Peace Makers

I've just returned from the Peace Justice Studies Association Conference in San Diego. The conference was wonderful and well attended. The women key notes speakers such as Sherri Mitchell, Almudena Berabeu and Monisha Bajaj, offered us all insights into the range of peace activism and education that is being undertaken internationally.

Four women who are participants in the Kroc Institute for Peace Studies Peace Makers program gave presentations on the work they have been doing in Uganda, India, Sri Lanka and Israel. Robi Damelin who is living and working in Israel, spoke of the work she and the Parents Circle Family Forum are doing to arrest retaliation violence between Israelis and Palestinians. She uses the arts in many instances to build friendships and partnerships between these communities. She began her talk by asking people not to fight their fight as it increases the ill feelings and violence. Very wise words indeed!

There was also a youth summit as part of the conference. Here you see them performing for the conference attendees.

Peace Studies Conference

As I prepare to present research at conference hosted by the Peace and Justice Studies Association in San Diego, I find myself once again reflecting on the role women play in building peace and how they are the ones who suffer the most during and post conflict.

There is a Kenyan Proverb: "It is the grass under the feet of the elephant that gets destroyed in the fight". In other words, it is the innocent - the women and children - who suffer the most when there is conflict (and certainly academic research reinforces what we know instinctively). Gender-based violence does not simply become manifest in the use of sexual violence but in any restrictive form of violence towards women. These include a lack of access to education, diverse ethnic and tribal identities, gender-based issues, such as land ownership, inheritance rights, an imbalance of household roles within a patriarchal society, rituals such as female circumcision or female genital mutilation, severe poverty and many other forms of violence that target women’s identity or social and cultural roles.

When I was in Uganda, I worked with a group of women who had been displaced by the violence of the Kony insurgency. These women had escaped the violence in the North of Uganda and were now living on the grounds of Liziria, the maximum security prison in Kampala. They spoke of how they imagined peace, how they knew when they were at peace, and what they did to encourage peace with each other and with those they loved who were still far away. We sat and talked, and most importantly, listened as they shared their stories and their struggles to rebuild their lives and to create new community.

Women Waging Peace: Inclusive Security

Before I went to Kenya last year to undertake my research I read several victim statements and transcripts or Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commissions underaken in several African countries. My aim was to inform myself with knowledge of how women were included in the process: were there women on the Commission? Were women able to provide their victim statements by having the Commission meet them in their communities? Was there space provided to ensure confidentiality or potential negative repercussions once they had disclosed? If women were not provided the chance to be a part of the process, did the Commissions' findings and recommendations address violations against women?

The result of my research is too great to discuss here but I recently came across a Rwandan politician who advocates for women's involvement in Peace processes. Aloisea Inyumba, Rwanda's first Minister of Gender and Social Affairs after the genocide. Although only 26 years old when she became Minister, she helped design the burial of 800,000 victims of the massacres. "She devised a system to care for half a million orphans. She created five tiers of local to national women’s councils that indirectly fed into the parliament, resulting in the highest percentage of women legislators in the world and making Rwanda the first country to break the 50% barrier for women’s participation".  (Retrieved from Institute on Inclusive Security ). In the video below Aloisea talks about the necessity and importance of inclusive security.

Aloisea Inyumba died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 48.

A few women who heal community quietly

Here are some photographs of some of the women whom I have met and who offer strength and support to others. So far I have met over 550 women, many of whom have shared their stories with me and who have been kind and generous. I have spoken about some other women in other posts but these are a few more.

This young woman was nine years old when she ran away form home as her father was going to marry her, in exchange for three goats and two cows, to a man of 60 years. She walked over 100 km to join a village where she would be safe from circumcision (FGM) and a young marriage. She is 19 years old now and taking courses to learn computers.

I met this lovely strong woman before the election in the Kibera slums. She and another 6 women were educating other women on non-violence and encouraging a peaceful election. She was a victim of post-election violence, suffering tremendous human rights violations. She is mother of seven and, after being widowed, has managed to provide them all with an education.

We met at a transit stop in Kibera and then again in a meeting. She is warm and welcoming! During the election in 2007, she escaped with her life, breaking through the the bars and glass of her house windows. She hid and narrowly escaped with her life. She has survived horrendous experiences but nevertheless advocates for peace in the community that violated her.

This woman mentors women encouraging them to leave the sex trade. She became a sex worker when she was 14 in order to support her siblings. She is pursuing her secondary education at this time. She now spends her night handing out condoms to other sex workers, encourages HIV/AIDS testing for both the Johns and the women and has helped establish a medical clinic that runs from 11pm to 2am in order to care for women in the trade away form the watchful eye of the community.

 

She was imprisoned herself and now helps women in prisons by rescuing any children left behind when an arrest is made, encouraging and supporting the women while imprisoned and meeting them upon their release. She is caring for six children in her own home and is often called in the middle of the night by inmates about to be released.

These three women are all from the Gulu area of Uganda and now live in an IDP camp on the grounds of a prison in Kampala. They are supporting one another emotionally and trying to find peace after losing family, suffering through poverty, and enduring spousal abuse.

Re-storying narratives evolved into a shared vision

I want to talk to you about the symbols the women chose for their images of peace. The majority of Kenyans are very patriotic and the images the women chose to paint and embroider reflected this patriotism - symbols that focused on the unity of Kenyans - going beyond tribal difference. As one woman said this election must stand for "one Community, one Nation, one Kenya".

A couple of images focused on home and broken hearts but for the majority, as you can see in the photograph, the predominant image was the Kenyan flag as it's symbolism is important to the notion of peace: Green reflecting the abundant fertile soil; red reflecting the blood shed in the fight for independence; black representative of the colour of the people; white is a symbol of peace and unity.

When the women worked together on the final section of the work on paper - their Hopes and Dreams for the future - there was much discussion about their desire for a stronger infrastructure than currently exists within their community. They drew many hospitals, toilets, schools, transportation such as railways and roads, but they also drew flowers that they said represented new beginnings and unity - very important concepts to them all. The images and words they chose reflected a shared vision of a community that is united and peaceful.

By reflecting on their past and on how their communities were before the violence, they were able to bring forward their experiences and reflect on how those experiences have informed their desire for peace and their strong advocacy. Each narrative, rather than ending with discussions around their victimization, vehemently reflected their understanding of themselves as triumphant and their desire that, as women, they could make a difference in their communities - teaching their sons about peace , and standing strong together in the upcoming election.

Kibera Women peacebuilders

Yesterday I ran my first workshop with seven women who had suffered during the 2007 post-election violence. Hosted at the Kenyan office of Interchange, the women arrived at 8:30 and remained until 3pm when they had to pick their children up from school. They are doing a lot to build peace in their homes and in their communities in the hopes of avoiding a repeat in the coming weeks. I asked them to consider what their idea of peace was, how they knew when there is peace in their homes/community and what they do individually to promote peace within their community. They wrote their answers on pieces of paper and placed them in a basket for discussion later.

We spent the day together, talking about their experiences, the concept of peace and what is means to them individually and what they are doing in their homes and communities to promote peace. We worked on a group project that reflected their perceptions of their community before 2007, during the violence of 2007/08, what things had changed from 2008 - 2012 (perhaps the calm before the election of 2013 when they feel tribal tensions are rising again) and their hopes and dreams for the future after the election.  These women are all from different tribes, had never met before and are courageous! They worked as a group and individually.

Using Lederach's concept of Expanded Framework for Peacebuilding we considered re-storying the past and "the past that lies before us" and explored the break in their personal narratives brought on by the post-election violence. (The felt model of the framework is by Jaqui Jesso, Interchange)

At the end of the day, I supplied them with pieces of white cotton, fabric markers and embroidery thread and they were invited to re-explore the concept of peace and to create something that symbolized either the stories that they shared earlier in the day, or reflected peace in some way.  They decided they would take these individual works home with them and they said they would put them on the walls of their Kibera homes.

Women for women

The past week I have been attending peacebuilding workshops facilitated by women during which time the men who were attending said they imagined the facilitator would be a white male. I have also been speaking with women who are advocating for other women - trying to make a difference at the grass roots level. And now, I find myself puzzled with my own intellectual and research processes wondering if I am undertaking an investigation into grass roots, structured forms of peacebuilding, or if I am seeking to gain an understanding of more informal peace building/community healing processes that are seen within Kenyan society.

Let me explain. There is much research that reflects organizations that advocate for women's rights and encourages women participants in formal peace building agendas such as Women in Peacebuilding in Liberia, Women for Women, and PeaceWomen. But what happens behind closed doors, in places where there is little access to media or infrastructure. How do women who are working quietly in theri communities, bridging Tribal difference through friendships contribute to peacebuilding in a meaningful way? At the same time, I have also been reflecting on the idea why are there not more women in peacebuilding processes . . what is it that women bring to the peace table and why is their role so different than men's.

Below is a TED talk by Jody Williams: A Realistic Vision for World Peace during which a Nobel Peace Laureate articulates the need for creativity and a new approach to peace. She sees peace as "a sustainable peace for justice and equality" where people "have enough resources to live dignified lives".

I found her talk to be inspiring although it raised so many more questions about my research here in Kenya during this pre-election time when there is uncertainty and fear of a reoccurance of the 2007 post-election violence, that resulted in so much displacement of women, men and families.

I welcome your comments and ideas.

Community Healing and the Arts: A case study

In 2004, ten years after the Rwandan Genocide, Lily Yeh visited  Giseyena, Rwanda by way of an invitation of a local Red Cross representative. There, she was shown two sites: a mass grave covered by a crumbling structure and a nearby village where genocide survivors lived.

From 2005 to 2007 Lily Yeh and the Barefoot Artists worked with nearly 100 women, all survivors of the genocide, and several hundred children, volunteers from neighbouring cities and the US. Together, they created a memorial garden that honoured those who died in the genocide, and painted murals on the houses of the villagers - transforming a desolate area, into one that was welcoming and uplifting. The project illustrates the benefits of using the arts as a vehicle for community healing and the transformation that care is given in creating personal environments.

This short clip from a documentary by Chris Landy reflects the power bringing the arts into a community has had on restoring a sense of peace.