Kinship Circles – Courageous Conversations
Third Fridays, February – May, 2023
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm EST (New York); 9:00 – 10:30 pm CET (Paris)
The Inayatiyya’s Kinship Activity cultivates the natural connection of one heart to another, fostering harmony, a broad perspective, and caring action. Kinship Circles are gatherings designed to nurture a sense of belonging. Join us on the third Fridays of the month this spring as we engage in Courageous Conversations—community conversations on important topics of the day.
Faculty for this program includes Dr. Lauranett L. Lee, Jabriel Malik Hasan, Renée Soule, Batina Sheets, Fazilee Buechel, Rabia Povich and Shams Kairys.
Each month we will learn about and engage with issues ranging from living with difficult histories such as enslavement and genocide, to living with love and courage in the time of ecological crises. Conversations will be seeded by inspiring presenters and members of the Kinship Council. We will explore how to share our heartfelt concerns with clarity and compassion. Come help build a world where upholding the light of love and truth becomes a universal value.
Dates & Themes
Feb 17th: Honoring Black History and Justice Leaders
Join Dr. Lauranett L. Lee and Jabriel Malik Hasan for a conversation on the importance and purpose of Black History Month. Learn about lesser-known champions of civil rights and social justice, and bask in the eloquence of Black poets and musicians. What is the impact of knowing one’s ancestral past; what is the impact of not knowing one’s lineage and history?
March 17th: Honing Our Capacity to Heal in Precarious Times
The rapid decline of Earth’s living systems is the greatest threat we bear, and we are the cause of this decline. Facing difficult truths is part of the path to becoming agents for healing. This transformation is hard-won, for our deepest nature is as vulnerable as other living systems. Wild wisdom and internally rooted ethics are as endangered as any natural system – and as resilient. How do we support each other on our journey of ecological awakening? How might this occur in everyday interactions or in challenging conversations with those close to us? Join ecopsychologist Renée Soule and host Shams Kairys in exploring what it means to heal and evolve for the sake of life in the context of ecological crises.
This program is part of the Inayatiyya Kinship Council of North America’s “Responding with Love and Courage to the Ecological Crisis” series.
April 21st: Acknowledging a Nation’s Difficult Past in Ways that Honor and Heal
Let’s continue the journey of our 21 Day Challenge to explore our racial awareness. Can we imagine how to heal and restore communities rent asunder by discrimination, oppression and exclusion? From memorials to cemeteries to accurate history and returned land, how do we acknowledge histories of inequity, antisemitism and enslavement? How do we re-build trust and repair the rifts caused by acts of intentional exclusions – the Holocaust, slavery, Jim Crow, and the genocide of Indigenous people. Join Batina Sheets, Rabia Povich and friends as we look at efforts of healing and repair made in Germany, the United States and elsewhere.
Participants are invited to engage with some material before this important conversation. While everyone is welcome, we invite you to take time to listen, read and watch the material below before our gathering.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts on how to uphold truth with courage and compassion.
May 19th: Skills that Support Better Communication—Non-Violent Communication
Non-Violent Communication (NVC), designed by Marshall Rosenberg, offers techniques to improve communication, understanding and connection. Fazilee Buechel, a student of NVC, will explore the NVC process and share practices that help us hold challenging conversations through non-judgmental observation. With NVC we learn to hear our own deeper needs and those of others. Through its emphasis on deep listening—to ourselves as well as others—NVC helps us discover the depth of our own compassion. NVC can help people peacefully and effectively resolve conflicts in personal, organizational, and political settings.
Circles are from 3-4:30 pm New York Time, 9-10:30 pm Central Europe Time.
All are welcome to attend. This program is open and free to the public; come to all or any parts of the series. Video recordings of each class can be found on the Inayatiyya Vimeo page.
If you have questions about Kinship, or about this series, please email us at kinship@inayatiyya.org.
Speakers
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Jabriel HasanJabriel Hasan is a graduate of Union Presbyterian Seminary and currently a student at the College of William and Mary studying counseling. He is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and a former resident of Richmond Hill, an ecumenical Christian community and retreat center in Richmond, Virginia. He is also a founding member and officer of the Black Coalition of Change, a local community organization also in Richmond. As of spring 2023, Jabriel is an ordained Healing Cherag within the Inayatiyya.
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Shams KairysShams Kairys has been a student and guide in the Inayatiyya for over 45 years, and served as coordinator of the Kinship Activity in the North America region for 20 years. His has worked with many innovative organizations and projects dedicated to helping heal the world. His love of the natural world and growing awareness of its degradation led him to focus on shedding light on the root sources of the global ecological crisis and fostering a deeper rapport with the web of life at this critical time. He enjoys walks in nature and is an editor professionally.
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Rabia PovichRabia Povich, a student of the universal Sufi path, co-leads a local Inayatiyya center in Charlottesville, VA. Motivated to advance the ideals of justice and equity, Rabia is engaged in a local community low-barrier homeless day shelter and an interfaith clergy group addressing inequity caused by systemic racism. Her professional background spanned 25 years in public policy, where she utilized advocacy, research, communication, and organizational development skills to reduce poverty and injustice and increase opportunity. She currently serves as North American Vice President of the Kinship Activity.
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Fazilee BuechelFazilee Buechel is a murid deeply committed to anti-racism work. She facilitates the Social Justice book groups hosted by the Kinship Activity. Currently Fazilee teaches English to immigrants and refugees. She is also an AmeriCorps alum and a certified mediator. She has volunteered with the Alternatives to Violence Project as a facilitator in three different countries. She lived and served at the Abode of the Message as a khadim in the Programs Office, farm, and gardens.
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Batina SheetsBatina Sheets is naturally drawn to the welfare of others. As a child, she witnessed her father’s ministerial care for numerous congregations. That awareness of others took the form of a thirty-year career in Child Protective Services. She has served as an Inayatiyya center leader, retreat guide, Cheraga and is a Suluk graduate. Batina is a member of the Kinship Council and helps coordinate the Murid Emergency Relief Fund since the Fund’s inception in 2011. In large part, her other interests revolve around her husband, Wahhab, their three children, and four grandchildren.
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Dr. Lauranett L. LeeDr. Lauranett L. Lee is a public historian, speaker and sole proprietor of L. L. Lee & Associates, a consultancy engaged in interpreting our past. She earned a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia; an M.A. in American history from Virginia State University and a B.A. in Communications from Mundelein College (now part of Loyola University, Chicago). She was the founding curator of African American history at the Virginia Historical Society. Dr. Lee has taught at several institutions of higher learning and is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Richmond. Her current passion is supporting young women in developing leadership skills.
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Dr. Renée G. SouleDr. Renée G. Soule views and engages the global ecological crisis as an initiation for humanity. Renée is an avid gardener, teacher, and counselor. Her work as an ecopsychologist began 30 years ago leading trips in exquisite wilderness settings, and matured into its current expression by working with men serving life sentences in San Quentin Prison. She is committed to ways of healing that strengthen our capacity to rectify and repair the harm we cause to our more-than-human world, while shoring up our dignity, wholeness, and innate natural belonging.
