Although Côte d’Ivoire’s post-electoral violence of 2011 has limited the role that Ivoirians of different political leanings can play in the country’s development, civil society actors have retained the freedom to operate in a way that creates greater space for political expression and positive action. Two such actors are Côte d’Ivoire’s Evangelical and Catholic churches. Karuna associates Joseph Sebarenzi and Joachim Diene have begun working with members of these congregations to capitalize on their breadth of reach and make optimal use of their power as change agents.

Joseph and Joachim, in partnership with the US-based development firm AECOM, facilitated a three-day training workshop in Abidjan for 50 Evangelical and Catholic Christian leaders to analyze the positive role they can play in the post-conflict recovery process. Participants were encouraged to discuss steps they can take to enable more proactive contributions in the recovery experience and develop greater inclusivity in the profile of Ivoirians involved. Joseph and Joachim are now developing a training of trainers manual to prepare the participants to return to their own communities ready to help their fellow members support the recovery process in their respective areas.

-Kelly Donovan, Intern

by Jonathan Hilton, Karuna Center Board member

For two weeks this June I was part of a global village of peacemakers in the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont. Sixty participants from about 25 countries/nations joined hearts and minds to create a kind of ring around the world — sharing stories of success and stories of great struggle; learning new techniques and tools for peace work; and perhaps most of all, experiencing in study, conversation, song and laughter the deep bonds of our shared humanity. 

This global village was the CONTACT program (Conflict Transformation Across Cultures) at SIT University in Brattleboro, VT, a three week certificate program designed to strengthen and support the community-building, coexistence and conflict intervention efforts of peace builders from around the world. The Director and founder of the program, Dr. Paula Green, is also the founder and Senior Fellow of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding, a not-for-profit organization committed to the implementation of sustainable strategies for conflict transformation and community reconciliation in post conflict societies.

As a Board member of Karuna Center, I was invited to CONTACT to better understand the nature of the work that Karuna does around the world.  So I arranged to join this program for two of the three weeks. My expectation? An interesting exposure to Karuna’s methods of training peacemakers. The reality?  A profoundly moving experience of shared community and an enlightened appreciation for the hard work of peace that is being done  by so many brave individuals, as well as Karuna’s important role in that work. From the morning gathering prior to the start of the course each day, where participants taught a song from their region and the class shared a moment of silence in observation of the struggles in their community — to the expert instructors leading us through an understanding of the forces that lead to conflict and the tools and skills to bring dialogue and transformation — to the diverse evening presentations about issues and work being done for healing and reconciliation. Each day was a rich experiential learning environment. 

The heart of the program was of course the stories of the participants (though I will not give names here out of respect for privacy). There was a woman from Palestine who is working with children in her refugee camp through the arts to build a culture of peace and hope in the face of ongoing violence and despair; a journalist from Kashmir, who was a key member of a group who brought about the first meetings of polarized leaders which began a process of peace in Kashmir; “team Algeria” – 12 Algerian students and professors who brought much laughter and joy as well as a deeper understanding of a diverse north African Muslim culture and its journey towards reconciliation; the women from Sudan working together for women’s rights and women’s voices in the peace process between the new South Sudan and Sudan; a woman from Aceh, Indonesia, a former rebel who turned away from violence to peacemaking and is now a nominee for the N-Peace award for her contribution to building peace in her community; a man from Pakistan who brings healing programs for children living in refugee camps in the violence ridden tribal regions around Peshawar; and two members of the Diné people (Navajo) from Arizona, whose participation reminded us all of the history in the U.S. of genocide and the healing work that continues in this community. These are only a few of the remarkable men and women who together created a mountaintop experience of learning and shared work for our common human striving towards peace.

The island nation of Grenada is blessed with great natural beauty, people as lovely as their landscape, and no armed conflict. Inter-personal violence, however, is endemic on this tropical island, including domestic violence, corporal punishment in the schools, street violence, and occasional police violence. Everyone knows of the problems, but the patterns continue largely unabated, resulting in a great deal of suffering, family cycles of harm, and generations of single mothers struggling to maintain families in a challenging economy. More women than men attend our conflict resolution workshops, more women than men achieve educationally and vocationally, and more women than men are willing to talk about what is wrong. Some men, however, are fully responsible and engaged, including men in the police department and throughout the bureaucracies and institutions.

For all these reasons, our workshops are crowded and the requests for training grow each year. This year we offered our first Training of Trainers to 30 participants who have been with us before. Following that, we offered another basic workshop, this time assisted by our TOT group who led exercises and reviewed designs and strategies. Hopefully the TOT group members will stay connected to each other during the year, and the strongest among them will start leading their own workshops.

Last year we did a separate workshop for the Royal Grenadian Police Force and this year they were back again in the TOT and the basic workshop, as were many members of GNOW, the Grenadian National Organization of Women. We also draw many members of government ministries, school personnel, St George’s University (our sponsor) staff, community activists, etc. We explore the roots of the violence in family socialization patterns that allow young men a great deal of personal freedom and laxity while encouraging young women in assuming responsibility. We also think about education, economics, and commerce that may provide more opportunities for women, thus marginalizing men, especially those without advanced education. Interestingly, although Grenada is a very Christian country in terms of church attendance and prayers in public life, there is very little formal marriage, which may perpetuate family dynamics that create some of these difficulties. However, as an outsider, I know very little and am cautious about any generalizations or simplistic explanations of complex cultural dynamics. I can report that our participants believe that similar family and gender issues are common in other Caribbean countries.

Our group members are trying their best to address all of these forms of violence, and hopefully are planting new ideas and seeds of peace in their families, workplaces, church groups, police stations, and associations. I will be online with them during the year, helping as needed and encouraging their efforts. We owe a debt of gratitude to St George’s University and the Psychological Services Center of SGU who organize and support our annual workshops and make our participation possible. It is much to SGU’s credit that it sponsors these workshops, which benefit not only its own employees, but also many beyond the university from civil society and government units in Grenada.

With an island population of only 100,000, we can imagine that our efforts might matter and make a small contribution to harmony and well-being in Grenada. We are grateful for this partnership and our modest role.