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 in 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 Chirezi Foundation 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.
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.
With the funding from Peace Direct, Flory plans in the coming months to continue the peacebuilding efforts of Chirezi Foundation 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 prize-winning ceremonies.
By helping communities find their own solutions to conflict by working together, Flory and Chirezi Foundation are bringing tribal communities together and helping to solve their differences.
Flory needs funding to run the conflict management workshops and establish the barazas that are so important in bringing communities together. Please support him in helping communities in the Congo by making a gift today.
