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Jul 2010Sudan: In the wake of conflict comes health and celebration LESS - “After many years they sent us a ‘medical caravan’ because they know now that there is no tension and the area is calm.” Naema - a local midwife
Last month in MOREa dusty village in South Kordofan a healthcare ‘caravan’ arrived to provide medical services to two tribes. The caravan stayed for three days and as the people received care and attention they told stories of the hardship they had suffered. A young woman named Handi told of her sadness of loosing her baby after bleeding for seven days before anyone could find transport to take her to the nearest health service.
Sudan suffers some of the most extreme poverty on earth. In these remote villages people live in grass huts and there is no sanitation, health service or formal education. As Handi’s story shows a traveling healthcare caravan provides a life saving service, and yet this is the first time in over 5 years that the caravan has been able to visit. Conflict had torn the communities apart and made it unsafe for anyone to travel through the area.
Up until the end of the civil war these two tribes had lived side by side, they shared land, water and married between tribes. But cattle raiding between the two tribes became common and farmers armed themselves to protect their scarce resources. The true tragedy of this story is there is a water dam in the land between the two tribes and the surrounding land is the most fertile in the area. For over five years women had to walk over 8 miles each day to find an alternative source of water, and the land which could have fed both of the tribes lay unfarmed.
The Collaborative for Peace in Sudan set up a Peace Committee in the area, and was quickly approached by community members from both tribes. They all spoke of huge gatherings in the past, the dancing and celebrations when they saw each other, and they asked the committee to help this happen again.
“ We saw you come from far away to help us. We said to ourselves, we should feel ashamed, we are here we should work seriously for peace” Dawood – village teacher
On 7 April the committee arranged for the two tribes to meet again. Vehicles are uncommon in the area, and most people travel by donkey, camel or on foot, so the committee organised for trucks to help transport the people. Over 500 men women and children made the two hour journey to visit their neighbouring tribe – a journey none of them had made in over 5 years. Over two days the people of the two tribes talked, discussed and found solutions. The talks were lengthy but as one tribal elder said, ‘ This is our chance to change our community with our own hands.’
At the end of the two days, the Collaborative gave each tribe some funds to buy seeds so that in May they were able to plant their land. The two communities number about 5000 people and this land can provide enough crops to feed their families and some extra to sell at market.
Rasha El Fangry, the co-ordinator for the Collaborative returned to the area earlier this month, the benefits of peace could be seen everywhere. She learnt of how the two tribes had together approached the local commissioner to petition for the health caravan to visit and of how they were working together to make real improvements in their lives.
“Now I am able to take my goats and move from one place to another with no fear. I am happy.’ Mahamood – village iman
A basic economy is beginning to thrive and members of the different tribes are able to travel freely to visit one another. A ‘family day’ was organised for all communities in the district to come together in celebration, and people from neighbouring communities, including the media, are able to visit, so their region does not get lost to conflict.
“My son has come from the city to help me with farming” Halima – village singer
It cost less that £2000 for the Collaborative to fund this intervention – just 40 pence for each of the 5000 people who have benefitted so much from the peace it has bought.
The Collaborative for Peace in Sudan has set up 8 peace committees like this across Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Over the next year they plan to set up 8 more. Please make a gift today and help these communities to lead themselves out of conflict.
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Jul 2010Islands of Peace in Kashmir LESS -
It has been a diffcult summer for Ashima with demonstrations and curfews across the Kashmir Valley. Since June 11 Indian police and paramilitary forces have been accused of killing 15 civilians – 4 MOREof them women. The curfew has bought the valley to a standstill, and for Ashima this means not only heightened insecurity but also that she is unable to push ahead with plans to expand the samanbals.
However as Ashima talks about the samanbals and particularly about some of the individual women her passion and belief that women can and will be the change-makers in the peacebuilding process comes across stronger than ever.
“When the woman in the family is not healthy, when she can only feel fear, then how can you expect the family, the community to be happy. The samanbals provide women with these small islands of peace so that they can build their own life. It may just be minute dots on the peacebuilders map, but they mean so much to the individual women.”
It has been 8 years since Ashima established the frst samanbal in the Kashmir valley. There is now one in each division of Kashmir, and the women come daily. Each samanbal provides the women with a space they can call their own, where they can learn income generating activities to provide for their children, gain respect from their families and which together builds the political conscience of the women.
I can sense Ashima smile as she tells me about 23-year-old Abida, a young woman who when Ashima met her ‘did not dare to open her mouth for fear of being heard.’ Affra is now teaching computer workshops at the Samanbal in the Kashmir Valley. She has told Ashima, “Now I am like a man of the house, I am treated equally as my brother.”
And the samanbals are beginning to spread. In the far corner of Jammu along the line of control – too far for Ashima to visit regularly - a group of women has set up their own samanbal. Ashima has helped the women to forge links with other organisations that will help to sustain them, and is now watching them grow. Before the curfew bought the valley to a standstill, Ashima had begun talks with the Women’s Development Co-operation about fnding sources of funding for this and other satellite samanbals.
This year has seen the Domestic Violence Act passed in Kashmir, and it is now, at its nascent stage that there is opportunity for the women of the samanbals to make their mark on the bill – to ensure that it refects the needs of women from all regions.
This is where Ashima’s vision for the samanbals become clear, where rather than small islands, she sees these spaces as a network that brings women together across ethnic, religious and political divides and she is so eager for the curfew to end so that they can continue to spread. She wants to strengthen the existing samanbals – to create leadership at the community level, and make this collective of women an agency for change. And ultimately she wants the government to adopt the samanbals, so that all women are able to access a space they can call their own.
“The future is very difcult, but hope lies in women and youth – if change is possible it will come through them.”
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Jul 2010From Local to National Peacebuilding LESS - Many professionals working in conflict areas recognise that peacebuilding and statebuilding ultimately depend on the efforts of local people and institutions. Yet local peacebuilding is often equated with community-level projects that are MOREtoo small for governments to handle and that can only have a limited impact.
Peace Direct believes that locally led peacebuilding can operate on a large scale. Its concept paper, Ripples into Waves, uses four external case studies to show how local peacebuilding initiatives have succeeded on a national scale and made a real impact on violent conflict.
Click here to download Ripples into Waves (pdf) (http://www.insightonconflict.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Ripples-into-Waves-concept-paper.pdf) />
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Jul 2010Rebuilding lives in DR Congo LESS - Omari spends his days working the land and running his own small business in the city of Rugenge, in eastern DR Congo. Behind what appears to be a quiet and MOREpeaceful life, is the story of a man who spent more than a decade fighting in the bush as a rebel soldier and who would likely be dead if it were not for the help of local peacebuilder Flory and his dedicated team of volunteers.
Omari’s family, desperate for his return, contacted Flory’s Clubs of Peace to help them convince Omari to lay down his weapons and leave the armed group. After listening to what they said Omari agreed to return to his family.
Omari was a member of the Mai Mai militia group – a group that strongly believes in black magic. All Mai Mai are forbidden from eating cassava leaves as these are believed to rob them of their magic powers to deflect bullets. So for Omari’s family it was a sign that he had completely turned away from a life of gunbattles and violence when he began to eat the leaves again. But for his old comrades it was an act of betrayal and the Mai Mai leader ordered that Omari be killed
The community was afraid, not just for Omari, but equally because of the threat of reprisals if Omari was to be attacked – they called on the Clubs of Peace to intervene again.The representatives went to speak to the Mai Mai leader, they spoke of the need to rebuild the community, for the war had only destroyed the village and left people dead, and of how every person has the right to decide their own path in life. The leader, believing the truth of these words, supported Omari’s decision to abandon the rebels.
This story, and Omari’s freedom to live in peace, is a testament to the power of local expertise, peaceful intervention and dialogue to transform minds and free people from conflict.
You can support the Clubs of Peace by making a donation today, and help Flory and his team stop violence before it starts.
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Jul 2010Resolving conflict in South Kivu LESS - In Kiromoni, a village in eastern Congo, two women had threatened to kill each other because of a past debt. Their communities had been drawn into the conflict which had grown intense MOREin recent months over the dispute. This community, torn apart by bloody conflict and suffering intense poverty, was failing to solve this escalating argument in a peaceful way and could have been on the verge of violence.
However, as a result of mediation from one of the barazas – community forums - set up by Flory Kazingufu, the debt is being repaid and the communities are in the process of settling the dispute without violence. This is just one of many conflicts that have been diffused as a result of communities requesting help from the ‘clubs of peace.’
In Kavinvira this month the positive work of Flory and his organisation Foundation Chirezi has begun to make a real contribution to peace. Reports are coming through about conflicts resolved from the different clubs of volunteers for peace, and more and more people are attending the baraza workshops and reporting various conflicts arising in their areas.
“I have realised from this seminar that it is possible for all people of different tribes to be one and live together. Let other people also know this.’
Nturo, a village elder.
The organisation is growing, with five new clubs of peace established in Kiliba this month, a second conflict management training workshop in Kiliba and many people volunteering to become members of different bazaras. Flory was delighted to see that many of these volunteers were women, many of who have participated in the workshops.
“What has challenged me is to see that it is possible for people to live together while managing their problems... This workshop has really challenged me.”
Florence, a 20 year old student.
With the funding from Peace Direct, Flory plans in the coming months to continue the peacebuilding efforts of Foundation Chirezi by conducting a third conflict management training workshop, collecting reports from the conflict mediations in the bazara, and by visiting all the clubs of Volunteers for Peace. He has organised a soccer tournament for peace in June and has invited different authorities and tribe leaders for the prizewinning ceremonies.
By helping communities find their own solutions to conflict by working together Flory and Foundation Chirezi are bringing tribal communities together and helping to solve their differences.
“It is exciting to see the role that our clubs of peace are playing in communities.”
Flory Kazingufu
Flory needs funding to run the conflict management workshops and establish the baraza that are so important in bringing communities together. Please support him in helping communities in the Congo by making a gift today.
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- Jul 201050 years of Independence in DRC LESS
- WALL OF HOPE.
June 30 was the anniversary of 50 years of Independence in D.R. Congo and local peacebuilder Henri Ladyi worked with the local community in Beni to celebrate with MOREa peace procession involving the national police, state services and all members of the community.
Traditional music and dance brought the community together and Henri's organisation ran speeches and workshops on the rights of the child, and the need for peace in Congo's future.
The unveiling of the Wall was a central part of the day and the Mayor has declared it a permanent memorial to children. The Wall is part of a campaign that has used the personal testimonies of children who have been victims of forced recruitment into armed groups, as well as messages of support from Peace Direct supporters.
In just three weeks Henri has reached 3299 people, including 1172 children. He has held 4 conferences on child protection and ran 15 workshops in rural villages using projected messages from Peace Direct supporters for the children of Congo. Eight of the 30 children who were rescued by Henri in May have helped to connect with those children who are still members of the militia, to show them that they do have an alternative.
Henri plans to erect another wall in Butembo and to run more workshops, so if you haven't done so already, please leave your message of hope for the children of Congo.
THE FIGHT FOR PEACE.
Tragically on June 30 what should have been a day of joy became a night of fear. Fighting broke out between government forces and a Ugandan rebel group just 50 km away from Beni. The streets of Beni began to fill with people fleeing the violence, who told of shops destroyed and houses ransacked. In the last week the militia soldiers have started leaving letters in the villages warning communities to leave as they will attack and kill anyone who stays. The number of people arriving in Beni is growing by the day.
The new arrivals are coming with nothing, and they are dependent on the people of Beni to help them. Over the last 5 years a lot of Henri's work in Beni has focused on reducing tensions between those who have been displaced and the host community. So far many people in Beni have opened up their homes to offer food and shelter and town and army officials are keeping the people informed on what is happening.
In Congo there are over 2 million people who have been forced to flee their homes because of violence and who arrive in neighbouring villages with no way to support themselves. Across eastern Congo Henri has set up teams of former militia members and local leaders to perform reconnaissance visits to check that it is safe for people to return to their villages, and then accompany them through the bush to ensure they are not attacked enroute. In the coming weeks their role will be crucial to the future of the people who are currently sheltering in Beni.
"Building peace in Congo is a bit like washing a pig, just when you think, you've got him clean, he's wriggled free and is squelching in the mud again. But that doesn't mean you give up." Henri Ladyi
Henri, and the local peacebuilders like him, have the determination, the contacts and the moral legitimacy to make a real difference in their communities - you can give them the one thing they urgently need - your support. Please make a gift today and show the people of Congo that, like Henri, you won't give up on peace.
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