Emmonak Women’s ShelterF

Emmonak Women’s Shelter Interviewee: Joann Horn

1. How did this work come about? And why was it necessary?

The project had already begun before I started working there. I am a survivor of

domestic violence. I started working in this area in 1978. I have been working in this area for 25

years. In 1984, I helped to organize another program and we got our own building. I started as

an advocate and served in this position for many years. There was a big need to address violence

against women and children and the program was badly needed. Women had nowhere to go to

escape the violence.

The project was necessary because of the alcohol use in the villages and surrounding

areas. There were incidences of drownings, sexual abuse, and violence. To escape from the

violence, women would hide in tall grass, among the trees, and in abandoned buildings because

they nowhere else to go. The village magistrate had a lot of cases, so she got women together to

get a safe house and had to talk to the city manager to get a building; this was granted and this

got things going. It was also open to surrounding villages.

In the fall of 2006 alcohol became legal to be brought back to the villages which increased

deaths, suicides, teen dating violence, teen pregnancy, and lack of involvement of parents in their

children’s lives. The measure to bring alcohol back into the villages was opposed and lost by only

a few votes in the referendum.

2. To accomplish your work, how does your project draw upon the best of the what has been or is in your organization and community?

We draw from a resource group that includes a handful of people. We get support from

the shelter, two churches, behavioral health, clinic, police department, and elders. We have our

own board of directors and the mayor and city manager also attend and help out at the meetings.

We also take the opportunity to attend meetings elsewhere that are discussing the same issues.

This helps us get new ideas. We work with the young people in order to prepare them for the

future; we talk with them about healthy ways of living and not drinking or using drugs. Our

message is that we came here for a purpose, not just to live in this way. The young people are

happy to hear what we have to say – I don’t know if they are hearing this same message at home.

We host activities that are educational. We sponsor traditional dancing and during the breaks we

remind them the best way to live. Women from our organization and clinic talk to young women

and men talk to young men about how to live a healthy life.

3. (a) Why did you get involved and what makes you stay? (b) What is important about what you do and what do you love most about the work?

I am a survivor and have been in and out of the shelter program until I had three

children. The oldest and second oldest were put up for adoption and the father was using them

against me. The violence in our home against me was still going on with the birth of my third

child so I left. I became a relief advocate and had experience and talked to other women about

this kind of life and how unhealthy it was. I spent a lot of time educating women about how

unhealthy living in a violence situation is and that it is not normal and that it’s not good for

children to see you beaten and bloody. That’s why I worked here and wanted to work here.

I went from a relief advocate to advocate to outreach coordinator to executive director.

When I used to cry my kids cried with me. My kids are now adults. I used to really talk with them

about the violence and abuse and that it is not normal. I tell them don’t live like that – not like

their dad. I’m happy for my kids and how they’ve grown up; my youngest went to college. One

son struggles and another son is getting better. I don’t know how I did all that I did taking care of

my family, my mother, and people I cared for and did my work.

We pray hard that families are okay in our community – and when we don’t have clients

coming to see us, we are really happy. I talk to mothers and they understand that they must

change their situation. I am happy when I am able to share and see others that are happy for the

advice and attention that they are given. I’m still working here because it is needed and we need

funding because we have lots of needs from families from here and the other villages. We want to

keep the center open because there is a big need. We always share the knowledge from our elders

which is helpful for the families.

4. When your organization has been operating at its best what have been the best, most inspiring, and creative moments and accomplishments of your project?

When there are youth gatherings, it brings young people together for workshops – kid’ s

workshops – and they are able to sit with us in the shelter and we can tell them what we do. We

discuss topics about bullying, good touch/bad touch, respect, and not putting others down. They

in turn chop wood for the elders and help them hunt. The elders teach them about respect. We

have activities on the river and have potluck dinners and social and educational gatherings. We

acknowledge their teen groups, such as the prevention of pregnancy group, and discuss how to

learn to be dependable friends. We talk to moms and use elders to help guide the conversations.

The men’s groups uses elders too. There is a core group of men that gather and talk to the young

men about behavior, and that through prayer, we can keep going and not have doubts. Some

elders have used holy pictures and have asked the blessed virgin Mary to help us with the crises

we are in.

People who are very agitated and upset call me. After a while they calm and quiet down

and thank me for talking to them in a calm way. I keep going through lots of prayer.

5. (a) Thinking big, outside the circle/box, what is the dream of the organization (What might be)? (b) How might this come about and how would you communicate this dream to others?

No more violence in our community. No more need for a shelter. We get happy when we

have no business and when we see the shelter empty. We have three bedrooms, two beds per

room, and we have cots at one end. We have had 30 people in all of these rooms and they were

completely full. Even the space in the kitchen, bedrooms, and kid’s rooms were full. I want to see

less families and to see more shelters in the villages, but the cost is very high for food and cleaning

supplies. Our clothes dryer gave out and we have to look for funding for another one. We need

clean sheets, blankets, and other items.

It is important to teach our families how to love, respect, and care for each other. We

must challenge them with statements like, you don’t want to see your daughter beaten up and

abused. The first time I was beaten up I thought I was going to die, because my parents never did

this. They loved us. I put my partner in jail a hundred times, maybe more. I don’t know.

6. What do you appreciate most about those you work with and what do they appreciate about you?

We have two regular advocates and relief workers on call. They have the strength and

skills necessary to help and support. When I need help, I can go to the advocates to help me

make decisions so I can help people coming here; but because airfare is too high it can be difficult

to get them home when they are ready to leave. I talk with co-workers to get advice about the

best way to help and work with others. We all stop what we are doing when there is a crisis and

work together. We are generous, but because of high costs, we need to learn how to say no to

some communities that are responding to the needs of their members that need services. Those

that work with us give us good advice and support. They give donations of food, wild game, and

whatever else they can. They are generous. When we call on them, they help us.

7. (a). What do you feel are the most important strategies and practices of your project? (b). How do they serve to empower the community? (c). What has your community appreciated most about what you do?

When we have gatherings and activities for the children and women, they support and

share with one another so that they know they are not alone in their struggles. They thank us for

the support we give them and for helping them learn new things. The generosity among those

that attend the gatherings runs deep. One young woman who was attending a gathering did not

have a warm coat to wear. Another young woman saw this and gave her a sweater that she was

wearing. Community members appreciate what we are doing and always ask about when the

next gathering will be. They appreciate us teaching young women and men.

8 and 9. (a) What positive images do you and your organization envision for the future of your work and the people you serve? (b) What commitments do you and your organization have to make sure you are on the right path that will lead to positive changes in the organization and community?

We are an organization that is known for the transmission of information to younger

generations to contribute to them making positive changes in the community. We believe it is

important to educate them about what is happening in their generation and that they are in

charge of their own destiny. We let them know that one day they are going to have to take

charge of things – the school, their health, their lives.

We make sure we have the commitment to take care of each other, to educate others

when they are doing wrong. We use traditional teaching to help make the point. My grandfather

used to tell a story about leadership: Men used to come to him and talk with him. I was just a

little girl at that time. They would get advice about their behavior or have questions they wanted

him to answer. The teachings always included reminders not to think in negative ways but

positive thinking and actions would always work better.

We are committed to using elders and traditional teachings to build positive change and

to be on the right path. I have taken a lot of notes from the things that elders have said, and I

remember them. I re-read them and they are helpful. If I didn’t have elders guiding me I don’t

know where I would be today.

Applying the Appreciative Inquiry 4-D Cycle

I. Discovery: The Discovery phase is a search to understand the “best of what is” and “what has been.” It begins with a collaborative act of crafting appreciative interview questions and constructing an appreciative interview guide. Appreciative interview questions are written as affirmative probes into an organization’s positive core, in the topic areas selected. They are written to generate stories, to enrich the images and inner dialogue within the organization, and to bring the positive core more fully into focus.

The evolution of the Emmonak Women’s shelter (EWS) is marked by several of the

factors that spurred the development of other Native Alaska Women’s anti-violence projects in

this study: personal experience, the lack of services to address violence, and an unwavering

commitment to end the violence. In this phase of discovery, the best of what is, is that Joann was

willing to use her experience as a survivor of violence to add her knowledge, skills, and resilience

to this project. The EWS was born out of desperation, but it’s important to remember that the

best of what is, is women helping other women escape violence to recover and heal:

The project had already begun before I started working there. I am a survivor of domestic violence. I started as an advocate and served in this position for many years. There was a big need to address violence against women and children and the program was badly needed. Women had nowhere to go to escape the violence. The project was necessary because of the alcohol use in the villages and surrounding areas. There were incidences of drownings, sexual abuse, violence. To escape from the violence, women would hide in tall grass, among the trees, in abandoned buildings because they nowhere else to go.

Collaborating and coalition-building is an important part of the best of what is. The EWS

is well-connected to other stakeholders in the community that help support the work of the

project. These linkages are critical for long-term operation and success. Joann and the staff do a

continuous amount of outreach to others. The best of what is includes investing in activities with

youth to improve their prospects for a positive future:

We draw from a resource group that includes a handful of people. We get support from the shelter, two churches, behavioral health, clinic, police department, and elders. We have our own board of directors and the mayor and city manager also attend and help out at the meetings. We also take the opportunity to attend meetings elsewhere that are discussing the same issues. This helps us get new ideas. We work with the young people in order to prepare them for the future; we talk with them about healthy ways of living, not drinking or using drugs.

EWS has discovered that integrating western public service messaging and traditional

culture to youth, and bringing older women and men together with younger women and men, is

another important part of what is the best of what is and has been:

We host activities that are educational. We sponsor traditional dancing and during the breaks we remind them the best way to live. Women from our organization and clinic talk to young women and men talk to young men about how to live a healthy life.

In order to discover what makes Joann stay in her position one has to understand the very

nature of the positive core of resilience, faith, and strength. In this instance, the best of what is, is

being able to tell a very difficult personal story to help one to understand the struggles and

strengths of survivors of violence:

I am a survivor and have been in and out of the shelter program until I had three children…The violence in our home against me was still going on with the birth of my third child so I left. I became a relief advocate and had experience and talked to other women about this kind of life and how unhealthy it was… When I used to cry my kids cried with me. My kids are now adults. I used to really talk with them about the violence and abuse and that it is not normal.

What Joann regards as what is important about what she does, and what she loves about

the work, is evident in her ability to use her experience to thoughtfully advise other survivors, use

the knowledge of tribal elders, and to use prayer as means to keep on going:

I spent a lot of time educating women about how unhealthy living in a violence situation is and that it is not normal and that it’s not good for children to see you beaten and bloody. I tell them don’t live like that. We pray hard that families are okay in our community – and when we don’t have clients coming to see us, we are really happy…I’m still working here because it is needed and we need funding because we have lots of needs from families from here and the other villages. We always share the knowledge from our elders which is helpful for the families.

The most inspiring and creative moments of the project are about community and

membership. It is about collectivist people that need one another coming together to share,

reflect, pray, listen to elders, and forming a closeness that is supportive and necessary. There is a

knowledge that exists among the survivors of violence and the elders. And, there is a long

tradition of cultural reciprocity between young and old that has existed since time immemorial:

When there are youth gatherings, it brings young people together for workshops –kids workshops – and they are able to sit with us in the shelter and we can tell them what we do. We discuss topics about bullying, good touch/bad touch, respect, not putting others down. They, in turn, chop wood for the elders and help them hunt. The elders teach them about respect. We have activities on the river and have potluck dinners and social and educational gatherings.

An important accomplishment of Joann and the project is having the ability to help those

in need to be able to lay down their burdens and lighten their load by being heard and valued.

Again, Joann believes and finds comfort in the power of prayer to do her difficult work. Author

and physician, Larry Dossey (2006, p. 9), says, “The urge to pray is universal. We know of no

culture, past or present, in which prayer does not occur. People pray when they are happy and

sad, during celebrations and tragedies, at births and deaths, during peace and war, in cathedrals

and cars, in poverty and plenty.:

When people who are very agitated and upset call me. After a while they calm and quiet down and thank me for talking to them in a calm way. I keep going through lots of prayer.

II. Dream: The Dream phase is an energizing exploration of “what might be”: a time for people to explore their hopes and dreams for their work, their working relationships, their organization, and the world at large. It is a time for groups of people to engage in thinking big and thinking out of the boundaries of what has been in the past. The intent of the Dream phase is to identify and spread generative, affirmative and hopeful images of the future

The dream of the organization is simple, clear, and profound. It is one that has been

dreamed many times by many of the staff of the different projects. Joann Horn says, end the

violence:

“No more violence in our community. No more need for a shelter. We get happy when we have no business and when we see the shelter empty. We have three bedrooms, two beds per room, and we have cots at one end. We have had 30 people in all of these rooms and they were completely full.”

How can the dream of no more violence be communicated and realized? EWS believes

that it is necessary to share with others that the need for change involves caring for one another.

Change also must be include an understanding of the stark, gut-wrenching reality of violence.

For Joanne, in order to understand violence, it must not be sugar-coated. Instead, it must be

understood that the experience of being violated might be to the point of near-death. And, the

best of what is, is telling the story and never giving up the effort to end violence.

“It is important to teach our families how to love, respect, and care for each other. We must challenge them with questions like, you don’t want to see your daughter beaten up and abused. The first time I was beaten up I thought I was going to die, because my parents never did this. They loved us. I put my partner in jail a hundred times, maybe more. I don’t know.”

III. Design: The Design phase involves making choices about “what should be” within the organization or system. It is a conscious re-creation or transformation, through which such things as systems, structures, strategies, processes and images will become more fully aligned with the organization’s positive past (Discovery) and highest potential (Dream).

Systems and structures depend on how well the people in an organization work and

support one another; it’s the what should be in an organization. Transformation of the

organization and the challenges it faces depend cooperation, sharing, and vision. The positive

core includes the strengths of commitment, service to one another, open arms, and skills and

determination that create a successful organization. The best of what is, is a full organizational

and community that does whatever is necessary to create positive transformation:

We have two regular advocates and relief workers on call. They have the strength and skills necessary to help and support. When I need help, I can go to the advocates to help me make decisions so I can help people coming here; I talk with co-workers to get advice about the best way to help and work with others. We all stop what we are doing when there is a crisis and work together. We are generous…Those that work with us give us good advice and support. They give use donations of food, wild game, and whatever else they can. They are generous. When we call on them, they help us.”

The EWS believes that what should be in the organization is work that focuses on the

building of community. That is, deliberately connecting survivors, face-to-face, with other

survivors to form social bonds of support. Most survivors and witnesses of violence often suffer

from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). EWS has the knowledge and skills to provide

education in regard to the risks of PTSD and how it can affect survivors and loved ones; in

return, community members often express their appreciation for the work that EWS is doing:

When we have gatherings and activities for the children and women, they support and share with one another so that they know they are not alone in their struggles. They thank us for the support we give them and for helping them learn new things.

An important strategy of EWS is bringing out the best in the people that it works with.

For instance, within Indigenous Peoples societies, collective generosity and gifting is frequently

practiced. However, when communities are ravaged by violence and oppression these positive

core traits can be forgotten, taken for granted, and overlooked. The generosity that happens

between individuals and groups, which is facilitated by the organization, can create important

connections and reaffirm traditional cultural practices, and is part of the best of what should be

in the organization:

“The generosity among those that attend the gatherings runs deep. One young woman who was attending a gathering did not have a warm coat to wear. Another young woman saw this and gave her a sweater that she was wearing.”

IV. Destiny: The Destiny phase initiates a series of inspired actions that support ongoing learning and innovation—or “what will be.” The Destiny phase, however, focuses specifically on personal and organizational commitments and paths forward which result in changes in organizational systems, structure, processes or procedures.

The positive image of what will be in the EWS centers on their role as a central

transmitter of critically important information that can be used to create what will be in the

community. It is the personal and professional conviction of staff that education to the next

generations should prepare them for their future destiny:

We are an organization that is known for the transmission of information to younger generations to contribute to them making positive changes in the community. We believe it is important to educate them about what is happening in their generation and that they are in charge of their own destiny. We let them

know that one day they are going to have to take charge of things – the school, their health, their lives.

What will be the destiny of the organization can be found in its commitment to the idea

that traditional culture can offer important components of wisdom to address the violence. Rich

and important stories of how elders and traditional knowledge can inspire a positive destiny have

been indispensable to the destiny of the EWS:

We make sure we have the commitment to take care of each other, to educate others when they are doing wrong. We use traditional teaching to help make the point. We are committed to using elders and traditional teachings to build positive change and to be on the right path. I have taken a lot of notes from the things that elders have said and I remember them. I re-read them; and are helpful. If I didn’t have elders guiding me I don’t know where I would be today.