Mbira…. Dance of Life

10/02/2020

Tendai Dooley

Your Experience and involvement with Social Work

This is a bit abstract – but the relationship to SW is that life is unpredictable. We need to help families and their children find their true rhythm and essence. We are become a part of any family’s narrative by virtue of hearing and interpreting their experiences. Although things do change, family identity or one’s sense of self can be impacted but the experience of the past. How people interact, negotiate and resolve situations is like a dance. I want to capture the essence that is life regardless of the circumstances and situation that someone might find themselves in. The fact that one story can be told from different perspectives is important in understanding that shared experiences will be remembered differently. In much the same way that any rhythm and sound is interpreted differently and one’s dance is always unique. Why is this related to social work – whose story do we tell, how do we tell that story and what is the ripple effect or movement as a consequence. For everything we do, and say there is an impact.

Write briefly why you chose this object and what it means to you

Still…….. Yet full of motion The twits, the turns, the mystery, the awakening Juxtaposition of life, history, culture, identity When life gazes back at us Each day a different narrative Each laugh………..an echo of hope A different experience ………trauma…………..

To understand and not condemn To salvage and not savage The mirage that is life It’s ebbs and flows Contours, peaks and ravines

Stillness in motion …..drum beat of the past, present and future A dance moulded in time………timeless And yet so familiar I hear your story………our story With each drop, life, rejections, experiences, fears, hope Become entwined

I hear you…… I see you……… The stillness that is full of motion A myriad of experiences The twists and turns, the planned, the unexpected, the pain ……the richness that is life

I write your story I tell your story………intertwined in conversation The story teller Yet I must sit still…….. And reflect on the dance that is life Still …….yet full of motion Is life yesterday, today and tomorrow?