Sworn Enemies Show Path to Peace
We like stories like this from Colombia that illustrate the power of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Hector Perea and Jhon Obando were once on opposite sides of the armed conflict between FARC and the government paramilitary. But in their personal journeys to escape the violence they grew up into, they found themselves working side-by-side at a Colombian timber company that is bringing former enemies together.
[quote]Forgiveness is accepting the past and seeing people not through what side of the war they were on but as civilians with rights," he said over the din of wood cutting machines at the factory outside Cali, Colombia's third city, a seven-hour drive west of the capital Bogota. All of us working together is an example that reconciliation is possible. Colombia needs to know it's possible if people are given an opportunity."[/quote]
- Hector Perea
Those concepts—forgiveness and reconciliation—are the cornerstones for the ESPERE program being run by our Global Associate in Bogota, Lissette Mateus. You can read more about Lissette's recent expansion of the project here. Lissette's mentor and advisor on the project, Fr. Leonel Narvaez (and partner to the Institute) spoke recently on how the advancement of their curriculum is making an impact across Colombia to folks like Hector and Jhon.
October 2014 Newsletter
Greetings from the Goldin Institute! We are excited to share this month's newsletter highlighting the work of our global associates who are positively contributing to their communities by stepping up their efforts and stepping out of their safety zones to ensure that their good work moves forward.
Watch a brief video overview of this newsletter:
Colombia
While the peace negotiations continue to break new ground in Colombia, paramilitary-linked groups opposed to the peace process have issued threats against human rights defenders, including our colleague Fr. Leonel Narvaez of our partner organization the Foundation for Reconciliation. In response to the death threats, Fr. Leonel has publicly invited the authors "to sit down and talk." His plea for peace continues:
[quote]It is paradoxical that they threaten you with death because you work for forgiveness and reconciliation ... To those who threaten me, I offer my forgiveness and my understanding ... We forgive because we understand that you are not fully responsible for your mistake, for your rage. Someone, somewhere, has infected you all with their resentment. You are also victims just as we possibly will be."[/quote]
Amidst this backdrop of intimidation, our Global Associate Lissette continues the work of implementing a community-driven approach for child soldier reintegration which continues to grow and gain the respect of local educators, community members and former child soldiers. Despite the contentious atmosphere and threats of violence, Lissette and her colleagues continue their work with compassion in their hearts and resolve in their minds.
We had the chance to catch-up in conversation with Lissette via Skype where she walked us through the current status of these important peace negotiations and explained how they could impact her work and her community. You can view this conversation with Lissette in full here.
Philippines
As a testament to our Global Associate's passion for environmental sustainability in the conflict zone of Mindanao, our own Dr. Susana Anayatin has helped change the world yet again. Augmenting the work to provide safe drinking water to schools, including the implementation of new wells restoring clean water at an additional 15 schools in the Kabuntalan Province this month, the team in the Philippines participated in a national effort to break the world record of trees planted in an hour. On September 26, 2014 Dr. Anayatin was among the 113,000 volunteers including government employees, students and military personnel that broke the invisible, but often contentious boundaries that separate these groups to unite for environmental protection. As Guinness World Records continues to verify the count, officials in the Philippines report 3.2 million seedlings planted in six different areas on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Notwithstanding world records, the planet is in a better position to mitigate climate change and the new trees are essential to protect the watersheds and promote access to safe drinking water for generations to come.
Poverty and Peacemaking
In many parts of the world, poverty and violence are common-place and intertwined realities. To explore and address these issues, the Goldin Institute participated in the Poverty and Peacemaking interdisciplinary conference and gathering at Princeton University on September 19 and 20. The conference was a concerted effort on the part of Princeton University and the community of Sant Egidio to amplify the dialogue between development professionals and students, scholars, government officials, activists, diplomats and religious leaders from around the world. The Goldin Institute was pleased to moderate a panel with participants from the Salvation Army and the World Bank focused on a new initiative to support peace building efforts through community-based heath care centers in Kibera - an informal settlement within Kenya.
Welcome Alejandro
Please join us in welcoming a new member to the Goldin Institute team. Alejandro Di Prizio comes to us as an AmeriCorps member completing a year of service through Public Allies Chicago.
Alejandro will serve as our Online Education Associate, bringing to the Goldin Institute many skills including a fluency in Spanish. Prior to joining AmeriCorps, Alejandro worked to create innovative family programs at the Art Institute of Chicago and later as a founding member of The Creative Agency for The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA). Outside of his service at Goldin Institute and AmeriCorps, Alejandro is an active musician and visual artist.
Next Newsletter
Watch our next newsletter for an exciting progress update from our partners around the world. Can't wait until the next newsletter? Get your Goldin Institute fix by jumping onto our Facebook page for the latest news as it happens and join the growing community dedicated to uplifting stories of grassroots partnerships around the world at the tumblr site GoGrassroots!
As always, if you have suggestions of individuals who may want to receive this e-newsletter or stories you think we should tell, contact us at news@goldininstitute.org.
Summer 2014 Newsletter
It has been a busy summer for us at the Goldin Institute! Visits from global advocates, interviews with local community leaders and progress with our partners around the globe have kept us moving forward both locally and abroad. We are thrilled to share this latest update with news from our recent work on the ground in Uganda and Zanzibar.
Watch a brief video overview of this newsletter:
Uganda
In June, Diane and Travis travelled to Uganda to participate in a training led by our Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa from Colombia. Lissette trained our partners in Uganda to use the ESPERE methodology. Developed in Colombia, the methodology is designed to engage the local community by using schools as centers for reconciliation for former child soldiers in the region.
The training took the form of an intensive eight day workshop wherein program participants learned about strategies to promote forgiveness and reconciliation and obtained tools to carry these ideas forward within their community. Sixteen individuals—including child combatants, teachers, counsellors and community members—from five different regions of Northern Uganda participated in the training.
From theoretical to tangible, the workshop began by developing the concepts that would lay the foundation for communities to reintegrate former combatants and develop resiliency against the practice in the future. Language barriers, cultural differences and preconceived notions quickly dissolved as the ESPERE program took root with participants and it became clear that the need for forgiveness and reconciliation, especially towards young combatants, is universal.
The first three days deconstructed the idea of forgiveness and what it means to forgive. Beyond verbally saying the words "I forgive you," workshop attendees learned that forgiveness requires tools, engaged with a thoughtful process, to fix problems that arise for both victims and perpetrators. In addition to a cultural perspective, forgiveness was presented through an academic and practical viewpoint, connecting with all participants in ways that honored and enhanced their personal and communal affiliations. Participants explored ways that forgiveness is instrumental in mending the societal fabric tattered by conflict. Over the next two days, participants were guided through approaches to reconciliation that highlighted the need for an individual to think about the bonds they are trying to fix and identify the terms on which a newly reconciled relationship can function. During this session, surprising connections occurred between everyone in the room. Even though the scars of war were etched in the hearts and minds of both participants and trainers coming from very different circumstances and regions, everyone shared the desire to return to a peaceful community without hostile relationships.
On the sixth day of the workshop, program participants now equipped with the conceptual foundation of forgiveness and reconciliation went through a "train the trainer" session. Lissette taught program participants the methodology behind the ESPERE program so they are able to lead the reintegration program themselves. Finally, the last two days of the program leveraged what was learned and developed plans to put this knowledge into practice. Program participants met with former child soldiers and created action plans based on their insights and aspirations. Speaking with former child soldiers allowed program participants to understand their needs through the new lenses of forgiveness and reconciliation. The first-hand perspectives of the former child soldiers also informed participants about gaps in their society that they could address. The attendees and eventual graduates put together action plans to concretely outline their next steps to carry forward the tools and knowledge gained in the workshop for an outcome that was beneficial and sustainable for their community.
Action plans created by program participants consisted of strategies to train between 15- 90 individuals of varying backgrounds on the ESPERE program throughout the Northern conflict zone of Uganda. By engaging former child soldiers, formerly abducted women, students and survivors of violence, the ESEPRE program will carry forward the idea of forgiveness and reconciliation with the aim of bringing peace to the community. The Goldin Institute is looking forward to partnering with these program participants who will lead community driven social change for reintegration.
Zanzibar
Following the training in Uganda, Travis and Diane headed to Zanzibar for a three-day Peace Camp hosted by our colleagues at the Arigatou Foundation and the Global Network of Religions for Children, an international interfaith network dedicated to securing the rights and well-being of children worldwide.
The event had youth participants from Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Each of these countries have experienced conflicts fueled by violent extremism. The Camp provided youth with the opportunity to share their experiences and come up with solutions that can prevent violent extremism, especially amongst the youth. Our partner from the Arigatou Foundation, Dr. Mustafa Y. Ali, convened this group of youth peace ambassadors from throughout the Horn of Africa region and facilitator Belall Maudarbux trained them in new approaches to stop the growing trend towards violent extremism in the region. Based on our work in Uganda and Zanzibar, the Goldin Institute is excited to expand our partnership over the coming months to scale up this youth peace ambassadors program throughout our network.
Haiti
Recently, KOFAVIV co-founder and 2012 CNN Hero of the Year Malya Villard-Appolon was in Chicago to update us on her work to provide social and legal support and combat sexual violence against women and girls in Haiti. While she was here, she courageously shared her story in a taped segment that aired on National Public Radio's Worldview program as part of a show dedicated to current issues in Haiti. In addition to the interview with Malya about her efforts to stop sexual and gender based violence in Haiti, the hour-long program included a live panel discussion on the latest legal proceedings to hold the U.N. accountable for the cholera epidemic in Haiti.
A Look Forward
Watch our next newsletter for an exciting progress update from our partners in the Philippines and an exciting new online initiative that will profile innovative grassroots leaders and initiatives from around the world.
If you have suggestions of individuals who may want to receive this e-newsletter or stories you think we should tell, please contact us at news@goldininstitute.org
Goldin Institute Successfully Returns to Uganda
This June, Institute co-founders Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman returned to Uganda to participate in our first ever cross-continental Child Soldier Reintegration and Reconciliation Training Workshops. Because of her work in developing and using the ESPERE methodology in her native Colombia, our Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa was the natural candidate to lead the training in Uganda.
Before bringing this project to Africa, Lissette worked closely with our partner and her advisor, Fr. Leonel Narvaez designing and successfully testing the ESPERE methodology to engage local communities by using schools as centers for reconciliation for former child soldiers in the region. We highlighted their work and what this looks like on-the-ground in Colombia in previous reports.
To best adapt the training to our colleagues in Africa, an intensive eight-day workshop was conducted wherein participants learned about the key concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation, and obtained tools to carry these ideas forward within their communities.
In all, Lissette successfully trained 16 individuals made up of child combatants, teachers, crisis counselors and community members. These participants represented five different regions of Northern Africa and because each certified trainer committed to individual action plans upon completion, the outreach within their communities will impact many more potential trainees. In short, Lissette has left a "teaching tree" model in place that we hope to see expand and carry forth the ESPERE program within the region.
[quote]My expectations were different than the reality in Africa, normally the mass media shows to the world the bad things about Africa, I was expecting some kind of hungry people, in a dusty or dirty environment, waiting for water and food. But, I realized (once there and on the ground) that they have needs, but also they have so many good things that the mass media doesn't talk about: they are a happy and generous people, (there are) amazing buildings for education, they are bilinguals and have spoken their own language and English since they were kids, they have some kind of sense of community that we have lost in our developed societies, and is highly necessary for healing our societies – they are ahead of the game in that sense. I realized we have as many things to learn from them as they can learn from us. I'm not saying everything is perfect, I'm just saying that not everything is bad, and there is great hope for the future because of the people. Moreover, I was expecting a very rough place but it was a beautiful place for the workshop."[/quote]
- Global Associate and program facilitator, Lissette Mateus Roa
Lissette's excerpted comments above are from a conversation with her upon her return from Africa. The full interview can be found here.
In coming months, we look forward to sharing the results of the action plans established by the trainees at Lissette's ESPERE workshop, as they carry out the mission to bring societal changes to their own communities in Northern Africa. If you would like to become more involved supporting this project, find out how you can help.
[slide] [img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_1.jpg"]Co-founder's Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman meet with Everest Okwonga, the Principal at St. Janani Luwum Vocational Training Centre[/img] [img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_2.jpg"]Co-founder's Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman meet with students at a trade school for former child combatants in Gulu[/img] [img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_3.jpg"]Co-founder Diane Goldin meets with students in a Gulu classroom during the Institute's June2014 trip to the region to take part on child soldier reintegration efforts[/img][img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_4.jpg"]Participants of a workshop conducted by Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa take part in one of the exercises teaching 'forgiveness'[/img][img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_5.jpg"] Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa (bottom left) and her group of ESPERE students. Also included is friend and colleague and Associate emeritus Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat (standing 5th from right)[/img] [img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_6.jpg"]Participants of the ESPERE workshop during a training session[/img][img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_7.jpg"]Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa (standing) leads a training session in Gulu[/img][img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_9.jpg"]Global Associate Lissette Mateus conducts an exercise with participants of the ESPERE workshop in June 2014[/img][img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_15.jpg"]Global Associate Lissette Mateus (sitting foreground) leads her ESPERE training group[/img][img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_28.jpg"]Co-founder Diane Goldin meets with students at the St Janani Vocational School. The School is made up of mostly former child soldiers learning new skills (like carpentry in this classroom) to rejoin civilian life.[/img] [img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_27.jpg"]The workshop attended by former child combatants[/img][img path="images/slideshow/full/uganda2014_34.jpg"]Institute co-founder Diane Goldin meets with Ajok Dorah - a psychologist specializing in giving counsel to former child combatants returning to their communities.[/img][/slide]
Spring 2014 Newsletter
Spring is making its way slowly toward the Goldin Institute's headquarters in Chicago. While seasonal change is in the air locally, systemic social change is underway at our global offices abroad. In this issue of the e-newsletter, we document the important work of our Global Associates. We are pleased to share these success stories from the field highlighting the positive, long-term changes underway, particularly in the Philippines and Colombia.
We invite you to take a look back at the first quarter of 2014 by viewing this short video overview of the newsletter.
Philippines
The Goldin Institute's efforts to provide access to clean water in the Philippines have continued to develop through the hard work of our Global Associate Dr. Susana Anayatin and her team. As part of her ongoing efforts, the team completed the installation of a 20 cubic meter water depository at J Marquez Elementary School located in the armed conflict area near Cotabato City on February 5, 2014. While conservative in size, its impact on the 1,875 students, 50 teachers and immediate community of about 1,000 families is immeasurable.
Working in collaboration with school administrators, the military and community members, Dr. Anayatin deftly leveraged the unique strengths of each group to respond to the water needs of J. Marquez Elementary School. In the planning stages, Dr. Anayatin partnered with the residents and educational officials to cultivate community ownership and promote the water resource as an incentive for students to attend school. Considering the location of J Marquez Elementary School within the armed conflict area in Cotabato City, Dr. Anayatin also engaged in dialogue with all sides of the conflict, including the military, to utilize everyone's skills and resources. In a symbolic ceremony commemorating the installation, students participated in a water ceremony wherein they were sprinkled with water. Water scarcity has always caused the community to purchase water and use it sparingly. Viewed as a limited and expensive commodity, the students enjoyed the rare experience of using water for play and enjoyment.
Amidst the work to provide access to safe drinking water, a storm surge hit Dr. Anayatin’s home province of Maguindanao on January 18th and 19th. Responding to this local emergency, the Goldin Institute Philippines organized a relief operation known as Alay Pagamamahal, which translates to Love Offering. Within days after the storm, Dr. Anayatin and her team coordinated meal distribution, provided counseling and activities to children, clothing and other supplies for immediate relief. While the team utilized funds from an anonymous Goldin Institute donor, they also worked closely with local parishes, churches, regional government and the military to coordinate the distribution of scarce supplies. Currently, three months later, the team continues to restore what was lost by the powerful storm.
Colombia
In Colombia, where ongoing civil conflict is a part of life, the Goldin Institute’s Global Associate, Lissette Mateus Roa and her team are working to create a peaceful coexistence between community members by leveraging Colombia's vast education system. Governmental changes every four years brings with it new educational priorities that public schools often struggle to adopt. Teachers and administrators drop current initiatives and quickly shift focus, resulting in a disjointed educational curriculum. These professional issues are often further complicated by the stress of working in a conflict zone. Struggling to deal with the personal and professional challenges, teachers and administrators often have conflict-laced interactions with each other and students. Observing the weak educational opportunities provided to students and the stark need for child soldier reintegration, Lissette developed a pilot project to help use curriculum and counseling to turn schools into centers for reintegration. The Pedagogy of Care and Reconciliation (PCR) project is currently running in three schools in Colombia in addition to ones in Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic.
The project utilizes the ESPERE methodology which focuses on forgiveness and reconciliation. Teachers participate in a 6-day workshop where 3 days are dedicated to forgiveness and 3 days are dedicated to reconciliation. Following the workshop, teachers engage in dialogue sessions for 6 months; discussing topics such as school rules, priorities in student education, current problems and alternative student punishments. The dialogue portion in particular provides a rare opportunity for teachers to voice their concerns and be heard. As changes are made at the top, the positive effects of peaceful coexistence and alternative solutions are visible at the bottom as evidenced in a recent encounter in the Dominican Republic. An older student in the Dominican Republic was bounced around to several schools; known as a troublemaker, his reputation preceded him, resulting in teachers unwilling to welcome him into their classroom. After getting to a school utilizing the ESPERE methodology, a teacher asked him to repay his past misdeeds by teaching primary school students. Teaching younger students as an alternative to going to the principal’s office brought out his compassion and self-control, which had not surfaced before.
Looking Forward
As the ESPERE methodology proves successful in the field sites, Lissette is preparing to extend the school-based training to our partners in Uganda this May, 2014. The team in Gulu is excited to adapt this model to work with former child soldiers and the community as they grapple with forgiveness and reconciliation.
Keep an eye out for more information about this project in the next newsletter.
Also watch the next e-newsletter for the latest news from the Grassroots Leadership Development project. The team is hard at work with our colleague Bliss Browne of Imagine Chicago to develop a course that will inform and inspire grassroots activists in leading community-driven initiatives worldwide.
If you have suggestions of individuals who may want to receive this e-newsletter or stories you think we should tell, please contact us at news@goldininstitute.org.
Uganda Update
Building on Two Years of Partnership Planning:
An update to the National Platform for child soldier prevention and re-integration in Uganda
This past June, co-founders of the Goldin Institute, Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman spent two weeks in Africa to coordinate and take part in the official launch of the National Platform for Child Soldier Reintegration and Prevention - Uganda Chapter. The event was the culmination of over two years of partnering with the Institute's Global Associate based in Kenya - Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat.
The official report has just been issued (view in entirety here), but we would like to highlight the key findings and developments that came out of the event.
Background on the Issue
The conflict in Northern Uganda, which claimed thousands of lives and displaced over 400,000 people over the past thirty years, has recently entered a period of relative calm. Since 2006, the Lord's Resistance Army and the Allied Democratic Forces have been largely dismantled and have moved outside the borders of Uganda. With the displaced - especially young people who had been recruited into the armed militia groups - moving back to their homes and villages, there is a great need to rebuild democratic governance structures and the livelihoods of returnees in ways that map to and reconstruct local realities.
In Uganda, both the rebels and the government have used children in their war actions before and after 1986. There are a number of statutory instruments that outlaw the use of children in combat action or under age employment such as the Constitution, the children's statute in addition to the various international conventions on children. However, these legal instruments were not enough to prevent the use of child soldiers or to ensure that children are reintegrated. Through research and shared planning, the National Platform findings have identified areas where a broad range of civic and grassroots leaders can make a concrete improvement.
History of the project to date
The Uganda Platform is based on the Goldin Institute's successful launch of a similar National Level program in Colombia in 2007. Like the proven Colombian model, a key feature of the this platform has been unifying reintegration efforts (in this case amongst Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC) to directly serve former combatants, not only reintegrating those children who have escaped fighting, but also to seek an end to the use of child soldiers.
Building on what was learned in Colombia and other Institute initiatives, central to the Uganda National Platform was involving former child combatants directly by providing them a voice in the proceedings. Specifically, 12 former child soldiers lead the oral testimony gathering. This experiential approach broke down many of the hierarchical barriers and produced a more accurate understanding of the lived experiences and aspirations of former combatants.
Goals and objectives of the Platform
The overall goals of the National Platform are to: 1) reintegrate former child soldiers in Uganda and 2) prevent the use of children in armed conflict. The platform will document its processes, successes and challenges in order to assist partners in DRC, Somalia and South Sudan as they build similar National Level Platforms that together will partner in a regional network dedicated to reintegration and prevention.
Eleven specific goals were established and approved by the 100 stakeholders from across Uganda with observers from the DRC, South Sudan, Kenya and the United States:
- Direct and sustained engagement of former child soldiers in all aspects of the network, from setting priorities, service in related projects and evaluation.
- Research and documentation of child soldier related issues.
- Advocacy for public policies that will benefit former combatants.
- Strengthening of institutional mechanisms to promote access to education, healthcare, nutrition, shelter and employment for ex-child soldiers and children impacted by the violence.
- Build Capacity for member organizations of the national platform to address issues of child soldiers.
- Coordinate the disparate programs for demobilization, prevention and reintegration of child soldiers to improve efficiency and reach.
- Monitor with relevant government ministries and departments to keep watch over the implementation of policies that impact ex-child soldiers.
- Evaluate impact of resources and programs targeting ex-child soldiers in Uganda.
- Distribute information and reports from members of the national platform.
- Assist in sharing information, tools and insights in building the regional platform.
- Mobilize resources for the running of the platform activities.
[slide] [img path="images/at_the_banner_diane_and_TR.jpg"]Diane Goldin and Travis Rejman meet with members of the former child soldier delegation[/img] [img path="images/TR_and_two_delegates.jpg"]Executive Director Travis Rejman meets with delegates to the National Platform[/img] [img path="images/diane_and_dorcas_and_uniden.jpg"]Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat (center) and Diane Goldin with Platform delegate[/slide]
