18 Dec The 2021 Rites Together year in perspective
December 2021: Rites Together AGM and celebration
16 people came together and celebrated the year that was and looked back at an eventfull year with many highlights. The AGM brought many new faces from the community circles and leadership training, creating new ideas and possibilities for 2022. As one of the attendees commented about the AGM : “this is the only AGM were I can sit barefee in circle and talk freely and openly about my passion and hopes and dreams feeling supported and heard”. We dealt with business in a gentle and easy way, had great conversations and beautifull food and created a great vibe for the year to come.
November 2021: Rites Together Father and Son Connection camp
10 Fathers and 11 sons came to deepen their connection with each other and as a community. This weekend was developed to explore pre-Rites of passage transitions for the boys age 11-13 as they move from primary to high school environments and the challanges that come with moving towards exposure to the adolescent and adult world. Mixed with lots of connecting and fun activities were times to share and reflect, be challenged and play, swim and just hang out. The experience was profound for both the men and the boys who came away with a renewed feeling of connection , deepening conversation and appreciation of each others qualities and gifts.
July – November 2021: Rites Together Community Circles
Three open community circles were held with an increased attendance for each circle. The circles were set up to connect people from various programs within Rites Together and continue and deepen conversations related to Rites of Passage and leadership in the community.
The circles also facilitated growth and self reflection and it was encouraging to see young men, parents, leaders and participants from leadership training attend, as well as people from outside the Rites Together Community that wanted to find out about our programs. This exploration was encouraging and filled a gap creating opportunity for continued integration of learnings from our camps and how these may be continued in day to day life, and create possibilities for community leadership opportunities.
Two further sessions are already scheduled for January 19 and March the 16th 2022 and available for registering on our web and facebook pages
August 2021 Rites Together/ Perth Waldorf Steiner school year 10 camp
Rites Together teamed up for the 5th year with PWS to facilitate the year 10 camp. the camp included honing skills in tarpology, firemaking, bush cooking, mapping and poncho making .
Two nights out in smaller groups for reflection and nature and social connection before back together in the full community for a final night around the fire sharing stories of the time our time out on country which took the form of Song, story, poem, play and lots of laughter.
As is often the case when we think the adventure is over there is one last twist in the tale. As most the students had settled into their sleeping bags under the stars or tarps there was a shift in energy with the sky turning dark and rain came down and created a last challenge for the camp. After a night of drying sleeping bags, socks and lots of community spirit, the students set off home from the beautifull Murchison Station near Kalberri.
Leaving a space like this is never easy with students saying they loved connecting with each other in such a special place.
Rites Together is excited to be working with PWS and looking to explore opportunities with other schools if your son / daughter’s school is looking something different for their camps please put us in contact or let us know by email
May 2021: Rites Together leadership training
15 participants came together in May 2021 driven by their shared curiousity and passion for Rites of Passage. The weekend held many wonderfull conversations and sharing of personal experiences, wisdom and insights. The weekend was filled with experiential opportunities and facilitation of processes to create an experience of the process involved in Rites of Passage to give people the skill and insight to bring this to their communities.
Overall the training was a wonderfull celebration of life experiences that will create support and mentoring to young people in the future, and allow new leaders to come on board for future Rites Together camps. All in all both participants and volunteer leaders had a deep, rich and fun experience allowing for more opportunity for Rites of Passage programs in the WA community in future.
Thanks to Leaders
Just to acknowledge finaly all those leaders that have freely given their time this year and juggled their commitments to make the programs happening. It has been a real community effort and Rites Together as an organisation is priviledged to have such a great number of skilled, talented and committed people in their community.
To be part of our 2022 programs please view our facebook page or website events calender