Uganda -- talking for peace
Peacebuilding can appear to be rather boring -- just groups of people
sitting around talking. It's not always easy to determine whether anything's
being accomplished. But, in the end, talking is a powerful tool for peace
work.
Building hope and forgiveness
For nearly 50 years, tensions had run high in northern Uganda between
the Iteso people and their Karimajong neighbors. MCC helped arrange a
meeting between the two groups. One group described how their cattle had
been raided, their granaries and homes destroyed. They, in turn, heard
how the perpetrators had experienced ridicule and had been victims of
raids by other groups. At first reconciliation seemed impossible, but
by the end of several days hope and forgiveness prevailed. The groups
set an agenda for future sessions and celebrated together with traditional
dances.
Peace fund
Such meetings - just sitting around talking - are beginning points where
relationships begin to mend and stereotypes are chipped away. MCC Uganda
has a peace initiatives fund to support meetings like this one. It can
also be used for such things as creating and printing posters with a specific
peace message or printing other peace materials.
$1.55 Cdn/$1 US
prints five posters
$15.40 Cdn/$10 US
sponsors one person to attend a peace meeting for one day
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