We traveled to another city, and on Monday we began another training. We had about 30-35 participants from many different ethnic groups. Again I worked mainly with the mainstream/margin concept, and got some of the best and most intense stuff ever from this group, serious and fun at the same time. Then we did studies on Acts 6 and Esther 4. I finished with some very specific peacemaking ideas for their context, using the image of drying the tears of Jesus.
One of our hosts closed out the day with a feedback session that was very moving. One man told about how he has felt so bitter and angry with people from the dominant religion over some of the hardships he'd experienced. He said he even hates to see people in that traditional religious garb. But he realized that he is in direct contradiction to the teaching of Jesus, and he felt a huge release and washing of forgiveness toward those from the other faith in our sessions. I was almost in tears as I listened to him. Then others spoke about ways their thinking has been stretched in exciting and tangible ways. They were very specific, talking about drying the tears of Jesus and not being limited by their marginal positions in society.
On Tuesday we continued dealing with the story of Rizpah and trauma. Later in the feedback session one man said he rated the workshop as a 10 on a scale of 10: "This was the answer of God to our situation." We dealt with some specific problems in which they had experienced heart-rending conflict. We helped them strategize about creative and transformative ways to address those situations.
The next day we had another intense session meeting with top religious leaders from minority communities. We explored the problems and ways to develop new alliances to address those problems.
Whew! It's been an intense trip, and far more productive than I'd ever dreamed. We might be able to find some ways to build on the openness we experienced to make a regional impact for peace. Plans are underway for follow-up activities.
About Me
- Daniel Buttry
- I am the Global Consultant for Peace and Justice with International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches. That means that I work around the world, usually on short term peace projects. My area of specialty is conflict transformation. Simply put, conflict transformation means turning conflict from negative, destructive experiences into positive, constructive experiences… in which problems are solved, unjust relationships are structured in more just ways, violence is replaced by nonviolent means of dealing with disagreements, torn relationships are reconciled, decisions become more participatory and traumatized people are supported for healing. About 70% of my work involves training people in nonviolent conflict transformation. I occasionally am involved in mediation. I write a lot and have published a number of books on various peacemaking topics.