'Quaker peacebuilding in Africa' - 2016 Swarthmore Lecture with Cécile Nyiramana and Esther Mombo
Woodbrooke
966 views May 4, 2017
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The lecture provides Quakers and others involved in peace work the chance to hear about how this inspirational work has led to the transformation of suffering into a force for social change.
The lecture provides an opportunity to consider peace building as local community work; we have peace work to do on our own streets, and Friends from other Yearly Meetings with experience of this can help us in our work. Worldwide issues of peace, reconciliation, justice and injustice will be illuminated by their healing work.
Cécile Nyiramana is the current Clerk of Rwanda Yearly Meeting, having served and worked for the Yearly Meeting in a variety of roles. She founded nine groups of Women in Dialogue, a peace program bringing together widows, genocide survivors and perpetrators wives. Cecile currently works for African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM-Rwanda) as Head of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation. Cecile is a leading peacemaker with established record of promoting human rights and peace and justice.
Esther Mombo is a member of Bware Yearly Meeting, Kenya. And Professor of African Church history, Gender and theology at St. Paul’s University in Limuru Kenya. Esther’s PhD (from Edinburgh University) focused on the Development of Quakerism in Kenya with special reference to the role of women and she has received an honorary doctorate from Virginia theological seminary for her work in highlighting issues of gender disparities and gender justice in church and society. Her research and teaching interests span the fields of Church history, with a focus on Mission history, interfaith relations, and theology and Gender studies with a focus on African women’s theology, HIV and AIDS. Esther serves in several ecumenical committees including the Commission of Education and Ecumenical formation of the World Council of Churches and works with religious groups on issues of Gender and women’s full participation in church and society.
Key moments
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Transcript
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hello my name is Sandra Barry and I'm director of wood Brook and we're here at Wood Brook Quaker Study Center in
Birmingham recording an introduction to the 2016 swarm elector sophomore lecture
has been given every year but one since 1908 it is a public lecture that seeks to
interpret the life the beliefs and the witness of the religious Society of Friends to ourselves and to others
the sophomore lecture is under the care of wood Brook trustees and each year
they discern both the topic and the names of the lecturers to give the lecture for 2016 the two names were
Cecile nee Romana and Esther Monroe Esther comes from
Kenya and she's a member of highlands yearly meeting one of 23 in Kenya she is
by profession a teacher and by academic discipline a theologian specializing in
theological education in her professional life she has worked for the
last 25 years or so in various social services and has been engaged in seeking
to make education accessible to all since she believes that an educated people are less vulnerable to being
manipulated by those who abuse power one of the most influential figures in her
own spiritual and peace journey is her grandmother as a preacher in her local
meeting and among the four women of her time recognized for prison ministry she was widely admired from the oral
histories of both sides of her family Esther learn endless fascinating stories and this frame of reference provides her
with the spiritual intellectual and emotional lens through which she has over the years formed her own
impressions understanding and opinions of being a woman about being religious
about conflict and about what ought to constitute peace
sadly Cecile was unable to attend the lecture herself and so we're going to hear from her in her own words
something about her life and work my name is Cecile nur Amana and I'm from
lander Kigali in Africa when I heard that the idea to
bring together the widow's survivors from the genocide and the prisoners
wives some of my church members told me no no no no this is a waste of time you
will never get it you will never achieve it and I said no let me try I went to
one community and I asked some prisoners
wives to come together because on one side I am up trees on a wife my husband
is in prison and I call those women we pray together we have a we set up a
meeting then I present the idea are you willing to sit with the widow survivors
to face the truth and also to break the barriers because they are supposed to be
your enemies but we need to do something to prepare the future of our children
the decision was made after a so long discussion because the way the women
were open with me and said you know how can we sit with those women we know they
don't like us and we do not like them and also we are sure that they will not
accept to sit with us because of what Dada
our husband did this was a long long discussion but finally they said ok
let's write then I call another meeting I set up another meeting with the widow
survivors because I have many common things with them as someone who lost
some family members during the genocide they present the idea what if as mom's can come together
with those prisoners wives who are responsible families like us see
together and felt the truth and talk about the genocide and they talk about the possible forgiveness and
reconciliation and they said no we are kidding this is not possible
the world's women those prisoners wives we can sit with them we keep reading we
keep talking and finally they said okay we can't watch someone can't forgive
with a broken heart we need first to
heal the wounds the deep wounds then
start the work of peace and reconciliation when you are still living
with your deep wounds it is not easy to forty years and
without forgiving it is not easy to love someone they need to him then forgive
can you loss and when we love someone we
will try to do better and seek something good into others
the leg - you're about to hear laughs around an hour long and the views expressed to those of the lecturers
alone but before we do that we're going to ask Esther a few questions about what
it was like to deliver the lecture and some of the preparation that went into it
when we received the letter of invitation it was said to us that yes
two of us I've been asked to do the lecture we did not know each other
personally and so that created a bit of anxiety and we wondered how we would go
on with the lecture personally I thought I'll just write the lecture and cecile
write the lecture and maybe we'll both read the lectures but then we got this
instruction that the letter was going to be one so fast it was to make the
initial contacts with Susilo no words mean so I traveled to Wanda and they was
accommodated at Pease house we have three days with Cecile wonderful day the
first day was just getting to know who she was who I was what I was doing how I
was doing things and then families and actually when we go to our families then
had a number of things in common the second day was to talk about now what is
this letter sampled and you are asking each other questions why while we chosen to to do what were they looking for why
did you accept but then what is the letter about what will we do so we went
round and round asking Arthur's questions and talking about criticism in East Africa East and Central Africa
which is different from Quakerism in Britain
and of course then we were to understand they are Rwandan history of craters
Canyon history of Quakers and we agreed yeah we'll tell them something about the
Quakers here and how unique we are then
we put down some points on the things that we really wanted to see then the
third day we concluded and did a report to an and hurry because they had made it
very clear that they will walk with us in the preparation and the writing of the lecture and then the report we
basically said we've gotten to know each other and these are the things we think we'll put in the in the lecture as well
as that peace building we'll also talk about the context in which the peace
building is done and the peace builders
we received comments back from an unhurried saying this is wonderful it's
a good stat so we will meet now with an
again so an asked us to meet and we agreed one little wonder so she came to
and I was accompanied by a chief secretary of the WCC section Africa we
are accommodated again at his house and so we met the first morning again
introductions of each of us including David butcher after that we now began to
lay down the different sections of the literature as it should be it was hard
work because it was thinking through you know these are the things you want to say but why are you saying this it was
also good to understand the reasoning behind the lecture the many years it has
been given a shock that we were the first people to give it from Africa
as women so that was it was getting more interesting but also more worried the
wait was now heavy so they're two days with an we had a whole structure of the
different aspects and an helped us to see aspects that would would be really
needed although we had to write them that idea we agreed who was writing in
section and then we also agreed that an
and Harry who constantly give us polite reminder if we were not able to let
because both of us are busy people but is that time that then we realized I am
a khadeem ik I do piece work through academics and succeed is an activist and
that was a bit frustrating because as an academic and I need all this background
this history I enjoy that and succeed like this is what you do when there is
an issue around peacebuilding we also agreed the people we were going to talk
to in Kenya in Uganda in Grandda in Burundi and DRC and who was going to do
what and by when so when we finished in in Rwanda of course you also had a bit
of free time we went to the museum and did things that were just not PCB the
writing so we parted and now began just writing I remember my first question my
first action was a big synopsis of critical Denis Eastern Central Africa as
I knew it and because part of my studies has been on Quakers in East Africa
particularly Kenya and sessile doing her bit and when we sent it of course you
are told this is good but really this is not what is expected on collection just
a bit disappointing so I've done all this work and you are telling that I need to cut or do this and that
but we continue to to to now right we didn't meet again but it was just
writing so we were on draft one draft two draft three draft for draft five six
seven the goodness was that we first supported from this end that whatever
you are writing you one would on you our own because at some stage I'd even asked
why can't you just let us write and wait for us to come and deliberate you know why would you be with us but the joy was
that when we sent drafts there was somebody who was looking at it from
different eyes seeing areas where we were repeating ourselves or was saying the same things and magic them together
finally for the final meeting we had like the tenth draft which then we
worked on in Ruby session and our met in Aruba with Harry spent three days doing
basically nothing going for meals and coming back sitting down writing and
rewriting checking and double-checking on release is what we want to say see
that we want to see it then we send Harry came with a draft on that the
draft that we worked on and delivered I think it was the 16th draft that was finally given
it hit me really really hard we agreed when we met the last time that we will
arrive on the 25th which was a Wednesday we will spend that day acclimatizing and
sharing the sections of of the lecture that the bits that are greed and a bit
that she would read we even made plans on how we were going to start the letter
we said things or maybe because we came from program meetings will sing a song and started packing because that is our
uniqueness and in peacebuilding song was very important for us so on the fried it
was clear she was not going to come I had the whole of this letter to to
deliver and I think I remember telling her Ian and maybe I should also pull out
but of course too late I was here I had to deliver it so on the Saturday morning
I came I checked the microphone and went back and I spent the whole morning and
afternoon reading and reading that lecture because there were sections I
was sure I don't worry because I know them but somebody else would read them but now I had not only to know them but
I had to ensure that I was engaged even those sections or I was engaged in the
whole literature so I practiced if I stood in my room practice to reading it
and reading it practicing some of the names that maybe were difficult that I
wasn't sure of and still in my mind I thought maybe I'm not alone you know she
still here but the thing was that I first she was with me because it's that
we had laid back together we had carried this together only that at the delivery
she wasn't there to help poor Shira use that language so I came and stood there
and really felt alone I thought you know alone
I was happy that there was Harvey and Anne who I knew and a few other friends but I still felt I was alone but
spiritually there was a presence there was a presence the applicants I said her picture should just be seen and I
decided we were no I was not going to change if we had said we in direct
lecture it was still going to remain we but it was not the easiest of the times
for me to just do it on my own but our presence of spirit ounces was there and
so talking about we effort I wasn't alone and of course there we concept as
an African which is a real one we talked about which rather than I so it was good
to do that in the end
you
good evening my name is Esther mumble
when the introduction was being done I was wondering who are they introducing
but it is me tonight I speak on behalf
of myself and Cecile Mira mana who as
you have heard cannot be with us tonight we work together on this lecture and
Cecile is very much a part of it so when I say we this evening you will
know that this is truly a collaborative effort and the message of this lecture
are one that we both wish to convey let
me start by appreciating the opportunity to convey to France in Britain something
of the work that we and many others have been engaged in we have been grateful for all the
support along the journey and for the generosity of friends here we also are
grateful for the support of our own yearly meetings for our family and
friends this morning I spoke to my mother and he wished me well when I said
I was speaking to you tonight in this lecture we are going to try to give you
a flavour of Quaker peace building work in five countries in East and Central
Africa Kenya Rwanda Burundi Democratic
Republic of Congo and Uganda over the last twenty years these countries have
experienced eternal conflict these have been different from country to country
in their severity and their length and some are still ongoing Burundi is a case
in point and as we speak tonight we know that there is fighting and many
displaced people in that country the Quakers have been directly affected
and I've been challenged to respond we believe we have made a difference along
with others there have been some inspiring leaders among us and we are
going to tell you some of their stories we have drawn on peace building tools
that were already in existence and develop some of our own and will tell
you something about this we can also see several general things in this word
which seem to us to be applicable far beyond our countries and perhaps to you
we believe you have invited us here wrote only to inform yourselves but also
because you can see some of the same things in your own context and we hope
that some of what we will say will speak to your concerns as well a motivation
for engaging peace comes from our personal experiences and also our convictions as Christians following the
teachings of Jesus on peace interferes own words I say my involvement in peace
comes from the experience of the 1994 genocide again is to see in Rwanda I
grew up in a good family with my brothers and my sisters when pursuing my
studies in universities I met my future husband and we decided to get married
then the genocide came and destroyed so many lives and broke so many
relationships between one Daan's who used to be one people personally I
lost relatives friends and my mother the genocide left incredible consequences
there were many widows and orphans and many properties were destroyed in
addition there were many separated families where most of the husbands had
been arrested and imprisoned and the others had fled the country Roma
efficient broken hearts and relationships were the major issues then
grande yearly meeting started a relief program then in 1998 they began a
conflict management and healing program I was among the first group to see the
light shining in the darkness then as a mother whose husband is still in prison
and who lost family members I was inspired to do something I was pushed by
the hardship I suffered to heal my broken heart and rebuild relationships
to the sake for the sake of creating a common ground and space safe space for
the future of our children this is why I initiated the groups of women in
dialogue which bring together the widows of genocide survivors and prisoners
wives to work towards reconciliation I have been doing this ever since 2001
peace building is my passion for myself
as I am women my grandmother talked to me about the Quakers and peace she told
me that Quakers are people who are not engaged in war she spoke about how her
husband was conscripted to war and died in war he was taken and told he would
not be engaged in war but support of the wounded but she still said it was
against Quaker ideals to go to participate in war during the 2007
elections clashes my brother and my family lost and his family lost
everything because he was living in a place that was not within his tribe
after a long wait in a police station he found his way to a safe place
losing everything meant his children could not go to school and as a family
we had to see that his children went to school I experienced what lack of peace
meant as we dealt with my brother shock and others like him being affected made
me to be engaged with peace initiatives in the as well as our personal experiences the
motivation for peace is rooted in Quaker belief in the dignity and worth of all
human beings because they are created in the image of God aside it is not the
will of God for people to be oppressed by poverty hunger disease or tyranny it
is not God's will that people in Africa should be the victims of repression or
injustice God desires the peace and prosperity of all the social conditions
prevailing in East and Central Africa a major hindrance of the gospel of Jesus
Christ making peace is promoting the activities that will render peace possible feasible and practicable making
peace is removing the obstacles that prevent peace from being realized
let us begin with a quick picture of Quakerism in our countries to set the
scene it is important to note two things from the outset the first is that about
half the Quakers in the world are in Africa most are Anisa East and Central Africa
from where we come and which is the focus of this lecture though there are
small numbers in the southern and West Africa to the majority of friends in our
region are in Kenya the estimated number of friends in the region is 600,000
secondly in Africa the different quarter traditions of unprogrammed programmed
evangelical and conservative meetings converge that is one and program meeting
in a ruby but the majority of meetings in East and Central Africa are programmed or evangelical program
meetings are aligned the French United meeting and evangelical meetings to Dave
Angelica French tracks international both headquartered in the United States
both both the programmed and evangelical
Quaker meetings in Africa emphasized the centrality of Christ and obedience to the teachings of Scripture and the
meetings employed pastors pastor pastors are not hiring priests they are a
combination of what friends in Britain called elder over here recording more
fisa recorded minister all the Quaker meetings gathered together in Africa
section of the French were committee for consultation it has regional
headquarters in Nairobi the first Quakers in East Africa came from Britain
and they settled in pendant and worked with freed slaves they were followed by
American missionaries from Indiana who arrived in Kenya which was a British
colony in 1902 Tanzania was a German colony
Rwanda Burundi and DRC were Belgian colonies and Uganda was soon to become a
protectorate the British colonial government permitted American Quakers
Edgar Hawley with his Hotchkiss and other children to establish a mission
station intimacy in western Kenya over the next 60 years the number of Quakers
grew substantially and schools and hospitals were established France Theological College was
established in 1942 to Train spaces to work in the growing Quaker communities
among the five students was a woman Rizzo a masseur who became a sea
preacher and teacher of women in Kenya through mission activities by American
and African Quakers Quakerism spread to other countries in western Africa the
largest concentrations being in Burundi and random the Quaker meetings in
Burundi was founded in 1934 under the guidance of Edna and other children who
had left Kenya in 90 27 from Burundi the quest attached was
established in Wanda by George Morris and Doris and the real at Ferguson
former missionaries to Burundi the evangelical tax of Wanda was founded in
1986 and given legal status in 1987 many
people saw this as a miracle because of the difficulties involved in registering
new taxes in Rwanda missionaries assumed the main leadership positions at first
but soon handed over to be Africans the distinctive features of Quakerism in
Rwanda is the practice of water baptism the question the aquatic tax in DRC was
founded in 1981 by missionaries from the mundi the Quaker meetings in Tanzania
were founded by came and friends who migrated there quicker settled on the
margins of the Serengeti Game Reserve as well as getting land they founded the
fastway committees which were later supported by the then East Africa yearly
meeting these meetings grew to become the Tanzania yearly making monkey me
empty the quota presence in Uganda also began with friends from Kenya and Uganda
really meeting was founded in 1980 it is magnificent but the first night fifty or
sixty years of Quakerism in East and Central Africa were the final years of
the colonial period the process of colonization varied between countries
but it often heightened ethnic tensions such as those between Kikuyu and other
tribes in Kenya and between Hutu and Tutsi in Banda and Burundi these
tensions have remained aspects that Africans have had to deal with in relation to peace building
conflict imbalance is what characterizes most of the continent and our region is
not exceptional for a period now ethnic relations
related violent political conflicts have been experienced in the following
countries where preterism is a part of the Christian tradition Burundi
Democratic Republic of Congo wandah Uganda and Kenya Tanzania is
exception from the 1980s to the 1990s
who under came into the international spotlight for a host of reasons
including ongoing conflicts a record of severe human rights abuses and the
actions of successive governments that seriously violated the rights of
citizens with impunity the ethnic divisions were father enforced through
the enacting and implementation of the humanizing laws and policies in their
quality of treatment and differential access to amenities basic services and
the protection of the state as a result many London's left the country as
refugees settling in neighboring states and further abroad in 1990 that won this
Patriotic Front based in Uganda began a war against ACTA daddy government this
caused political instability higher levels of poverty infrastructure
destruction and internally displaced people in 1994 an estimated 800,000 CC
and moderate Hutu were killed and 2 million refugees fled the country in one
of the most brutal genocide of the 20th century in 1995 the UN called for an
outreach program to help prevent future acts of genocide the day of remembrance
of the victims of the one that genocide has been observed in April each year
since 2004 ten years after the genocide took place many people around the world
hold memorial ceremonies that includes candle lighting
and a minute of silence to honor the victims of one the genocide the UN days
also a time for diplomats and key community figures to talk with
communities about the atrocities of genocide and the importance of working
towards peace peaceful way of life student conferences exhibitions and
other commemorative activities are also held Burundi has experienced in famine
internal conflicts for many years and this has recently began again after a
period of relative calm as we give this lecture the situation is volatile with
many displaced people and the death of some dialogue appears not to be making
any headway in northern Uganda the conflict in the Acholi district caused
by the Lord's Resistance Army began in the 1980s many were killed and many
children were kidnapped and forced to become domestic slaves or charged soldiers the aftermath of the ultimate
of this continuous with many traumatized people needing ongoing support as we
shall be showing in the testimony of great eternal places in this lecture on
the whole Kenya has been relatively peaceful space but the 2007
post-election violence threatened this profounder within a few days more than
1,000 people had been killed and over 600,000 rendered homeless while a
significant number who are forced to flee their homes and became internally displaced people the issues behind this
conflict what to do with ethnicity failed political processes and economic
disadvantage in all these countries in recent years many friends have responded with peace
building initiatives until these various conflicts erupted we like many friends
around the world had been living peaceful lives helping each other and I
neighbors in various ways without drawing my attention to ourself but some
of us have been forced out of our comfort zones and been called to do so
much more we have interpreted peace
building very broadly since as Christians we recognize that peace is
not simply the absence of war it has to do with justice reconciliation healing
and forgiveness many Quakers in the region have engaged in different forms
of peace building some of us have worked to resolve conflicts and some of us have
focused on post-conflict trauma healing and rehabilitation some of us have
worked to ameliorate the conditions which give rise to conflict by meeting
basic needs such as food and shelter some of us have worked to make society
function more equitably for example through nonviolent campaigns
aimed at reducing discrimination or by developing peace education or through
election monitoring and developing civic skills creating work opportunities
especially for young people and women has been another trend an important aim
or what this building has been to help communities to hear and be reconciled to
each other so that they grow together as communities violence causes segregation
along identity lines with individuals and groups becoming isolated and
exclusive claiming that they are on only safe when with my people as Quakers we
embark on peace building to help reconcile people to God to neighbor and
to nature our work begins with dealing with the heart not only at the
individual level but healing at all levels of society for lasting peace we
do this because conflict in our region is rooted in the political politics of
exclusion in which people find themselves denied the identity their
freedom or resources as a result people react change or transformation of the
means of pain stems from faith if healing is to bring people and
communities together across cultures the first step is forgiveness reconciliation
therefore means creating new relationships and this begins with
healing past hearts and framing a vision for a better future it is again at this
background that several diverse ways have been used in peace building in the
region we will now turn to describing some of the tools we have used along
with examples of situations where they have been helpful one of the tools we
are using is conflict management in conflict management workshops
individuals and organizations are taught skills for dealing with interpersonal
disputes without the aid of a neutral third party a complementary tool is
mediation which does involve a neutral third party in resolving disputes in
Rwanda some of those trained go on to become volunteer mediators with friends
dis house which was founded to do this work and has received many requests for
training in conflict money meant and mediation mediation has been
successful used to help reconcile survivors and defendants from both
ethnic groups in London it has also been taught in Quaker primary and secondary
schools to reduce conflict between students teachers and parents committees
it has contributed a lot to promoting the culture of peace in Quaker schools
it has been extensively used in Burundi as in this testimony I am living the
kumano founder of my Parekh or ministry for peace and reconciliation under the
cross a national coordinator of Sanwa Mahara in Burundi my country has been
ravaged by a violent and ethnic conflict from 1993 there were two options for
young people joining the armed groups or go for peace building since then my
Parekh started to contribute to peace building by equipping young people in conflict management and mediation many
peace committees were born and have been able to mediate the communities successfully bringing together people
from different ethnic groups using the tools of conflict management and mediation
providing constant management and mediation was not enough in communities
like Wanda Burundi DRC or in Kenya there was a need to help people to
constructively address their own violent feelings this is why the alternatives to
violence project has been another valuable tool for us it was brought to
us by friends from the United States through the African Great Lakes initiative usually known as ugly LVP
workshops focus on seeking but that which is good in ourselves and others and on
cooperation community building skills trust respect and inclusiveness they
foster communication skills deep listening speaking with clarity and
responsibility all leading to conflict transformation ugly introduced ACP in
Wanda in 2001 Burundi in 2002 and western Kenya and
Nairobi 2003 and eastern Congo in 2005
these programs now all have local experienced trained AVP facilitators and
lead facilitators who can offer advanced workshops and training for facilitators
every piece teaches people that they can choose to respond to violence by active
non-violence this tool has helped prisoners grassroot leaders under local
government and also many that targeted judges in wonder in Brandon tradition
guitarra a word meaning justice amongst the grass is a form of truth and
reconciliation and restorative justice which was adapted in 2001 following the
1994 genocide the major-general site led to the death
torture or one estimated 800,000 people and
there are and there was a need to develop an effective way to try the more
than 100,000 people accused of genocide and war crimes it was estimated that it
would take more than a hundred years to try such a massive number of accused
using existing justice methods the solution was to adapt that I tried the
system to work in concert with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to ensure that justice was
speedily but also fair like I said a court system necessarily evolved to fit
the scenario from its prior form the guitar the hot are resigned to promote
communal healing and rebuilding Rwanda has especially focused on the community
rebuilding placing justice in the hands of the trusted citizens though these
judges had been trained it became clear that they needed peace building skills
that's why France beachhouse decided to use a VP to build their capacity just to
seek that which is good in others and to work on cooperation building trust
respect and inclusiveness they also learned communication skills this was in
western province go my district and equip the judges as well as community
leaders as mentioned in the following testimony I am Cesar le marceline from
Ronda friends peace house I remember when we organized a VP training for the
community leaders from Gama district the vice mayor of good governance told us that a VP is a tremendous tool for good
governance the skills we have now will help us to respond peacefully in a
situation of violence it will as well help us leaders to it peacefully those who are coming to us
we will be able to listen and understand them and find ways to solve their
problems we are grateful for this important tool for peace also these days a VP is helping
prisoners in Ronda most of them are confessing saying that they have never
realized that there is the option to respond to violence by non-violence if
they would have known AVP before the genocide they will not be in prison they
are promising to use AVP principles in prison their families as well as in
their respective communities when out of Prisons one major consequence of tribal and
ethnic conflict in Africa is deeply wounded and broken heart it would be
impossible to reconcile communities without considering the unhealed wounds and the deep traumas many have
experienced this is why a new tool was developed in Wanda and Burundi healing
and rebuilding our communities or heroes this program to explain people from one
side of the conflict and tales from the other side for a three-day workshop in
Brandon Grundy this means to cease and Hutus he Rock believes that in every
person there is something good this is a radical notion in societies where most
members have witnessed neighbors and even family members committing gruesome acts of violence and we are both victims
and perpetrators of violence experienced trauma and it's after-effects healing
from trauma and building peace between groups are deeply connected it is not
possible to successfully do one without the other trauma healing and peace building
efforts must happen simultaneously he Rock slowly builds trust within the
group as the fasting it is common for pub participants to be worried of
attending workshops fearing they might be a trap aware they will
attacked sent back to prison or killed through experiential activities and
cooperative exercises participants began to relax opening the way to the second
stage known as remembrance and moon in the workshops a forum is created for
participants to pay tribute to their losses and to share grief with others
this process helps to humanize the other leading to the final stage of
reconnection many program participants report having first very isolated in
their grief and their reactions to trauma they have experienced the
workshops became an important first step in realizing that they are not alone as
one recent participant a genocide often wrote in evaluation I was thinking that
I have nothing new but I found that I can even use my wounds to kill other people and I found
that there is a good thing in every person even though he or she is full of
trauma and problems another important aspect of reconnection is the process of
rebuilding relationships across the lines of who to and to see they are by
strengthening the fabric of communities torn apart along with your values the
testimony of one participant will last you this I am so langham anita guha from
hroc rwanda firstly hroc helped me to heal my heart wounds it is
not easy for a broken heart healer to listen to someone traumatized but what I
like from H R or C it is helping to discover yourself recognize your
wickedness and trauma rehabilitate yourself then try to help those who are
in need of healing in addition hroc helps to heal the wounded hearts
forgiving each other then get reconciled for example in gazania community two
families reconcile successfully one survivor and a release prisoner who
attended H ROC training decided to forgive each other and now their
families became real friends we are helping more people in forgiveness and
reconciliation and there is another testimony from grace ki chancho from
northern uganda consigning work with child soldiers who had been forced to
serve in the lost 50 spent a meal and also with their fifties through my
involvement with soldiers i found they were fearing and anxious they were just like two victims I realized that what
the government will see or what the rest of the pendant would see about child soldiers or their victims was different
from the real experiences that the people were having and later we did some
work managing anger and a lot of the people even those who didn't read or write were able to
express themselves their anger about the things that had happened to them during the war and so much was related not just
to the experience then a lot of them went very far back in their life to their childhood so connecting to
people's realize more and more gave me the impetus to continue in this work
much later in 2013 or 2014 I started doing the healing and rebuilding
communities work again in northern Uganda with people from the Lord's Resistance Army War I wouldn't know how
to describe it because they were times you would get in a room and somebody
will tell their story and start screaming and crying and I will think how are we going to manage we only have
three days people are screaming and they're showing there's a lot of pain are we just not going to leave them with
open wounds by that short time rebuilding community having people share
together see that there are other people with pain loud healing to take place friends and
among the people in this world was still doing great work will still believe in not necessarily publicizing themselves
but working from their hearts and continuing with whatever group of people it is whether poor or rich in this
simple way doing great things extraordinary things we know that
addressing the root causes of conflict is better than dealing with the consequences of conflict poverty is one
interest to sustainable peace and you too trains people in entrepreneurship
and to set up savings and credit programs to reduce poverty including
microcredit use this tool is used to change the mindset of the community in
terms of economic empowerment to open up their eyes to work they can do provide
sources of power capital and show them how they can work together to generate
and economic an income to improve the standard of life of their families
economic empowerment contributes a lot to sustained sustainability of the peace
work for instance in in the community of Google Sarah and random survivors and
release prisoners got trained in Europe and AVP are now construct houses
together they stay together living in the same neighborhood and were
reconciled and forgave each other now they are still working together to share in the country's message of forgiveness
and reconciliation the final thing to mention is turning the tide panning the
tide is a training program developed by quaker peace and social witness it aims
to help people use the power of non-violence to turn the tide of injustice oppression and disempowerment
and to build an inclusive sustainable and fair world they offer workshops
speakers advise others sources the timing decide website
described nine violence gasps man violence is aware of activity
confronting injustice you're doing nothing not responding violently not
running away but traveling creatively to transform the situation it's about doing
conflict better bringing about change without doing harm timing the tide has
been working Kenya since 2009 to help local activists stand up for human
rights and social justice standing the tide has also worked in collaboration with the East Africa peace building
program another initiative of the QP s W that provides an extensive programme of
training courses teaching non-violence direction action in Kenya training the
child has been extended to wonder in partnership with the one day yearly meeting and to Burundi in partnership
with me parrot to encounter local peace activists to make their voice heard
while advocating for human rights promotion as well as social justice here
is an example from Wanda I am Daniel
into the RMA one of the TTT workers in row buffer district Western Province the
community-based nonviolent campaigns have already been started by the resource people they identify the case
of injustice against the north one who was about 17 years old and who had been raped by a neighbor she got pregnant and
then the family decided to get quiet a stepfather and the neighbour decided to
hide her in some family room prison until they got ways she called about the
TTT resolves people mobilized the community shared the case and then got more news about all the forms of
injustice 'as the head of card - that often once the TTT agents got
information they decided to work with the local governance leaders took leading advocate for the girl then they
came together with the community and talked to the girl's family and father and let us ask them to free
her from the prison where they had put her then the TTT resource where the community leaders took the girl to the
hospital and reported to the police now the girl has a beautiful baby girl
although she is traumatized because of what she went through in addition she is
followed by the counselors who are helping her to recover she is very thankful to TTT which
advocated for her until she found justice we finish this section about
tools with some general points about them all of these different tools have
been translated into local languages to be domesticated and be more effective
they can also be adapted to meet the needs of the community concerned the
tools do not have to be used on their own they can often be used together in
the same community to great advantage this happened with a group of women in
dialogue in Musante who went through the healing process Gor skills on alternatives to violence and on conflict
resolution and Prevention then they were given skills in entrepreneurship today
the women are still working together on peace and development in the Kenyan
situation during the post-election violence people in most parts of the Rift Valley who are displaced and forced
to live in camps at their homes who are banned them discussing friends responses
the late Joseph mama who was then the presiding plat of the French judge has
this to say we came together and asked
ourselves what could we do as a peace charge the first thing we did was to attend to the physical needs of the
people affected before we began looking into other needs after dealing with the physical needs we knew that we had to
move on to another level we knew that life will not be sustained that comes and people had to go back to
their land and homes but the home had been destroyed for the government it
was a decree that all the people should return to their farms but listening to
the people in the comes they were not ready to return in the others in the villages were not ready to receive them
one of the issues was the new identities that people had acquired in the name of perpetrators and victims this language
was both intimidating and creating more animosity between the two groups instead
of using the two terms which was these words to represent the two groups for
those who had evicted the people would call them there is sitting group and those who had been evicted we call them
the returning people we set a day to meet the people in each
of the comms and together discussed the mode of returning and the ways in which they will be received after days of
discussion it will grow the great return and to be received the receiving team
accommodated the returnees and help them trigger their houses sometimes people
adapt want to include others at the Burundian friend observes I am David
Niang Zima from tars Burundi I am using the alternative to violence project as
an approach because I found that it puts together the healing model the prevention of violence and the
transformation of the conflict in situations of concept phase builders
have always thought first of all with the immediate needs of those who are affected but once that has been done the
conciliation and rebuilding are vital so that shattered lives can be rebuilt the
root causes of conflict in our region include a destructive style of ethnicity
denominationalism political and economic leadership a frustrated democratization
process inadequate international cooperation corruption and poverty to
name just a few these causes are both internal and external and they are both historical
and contemporary Kenya well illustrates these root causes in Kenya the colonial
and postcolonial boundaries have remained the same these boundaries reflected both ethnic and denominational
segregation for example the Presbyterian Church of East Africa was established in
central province and is ethically identified with that equals the African
inland mission is in the Rift Valley and associated with some of the columns in
communities the quaker originally established in western kenya are identified some of the lujah dialect
dialect for example marigold Asuka civilian Co Co Co this ethnic and
denomination of segregation fits well into negative and power politics when politicians capitalized on the politics
of exclusion and marginalization the we and them syndrome political syndrome
that brings about divisions based on a negative view of the other encourages
animosity and lack of trust of the other the others image is portrayed as bad
which will take over and rule in a terrible way the other is frustrated as
one that will not share the resources with all the other is portrayed as evil
in their situation the youth are manipulated and used to fight each other
rather than asking questions of the politicians about what structural plans
they have for enhancing growth when these builders address the root causes
they can help people to better understand the dynamics of conflict in
doing this one does not shy away from naming the historical in grievances
around cultural ethnic social political tensions that continue to rock
communities in addressing the legacies of historical injustice builders are
engaged in deeper dialogue about retiring intergroup tensions and are rebuilding
trust the quality of leadership is one such issue during her Nobel Peace Prize
acceptance speech in Oslo on 10th December 2004 Kenyan laureate Wangari
Maathai said I called on leaders especially from Africa to expand
democratic space and build fair and just societies that allow the creativity and
energy of their citizens to flourish those of us who have been privileged to
receive education skills and experiences and even power must be models for the
next generation of the the ship it's honoring that Wangari raises is not uniquely African there are
other places in the world with similar issues since we are talking about one
region where the Quakers are engaged in peace building we will illustrate it from that angle our region has been
through different constitutional changes and each of the constitutional processes
has included the period politicians can stay in power the terms vary but one of
the root causes of conflict is people remaining leadership positions for a long period of time this creates fear
and does not encourage growth or healthy opposition the cycle of poverty and all
bad leadership can lead to election violence as propaganda fear and
intimidation are used to silence any voices that are contrary to the voice of
those in power one would conclude that lack of good government governance
contributes to many of the conflicts in our society today in addition the
obstacles to the achievement and the maintenance of peace and good governance across the region are embedded in
patriarchy as exhibited in practices that drive on discrimination and
exclusion on the basis of age gender ethnicity or religion the Christian
tract is not free of these problems internally and the Quakers are not either using the different methodologies
to approach peace building amongst workers for example is a safe space to
begin with in the same tradition people are able to address difficult issues
often avoided that cause recurring tensions or prohibit hew free from
outside judgment the use of familiar language and the history for self
critique and constructive in Iraq is a source and example of peace one poor
sharing of natural resources is another route course in discussing peace
building one cannot avoid the issue of reconciliation to God neighbor and environment in our life we
discover that poor sharing of natural resources breed tension conflict the
election of leaders is based on how the natural resources will be divided and what one region will get over the other
in a given context poor sharing of natural resources breeds conflict in
places like DRC which is rich in minerals that would bring good revenue
to the country conflict and war has made it hard for people to benefit from what
is within their reach instead the communities are embroiled in conflict and the leadership of the land
and doors from our side benefit from the natural resources the leadership is
capable of stopping the walls and creating governance that supports and
benefits all however the leadership benefits from the natural resources
while the masses fight while this is viewed as an internal affair there are
external forces as well namely the international community for whom
conflict can be advantageous as they can continue exploiting the natural
resources it is true to say that conflicts in Africa and in our region in
particular are at times a source of income for various vested interests
within the East and Central Africa region there are little or no economic
opportunities the population explosion has produced an educated youth who are
frustrated because of unemployment and who lacks capital to start up a business
the challenge of urban migration for better pastors has led to a steady
growth of slums where the tensions and frustrations are concentrated in rural
areas grievances are most pronounced over land access and alienation from
land most of these grievances are rooted in a sense of ethnic or sectarian
marginalization these grievances have been easily tapped and sometimes manipulated by political elite high
levels of poverty create animosity among people and especially when they are
electing leaders both in the religious and in the public spheres those who
experience poverty can be divided into two categories the marginalized and
exploited the marginalized are those who are outside the prevailing economic
system such as the unemployed the homeless they are banded children the
disabled and the aged they exploited adults who are treated unjustly by the
socio-economic system corruption has also been named as a mother root cause
of conflict when people take what is in the public coffers for themselves and
their own families the scandal of poverty is real in most of the countries in the region and is
another root cause of conflict it's government that is voted to power uses
the need to wipe out courage corruption but fails to do so and diverted out so
there is a need to act strategically from the political and economic system
involving all people if fundament is fundamental a fundamental change is to occur qualities
building in the region has paid more attention to the grassroots than the
strategic context however where grassroots work is expensive it can
often come to the attention of the political and other leaders and be adopted by them in some forum Cecille
has a personal experience in this and these are her words in 2001 when I
started to bring together the widows genocide survivors and prisoners wise
most of my staff members told me that it was in vain but committed to accompany the process
of reconciliation those two blocks were supposed to be who are supposed to be
enemies using the tools like hero a VP and conflict resolution the women
released their anger and sorrows forget each other and decided to work together
to bring a message of peace and reconciliation some of the husbands have
confessed been forgiven have come back to their families and I living peacefully with the survivors today
these groups are serving as a good example of reconciliation in their respective communities in equal beat and
mucha concerns the district then received an award from the National Commission of unity and reconciliation
for working successfully on reconcile reconciling relationships another key
issue is sustainability which is closely connected to funding when it comes to
peace building work when people read about peace building the impression of a
given is that all peace work is based on donor funding this could be called
project piece this is the piece flag that is recognized and which hits the
headlines this type of peace work is time limited and is dependent on the
ends of those who provide the funding so it may not be sustainable Donna find
that peace work can read two projects that are not were coordinated and may
not meet the most important news sometimes the funds unwittingly change
the distribution of power and authority since the donor may not know the local
dynamics the funds can create division among those who are recipients of it
donors may not want to work with the local structures be they religious
and/or political and create other structures which they nerds necessarily help be affected
donut often require specific ways of reporting and reports often have to be
tailor-made to suit the needs of the donor donor funded projects support the
external desire to do something anything to help the ways the funds are raised
are all too often dependent on exploiting the images of conflict of
people in conflict these types of projects can be used to justify and
enhance and expand whole agenda which may be tied to the political and
economic needs of the donor this may not be to the end to end the conflict but to
continue having the concert because it creates jobs for the external people
donor funding can also create a situation of dependency when the fan
stop then piece work stops Donna finding at times is used to bandage the issues
rather than deal with the root causes don't get me wrong we are grateful for
the help and support of individuals and agencies that can bring resources and
expertise working in collaboration with the local communities and agencies
these include projects that have been supported by quotas from Britain the USA
and always their contribution have helped considerably for example a
friends be steamed through the African Great Lakes initiatives and supported
many projects including heroic American Friends Service Committee has been very
supportive to the quaker peace network and the election monitoring marks quaker
service nor we supported peace building in the region for many years britain
yearly meetings questa peace and social witness has supported a lot of peace
building in Kenya DRC Burundi and Rwanda standing the tide is one of their
successful programs which is bringing the expected change in the region
different meetings in Europe including Britain yearly meeting and the USA are supporting schools and peace centers in
the region what these identities have in common is that they recognize and
address their needs that local people and agencies perceive and have local
people to better do the work that they are called to do but a system of state
projects that relies solely on donor money and expand of agencies is not only
dangerous but also unsustainable it must deal with the local political economic
issues as well as the religious spiritual and ethical issues the
inclusion of all stakeholders especially women is also vital for sustainable
peace sustainable peace building must include recognizing the importance of
initiatives by the people themselves many of which arise from the bond
between the people based on their faith when people begin to think critically
about how Quakers approach the example and teachings of Jesus and what faith in
Him requires they realize that they do not need finding so much as a space to
meet with each other that is why that is an increasing number of taxis in East
Africa doing piecework without donor funding rather than waiting for donors
that people choose to develop resources that can sustain their work this
resources include supporting cousins to obtain that which they do not have materially even when we are donor
finding is sought the last is based on March ongoing peace building which
communities within communities this work is done often by women at different
levels feeding the hungry clothing the naked visiting those who are started by
calamity this four-day Nia's work on peace is sustainable because it is based
and rooted in community the motivation for sidepiece work is based on the
belief of the humanity of the other and the command of Jesus that blessed are
peacemakers Matthew 5:9 we are plowed these groups that make efforts to make
peace on every front be it at home as a nation at large so sustainable peace
what needs to be internally driven with appropriate external support it is clear
that donor funding is limited and often dries up unless there is further conflict when communities get tired of
conflict and choose to make peace they risk losing support that they have come
to rely upon it is in this connection that peace work that a piece worker
masivo observes I wish peace work was not done as a profession because it's
linked with project is due to money and this does not come from people's heart
but I job for mercy's and others peace has become a profession that pays rather
than a way of life that helps us to be at peace with each other positive peace initiatives are rooted in
the needs of the community and bring different methods of dealing with issues that bring conflict they teach people
how to avoid violence in the first place and how to work with each other in
conflict or after the conflict to bring lasting peace this includes the
different and important methods of dealing with conflicts that emanate from the Quaker ethos including those we have
mentioned such as AVP restorative justice he wrote and others Burundi and
David in your Lima has this to say that is what we are doing is sustainable in
the sense that the workshops we are doing our form of training which will be duplicated by the trained ones
what makes this workshop sustainable is the fact of moving from the basic training to the advanced training and
implementation of the skills and life changes are lived out by these workshops each in his or her constituency in this
respect we found the analysis of Diana Francis helpful in last year's swathmore
lecture she observed as I see it this building as understood within conflict
transformation begins from the worldview in which interdependence is the point of
departure orienting people and institutions towards peace building as cooperation while the wide view but his
life as a matter of eating or being eaten leads to what I have termed
pacification if what diana is putting across is true then my ceaseless
observations are also true a huge number of peace networks working independently
and financially supported by different organizations is dangerous because what
it leads to is serial peace conference going creating desks of peace projects
that drive all each other creating reactive species instead of proactive species to deal with conflict and war in
the east and Central Africa region some of this has happened and it is
unsustainable sustainable peace building requires an approach to conflict
violence and war where people are able to speak about those issues in forums
where they feel safe to speak these processes should be able to move from
training in safe places for just a few to being with the people in the places
where they are hacking as well as providing the spaces to discuss conflict
sustainable peace work means including in the training all the people within
conflict areas not just dealing with the leaders who struggle to share power and
often abused it men women young people
must included in the training for peace and the naming of issues that are
leading to conflict in their communities this is a person and example that Quaker
seek to bring to this world education is an important medium of peace editing and
it can bring to life the root causes and contribute to dealing with those root
causes it is an important contributor to sustainability the establishment of
Quakerism in the region was through a fourfold methodology which included
evangelism education health and practical services education became a
medium of creating communities of people who are different in the way they
approached issues these building courses have been offered to numerous groups
through donor funding and as one random attender observed I have over 25
certificates of peace but they are not recognized in the context of study this
remark has many implications to it and can be analyzed deeper however the education we are talking
about in peace building is not one that is for certificates alone it is also
important that it will help inculcate in the learner the values of trees and
models of maintaining peace because it is not just for our own good but as
faith faith people it is a way of portraying our Christian ethos as
Quakers the t's our calling and our work the peace building short courses that I
a donor funded target grassroot people who at times in conflict zones could be
victims and/or perpetrators sometimes the grassroot people do not have any
qualifications that can give them status or identity to be able to analyze
conflict dynamics education is important and critical for peacebuilding
and any finding process should take this seriously an educated mass is not vulnerable to
the whims of politicians who have vested interests in sensitizing the masses to
vote for them or to join in battles when they lose education for peace is not
only formal in seminars but can take place in different forums as in the
example of Mama peace one day I was traveling from Kaka mega to my home in
Kamini I was in a noisy my tattoo traveling to my house I had two young
men plotting an attack of a village a Johnson to my home the members of this
village were from a different ethnic community from the one the young men came from they were angry with people
from this ethnic community because they had settled in the land and they saw them as intruders who had become rich
from their resources I did not like what I had and I decided to engage them in a
conversation when the Matata stopped and relighted I began by acknowledging the
fact that they had issues that were real and painful I invited them to my house
and we continued the discussion on their pain and animosity to their neighbors who were from a different community I
listened to their complaints and in discussion we agreed that attacking this village was not the solution to their
grievances but we could look for another way we came to an agreement with this young people that they will not attack
this village and I will not tell the police all the villagers about what they were planning we became friends with a
team of young people and began seeking solutions about their problems of unemployment
I began organizing seminars for the young people and creatively looking for
ways in which they would be empowered with skills in order to support themselves and their families today most
of them have joined schemes that have given them what to do and your business and be named me mama peace when my peace
name is rose in Vega from the testimonial rules it is clear that education should be targeted to those
who are vulnerable as this young people well it's possible that they had been told that their
problems were because of the different tribes settling in their community which
was not true my piece was able to avoid the conflict by helping the young people
to understand the dynamics of power politics together they were able to look
for a long-lasting solution the Quaker building peace building community has
embarked on curriculum development for schools which while sponsoring sponsored
by Quakers admit students from different ethnic communities and denominations and
also from different regions one element of this was to be the development of the
peace curriculum which was to be integrated in the Schools program the
tools are very deep and hero choir employed in schools to create a conducive learning atmosphere among
students who came from different tribal backgrounds and had been affected by the violence as well as using these tools to
help integrate the students the development of a draft charter emerged settling out the values and strategies
that frame schools should manifest based on five key themes as peace and
non-violence truth and integrity and equality the peace education that will
be long lasting as one that is inculcated in the whole education
program finally it is important for us
to discuss the role of women in peace building
and wonder women are leading by example as you have had in Kenya within the
Quaker meetings women have also led by example the United Society of French
women in Kenya was formed in 1952 as a separate meeting it helped women to have
space to deliberate on matters that affected them and the community one of
these was peace and conflict within the Quaker movement in Kenya we have 23
yearly meetings which most of them split from the original East Africa yearly
meetings these divisions were precipitated by conflict amongst the
male leadership when the leaders of the yearly meetings were not talking to each
other women from different yearly meetings started a prayer meeting
together the women making each other's homes to pray and to speak to each other
some of these women were talking it with other even if their husbands who were in
the leadership while not talking to each other what started as a prayer meeting a few
women grew into a big United Society of Friends women tri-annual in Kenya when
the men saw this they began coming together to create the franchise in
Kenya in this way you sfw was crucial in building peace among the meetings
leading to the formation of the French judge in Kenya
women of all parts of Africa continue to struggle for their empowerment in both
the private and the public sphere even if some strides have been made in the
political social economic and religious spheres of life for example in 2015
Monica dolly Zhu was appointed clerk of where a yearly meeting and in 2016 she
was appointed as deputy clerk for France tracts in Kenya the situation of
exclusion and marginalization is still the reality in conflict zones women have
suffered many atrocities like sexual abuse cycle 3 but it is only now that
the voices of the survivors are being heard the little space that has been
opened for women in peacekeeping discussions is not comparable to the
atrocities committed against them we celebrate women who have publicly raised
issues of justice in local meetings and in different forums seeking justice for
survivors women have dealt with issues of injustice affecting children in the
light for example of HIV if the
community has had many orphans as a result of teenage pregnancies and
children born out of wedlock many children are growing up in the streets their future is likely to be bleak and
they could enter the cycle of poverty and be perpetrators of violence as they
are target's for those who plan and execute violence women have been set up
different projects to cater for the basic needs of these children seeking
ways to get them out of the street and break the cycle of poverty these women
groups focus on dealing with those that are vulnerable society their peace work
does not depend largely on donor funding but on their own initiatives you
using available resources they are form of engaging piece is to empower those
whom society has neglected or pushed to the margins like the orphans and giving
them an opportunity to learn skills for survival the work of the United Society
of Friends women is important in disability they are asking peacebuilding
emanate from the knowledge that relationships are important because they hold the society together their
engagement with peace building it at the level of social justice the women
understand what is needed because of the experiences of injustice within the
patriarchal system it seems to us that
peace building is never finished we celebrate our successes but there is
still much work to do peace is a process it is a way of thinking acting and being
that characterizes all of us at our best we have learned a great deal through our
experiences and we pray that will uphold and support Quaker peace building in
Africa as we continue this fight a lot
you
in preparing the lecture we talked about peace projects in the region which are
meaning meaning from some of them secular others are religious based and
from different countries which is a good response for people when they see others
in need but we also talked about the challenges that come with such projects
and from even our own interviews people say we wish peace building was not
linked to money they were not saying that money is bad but money shouldn't be
the motivation for peace building so when we discussed the sustainability of
peace projects of course we had to touch on donor funding the issues around donor
fundings for us was whose agenda T's we
know that in times of conflict images are manipulated and people are moved to
act our point was that while it is
important for people to support each other people to receive donations their
agenda should be driven by those that are affected they are the ones who knows
what is it that they really need not what a donor thinks is needed from the
imagery we appreciated and we continue to appreciate the work that Quakers from
the different parts of the world have done in terms of donating and finding
peace building projects because of working closely with the local people
who know they need and are willing to work with or without
for example roasting legacy Widow without money I am a peace builder
because I am a quick
following on from that could you say a little bit more about the
industrialization of peace work like any
other issue whether it is on the basis of health whether it is on the basis of
other forms of violence if it is true that the different motivations will come
up and in peace building in East and Central Africa where we were dealing
with we could see that as a strong element the industry industrialization
of of peace work where a project is
created and jobs are created and when the funding is over
you can't even trace what was done about peace building secondly
industrialization of peace work appears not to deal with the root causes of
conflict and peace building for us means that we have to look for the root causes
and some of those root causes we mentioned in our lecture and looking for
root causes is harder than just dealing with the superficial aspects of all 50
so our recommendation is that any peace
work people must be willing to go deeper into the historical it called historical
injustice and help the people to analyze them and help the people to seek
solutions for them because sometimes the industrialization of peace work may know
to give lasting solutions but when people own the peace processes they are
able to look for the causes and to deal with the causes so that we do not have a
repeat of conflict again you
the peacebuilding in East and Central Africa will not be viable if it is not done in
an ecumenical way or in any in an interfaith way because while sometimes
it is shown as though that if there are different communities there are binaries between this community and this
community that is very superficial people within communities are different
they are from different faiths they're from different denominations and so when
conflict arises they are affected equally so Quakers have had to work with
others just you go into a community and you don't ask the quickest to raise
their hands to be hoped but you go and deal with the need so peace building in
East and Central Africa is basically an ecumenical venture it may have a quick
name but in terms of the work that is done it is done by different traditions
or religious traditions
I think I want to use the example from one of the piece builders who is late my
whom we had long discussions with and they passed on before we delivered the
lecture my mind gave us this example of him have suffering during several
elections in Kenya in 92 in 97 in 2002
in 20 2007 but in 2013 he did it he
stayed in his own home so we asked him why and he said 2013 was different and
was proof that the piece work that had been done in 2007-2008 had been owned up
there were different processes that had been put in place in terms of election
the aspects of the Constitution that had gone on within Kenya though with many
challenges but people had realized that actually fighting your neighbors to keep
in place certain politicians destroys you it doesn't destroy those politicians
so in 2013 even when we had constitutional questioning of the
election results many Kenyans didn't go to the streets they said les follow the
judicial processes and we will accept what the judicial processes comes up
with now whether the judicial processes was right or wrong Kenyan said that is what has been passed
we will stay for me that is sustainability of peacebuilding because
several walk had gone on by Quakers and other groups in 2007 and 2009
first dealing with the immediate issues of those that were affected in the
marriage and to dealing with reconciling the communities leading to people
working together and willing to live with each other the example of wonder
that Cecile gives is also true and we have it in the lecture where using the
methodology of hero healing and reconciliation of communities that
communities that have had conflict with each other end up coming together and
rebuilding their community even by building houses with each other that is
sustainability that is not just something externally driven it is
something that is internally driven and we think sustainability should be marked
in that way note how many piece projects they are but how people choose to live with each
other even though before they will probably eat each other so for me sustainability the ownership
of the people for the peaceful process but also for choosing to be a neighbor
to the earth
while the letter was to show some of the
ways you've done peace building in our context Eastern Central Africa
definitely they are patterning from our context to your context even though your
context may not have been may not be having open conflict I think our context
has suffered aspects of poverty aspects
of historical injustice aspects of bad
political processes that has led to the
division of people in terms of them and us and I think you are context is
increasingly having similar issues of them and us your context has issues of
those coming in and those who are staying in and some of the tools that
we've used are tools that were developed in this country and we think that some
of the tools you can use them yourselves in terms of looking for who are them and
who are asked and bridging the gap between the dem and s especially on
issues of immigration because in our
context we have immigration terms of tribes moving from one place to another that you have huge issues around
immigration how do you make those who are immigrants to settle in because I
think we have a hope in terms of dealing with those who are our neighbors and
especially when we are can't with calamity they are those who
come to your country because of poverty they are those who come to your country because of the political instabilities
in their countries some of those instabilities may be you are also linked
to them so how you resettle people among you how do you make them feel at home
cause definitely you have a role to play we have a role to play in our countries
our context may be different but their perish that you can learn from us so we
do hope that people will find a place in your own communities by using the peace
building tools that we are discussed knowledge
you
