Mennonite
Central
Committee

MCC works to prevent family violence in Brazil

Marla Pierson Lester
June 12, 2006

Even as they work to help families communicate better and resolve conflicts, MCC peace workers Vilma Barbosa Pessoa da Silva and Rosane Pontes Rego Barros keep tabs on a grim statistic — the rising rate of homicides in Brazil's fourth largest city. Many are murdered by someone close to them.

The state of Pernambuco, where Recife is located, has one of the highest homicide rates in Brazil. Of murders of women so far this year, half were carried out by partners or ex-partners.

Since 1995, MCC's Projecto de Paz Familiar (Family Peace Project) has worked through churches and communities to help families communicate better and learn how to mediate conflicts, ideally so they won't turn to violence. This year, MCC staff began serving as trained mediators working directly in six neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of Recife.

In addition to educating couples, "We're also trying to work to educate churches in this area of working and living in peace," Barros said.

Barros and Da Silva noted that churches sometimes believe it is the job of the government to handle violence. Churches and groups touched by the program include Mennonites, Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans and Catholics.

"Our idea is more to help make the churches more sensitive to this kind of violence that is happening," Barros said. "The will of the church is there — to want to work in this — but they don't know how."

A new component to the program is offering conflict mediation services in six neighborhoods.

Barros and Da Silva recently completed mediation training, receiving certificates that allow them to provide direct mediation services, work generally limited to lawyers in Brazil. As part of a larger state government-supported project, Núcleo de Medição Comunitária, they are each offering their services in three communities in neighborhoods in the Recife area, partnering with trusted leaders from the communities.

Their first step with troubled families will be to encourage them to resolve their differences themselves, Barros said. Sometimes, though, the voice of a mediator who is outside the situation can be critical. "They need the third person in the relationship," Barros said.

Whether conducting trainings with churches or working directly with families, Barros and Da Silva work to bring hope and new skills to fragile families, to strengthen couples' communications and in doing so, to build a culture of peace where there has been violence.