relevant to South Africa and our needs.
That team is Gary Wheeler, Spiro Yaffes, Kieth Dawson, Greg Folmore
NWTA – Training.
A team will look at the established elder roles within the NWTA and see how these can be implemented and roles allocated to enhance the role of the elder. It will look at the relationship between elders, community, LKS and leaders during the NWTA. It will see what training can be provided to improve elder participation.
The team is Michael Wohlman, Flooris van der Walt, Louis Grundlingh, Shaun Renton.
Community – Oversight.
A team will look at how elders incorporate into the MKP community and what roles they can play. They will seek how elders can provide oversight into conflict resolution and have this written into community protocols. It will seek how elders can support the community as a whole.
The team is Spiro Yaffes, Tony Naidoo, Paul Hudson.
Diversity – Inclusion.
The team will seek how to make the body more diversified and inclusive for all men. It will see what support is needed to allow access to the elder community for everyone. We see the need to include local elder practices and principals in to our community.
The team is Tony Naidoo, Louis Grundlingh.
Francois Euvrard will provide support for all the teams.
Neil Smith is the coordinator for the project.
The combination of the four elements will, we believe, form a strong foundation for an elder body to exist and develop to provide the support needed in the MKPSA community. It will allow elders to have direction and a safe environment to develop their journey in MKP. By connecting with the Global elder communities, we will be able to bring into our community the best practices from these well-established communities. We will add a South Africa flavour to what we bring in. This will form the foundation from where we can build a strong elder community for the benefit of everyone.
More men may / will be coopted into the various teams as needed. Any man (you don’t have to be an elder) can offer support.
The next meeting is scheduled for the 14th January 2025.
With blessings
Neil Smith
