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| Workers at beedi cigarette factory, Kerala, India / Wikipedia / CC0 |
1. Opening prayer
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Review of life and action
What happened this week? It may be something that happened at work or in the family. It may be a conversation or an article you read.
SEE
1. The facts? What exactly happened? What was your action in response?
2. The causes? What caused this to happen and why?
3. The consequences? How did it affect the people involved?
JUDGE
1. Your opinion? What are the good and bad things about this happening? And what about your action?
2. Your ideals? What do you think should be happening?
3. Your faith? What does it challenge you to do and be?
ACT
1. Long term aim? What exactly do you want to change?
2. Short term aim? What action could you take this week that would be a worthwhile step towards achieving this change?
3. Involving others? Who could you involve in your action?
4. The SJA method
An SJA group does not really get going until its members start to take action to confront the situations they are facing in their daily lives.
This action is planned and then evaluated at the meetings of the group.
It is not always easy to get action going well. There are a number of difficulties to be aware of. A group should regularly evaluate how well their action (planning and achievement) is going.
Whether or not the action planned at an SJA meeting is a good one can be evaluated as follows. The action planned must be an action that is perceived by the one being asked to do it as:
– Challenging; an action that requires some courage.
– Worthwhile; an action that could perhaps bring about change in the situation.
– Achievable; an action not too difficult to do.
– A step forward; the action would be a significant step towards bringing about a bigger change.
Action experience
Young women in an Indian village worked long hours in sheds and under trees rolling ‘beedi cigarettes' in leaf and tieing them. The job is difficult, dirty and looked down on by others. The pay is the lowest and not sufficient to provide rice.
At the end of the week the ‘manager’ drives up in his car and blows the horn. The women must run out to the car to be paid. They hate the humiliation of this in their village. “But what can we do? We are only workers?”
Someone suggests: “Perhaps there are laws protecting us beedie workers. We could find out.” They discover there are laws. There is a little book written. They find that the manager is cheating them of proper wages. They now can confront him. The action began by looking for that book.
* Beedi cigarettes – tobacco rolled in a leaf and tied with cotton. (INDIA)
5. General business
6. Closing prayer and social