The Sawbonna Project is the name I have given to the work I will continue to do with my writing workshops and courses offered in

Sawbonna
My soul sees your soul.
And our shared dancing,
Stretches to the very core
Of all that is possible.
All that is.
©Margot Van Sluytman

I am Margot Van Sluytman. I live in Alberta, Canada. Because of reading about an award I received from The Foundation for the National Association for Poetry Therapy in April 2007, for my work creating and facilitating growth experiences through experiential workshops in writing and healing voice in North America, the man, Glen Flett, who murdered my Father, Theodore Van Sluytman, March 27, 1978 contacted me. I chose to share dialogue with him and we have shared encounter with forgiveness.

The phrase that is used for what occurred between Glen Flett and I is: Restorative Justice. I did not know about this before I was offered the gift of opportunity to dialogue with the human being who ended the life of a human being I loved so deeply. Now I know of this phrase, and I know as well, that Restorative Justice happens in very different ways for each individual who is involved in it. What has happened for me, is only one of a myriad of possibilities for those who have been harmed by crime, or have caused the harm, to find ways to navigate their lives.

I am a poet. I am an Expressive Writing Facilitator. I made the choice to work with words as healing voice because since I was little, and particularly after my Dad was murdered, it is words/palabras, poetry, story, that have essentially saved my life; and which in a sense caused the email to come, the email that would shape my life and my work newly.

I have written a book entitled Sawbonna: I See You. Dialogue of Hope about how restoration and transformation came for me and the man who killed my Dad. Howard Zehr, PhD has written the Foreword, and Sr. Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking, has offered me a quotation to use on the cover of Sawbonna: I See You. Dialogue of Hope.

I believe that one story can and does save and honour life.

I believe that when we can look at our very selves in the mirror and own all that we are, we know Sawbonna, and we learn to shape, to reshape hope and possibility. We can learn to write new life-stories.

Sawbonna: Dialogue of Hope

Restorative Justice a Real Life Story

By Margot Van Sluytman. Palabras Press. 2009.

Sr. Helen Prejean, csj, Author of Dead Man Walking, says of Sawbonna: Dialogue of Hope:

“In writing of her journey through grief, hope, and healing, revealing the dialogue she shared with the man who killed her father, author Margot Van Sluytman offers you a genuine and generous manner of how you too might navigate the seeming unnavigable world of life after violent crime.”

Howard Zehr, PhD, Centre for Justice & Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University, Author of Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice, writes in his Foreword to Sawbonna: Dialogue of Hope:

"Ultimately, restorative justice is about values. Three key restorative values stand out for me: respect, responsibility and relationship. Margot’s remarkable story in Sawbonna: Dialogue of Hope embodies all of these values. She speaks from the heart with clarity and eloquence, affirming her mantra that poetry is both art and healing. In doing so, she demonstrates once again the humanity of both those who have been harmed and those who have been the cause."

Dr. Michael L. Hadley, Project Director, “The Spiritual Roots of Restorative Justice,” Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria:

“Margot Van Sluytman shares insights into the experiences of two people whose lives were radically altered by a violent encounter. It highlights signposts and turning points on their life-long search for spiritual healing. It marks a deeply personal step towards restoring the once-broken moral bond of community."

Diane Allerdyce, PhD, President of The National Association for Biblio/Poetry Therapy:

“This book tells a story that will sting your eyes and open your heart. Margot Van Sluytman's account of her encounter with the man that had murdered her father years ago sets an example for all of us and speaks to words' incredible potential to transform and heal. I cannot think of a more compassionate voice than the one that rises from these pages to tell of a journey of pain, into the rare realms of apology and true forgiveness.”