From northeast India #3--November 2010

I rode with Leban Serto on the drive down from the high hills of Shillong to the airport in Guwahati. When we boarded the aircraft I discovered by International Ministries colleague Debbie Mullinex on board. Turned out she was going to Imphal, too. Then talking with her I discovered she was coming to Imphal to help me get in! Manipur is under a form of martial law (India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act), so you have to get a "Protected Areas Permit" to enter the state. Foreigners traveling alone have a very difficult time getting in, so Debbie was asked to come as well so the two of us could be put on the PAP application. Debbie is a development worker serving in northeast India, especially helping connect volunteers to various opportunities in the region. So I found out that I had a friend along for the journey, though Debbie had plenty of work to do on her own while I facilitated the trainings.

The first training was a two-day event with the Baptist association leaders. There is a core of very committed Baptist peacemakers working with the Manipur Baptist Convention's General Secretary Vumthang Sitlhou. I was very impressed with their vision and how they were making progress step by step along the way to give some substance to that vision. Manipur has the highest killing rate of any state in India. There are many insurgent groups, countered by the Indian army and state paramilitary forces. There is a movement of resistance in Manipur against India rule as well as conflict between various groups including inter-tribal violence. The Baptists bridge a lot of these divisions, so they have a special opportunity for peacemaking.

We had a broad-ranging training, and participants especially appreciated digging into the Biblical teaching related to the various conflict transformation themes. We explored stories such as the conflict in Acts 6 which saw the church grow through constructively handling their inter-ethnic conflict and Esther 4 when the margins mobilized to overcome a genocidal policy. We dealt with the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (turning the other cheek, giving the coat, going the second mile) as well as the nonviolent transformative action of Rizpah in 2 Samuel 21.

Then today (Saturday) some of the Baptist leaders, especially the leading peacemaking team, were joined by an interfaith community called the United Religions Initiative--Manipur Chapter. We had some Hindu leaders, Bahais, a Muslim leader and two leaders of traditional tribal religions. Together we engaged in extensive discussions, and I gave a training segment on getting to win/win solutions, especially with a twist about identity conflicts, of which there are many in Manipur. I gave copies of Interfaith Heroes (1 & 2) to the URI leaders to share among the group members. It was good to see this group together. They aren't just meeting for dialogue and relationship building. They worked to mediate an end to a crisis this spring where Nagas and the state forces clashed ending with two students dead and an economic blockade imposed by angry Nagas blocking the main highway into Imphal. They have also helped negotiate the release of people kidnapped by insurgent groups. So these are interfaith activists making a great team to try to turn the tide in the conflicts in the region.

Tomorrow I will preach in a Rongmei Naga Baptist church on the text of Psalm 85, especially verse 10 which speaks of Truth and Mercy coming together and Justice and Peace embracing. I call it "A Recipe for Reconciliation." Then I head to the airport and start the long trip back home, flying into Delhi and catching the 2 am flight to Frankfurt and then Detroit.
Whew! It's been a full trip with lots of training and interaction. I'm encouraged to see so many rising peacemakers in this volatile region. The investment in peacemaking here and the determination of so many folks to learn the principles and skills of peacemaking is paying off with a broader constituency for peace and a high caliber of leaders. It takes a while to build up such a movement. We've seen the impact in how the civil society groups, including the churches, have played such a powerful role in the Naga reconciliation process. Interfaith partnership will be critical for broadening this impact.

From northeast India #2--November 2010

I've been part of a three-day consortium at the Martin Luther Christian University in Shillong. Leban Serto is the coordinator of the Peace Studies Program at MLCU and the one who invited me to be a resource person. In the mornings we had plenary programs. On the last day I was the main speaker, talking on interfaith dimensions of peacemaking. I shared stories from Nigeria and Lebanon as well as from our interfaith work in Detroit. I also sketched the interfaith family tree on nonviolence (which has some arbitrary dimensions to it admittedly): From Leo Tolstoy to Mahatma Gandhi to Abdul Gaffar Khan to E. Stanley Jones to Martin Luther King Jr to Abraham Joshua Heschel to Aung San Suu Kyi. (That's not always linear, but they are all connected.) Besides Christians at the consortium we had Hindus, Buddhists, practitioners of indigenous religions, a Jew, and some people of no specific faith. I'm not aware of any Muslim participants.

Then each day in the afternoons I led a workshop on conflict transformation with special elements on peace education and interfaith relationships. We explored dynamics, processes and skills of conflict transformation, mainstream/margin, and using a tool for analysis that moves to building comprehensive strategies. The energy levels were very high with a lot of interaction. I was delighted to meet some Baptists who are deeply engaged in peacemaking work in the region, especially some women activists who have had extensive training. We also had a number of students from Burma, both Christian and Buddhist, who participated in the training. Toward the end of one of the sessions we had some wonderfully blunt and exciting discussions about applying these things to the resistance against the Burmese dictatorship as well as to the many armed conflicts in northeast India. It was a great group to work with.

In the evenings on the first and last night of the consortium we had some cultural programs with dance and music. Talk about a cultural feast. There are over 200 different ethnic groups in this region, with their own languages, dances, dress and customs.

Today I worked in a postscript training for Christian students and graduates of the peace studies program. We went back over the material we'd covered in the consortium workshops laying some Biblical studies addressing those same themes. We looked at Acts 6.1-7 through the lenses of first mainstream/margin and then conflict resolution to a win/win solution. Then we plunged into Esther 4, first with mainstream/margin analysis and then using a tool called either "Social Barometer" or "Spectrum of Allies"--a great tool to work on understanding the different types of people related to an issue and developing complex strategies to move people in your direction.

In the afternoon I was taken to a "sacred grove" for the Khasi people--a huge forested area that is kept as a natural preserve. Along the edge there are many ancient stones placed in various configurations kind of like miniature Stonehenges. Nobody knows who the people are that placed these stones or what their purpose was, but they are scattered throughout the Meghalaya region. Most were rather small, some were about 6 or 8 feet high, and then there were two that were about 12 to 15 feet high. My friend tells me that legend has it that these stones were not raised by human hands but by prayer.

From northeast India #1--November 2010

The northeast of India is the site of many ethnic insurgencies. So peacemaking and conflict transformation are key concerns. Over the years a lot of peacemaking efforts have been invested here. I've worked in the region for over 14 years, mostly with the Nagas, but also touching on some of the other conflicts.

I was invited to be the major resource person for a 3-day peace consortium at the Martin Luther Christian University. MLCU is relatively new, only four years old, and is an ecumenical university. It already has about 1,700 students with a major peace studies program. Dr. Leban Serto directs the program, and I met him when I was last in northeast India in December 2009.

The trip was long--flights from Detroit to Frankfurt to Mumbai (Bombay) to Kolkata (Calcutta) to Guwahati. Then we drove for about three hours up into the hills of the state of Meghalay to Shillong. I left Detroit Sunday evening and arrived in Shillong on Tuesday evening with only a few hours sleep.

Shillong used to be the administrative center for the entire northeast of India during the British colonial days. The city is a bit more developed and grander than the other cities in the region. Being up in the hills the climate is much cooler than in the plains. So I'm wearing a sweater and a jacket most of the time. Shillong is a learning center for the region. It also is the headquarters for the India armed forces, facing both China and Bangladesh as well as dealing with the multiple insurgencies.

The first two days here were spent in recovering from jet lag, planning and coordinating about the consortium, and doing a little sight-seeing. Then the training started today. We are taking a day before and a day after the consortium for special programs for students and graduates of the peace studies program. So I'll be training for a total of 5 days. The consortium is an interfaith event, so with the students I'm doing a special focus on the Biblical material related to the topics we'll be dealing with in the consortium workshops.

Today we got off to a good start. We have participants from across northeast India and from many of the ethnic groups. We also have two Mizos from Bangladesh, a Hungarian woman and a South Korean man. We did some introductory material related to conflict transformation. Then later I facilitated the styles of conflict section using the "conflict animals"--which some of you have seen me lead.

So hopefully a good night sleep, then tomorrow we have a bigger group of people from different religions and even different parts of India than just the northeast. Actually, a good night sleep will be a miracle. Today is Diwali, the major Hindu festival of light. So people have already been setting off firecrackers over the past few days, but I've been warned that tonight it will be almost non-stop. The firecrackers here are much louder than in the U.S., sounding more like bombs, and I'm not talking about cherry bombs. It literally sounds like a war going on out here. So I'll have jet lag and firecracker lag most likely!

From Zimbabwe #3--Sept. 2010

Numbers tell the story in this edition of the Zimbabwe trip notes:

3--Gweru was the third city for conflict transformation training after the training programs in the capital Harare and the second-largest city Bulawayo. Gweru is a much smaller city, but it is in the center of the country close to the center of the national highway running between Harare and Bulawayo. The offices of the Convention of Zimbabwe Baptist Churches are located there, and the Zimbabwe Baptist Theological Seminary is about 24 kilometers outside the city. We were in the heart of Baptist life, which in this case was very problematic. There are major divisions and conflicts within the convention that spilled over into the program in which I was involved, and those problems became evident at the Gweru trainings.

100--We had a long day of intensive training with the 100 or so students of the seminary. Dr. Henry Mugabe, the principal of the seminary, is a visionary educator and dedicated peacemaker. He's built up the seminary over the past 18 years to a large sprawling facility with a significant student body. There are a lot of women students, many who want to become pastors, and there is an ordained Baptist woman teaching theology. The school also has students from other denominations--Anglican, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Zionist (an indigenous African denomination), thanks to the seminary's growing reputation for the quality of their education. But some in the convention don't like the seminary's views on women, ecumenical relationships and African-rooted theology, so there is a major movement against the current seminary leadership and an effort to seize control from the governing board. Conflict in the church? Why am I not surprised? But I was saddened to see some of the power politics and outright threats that were going on. Dr. Mugabe and the seminary need our prayers.

The workshop with the students started slow, as experiential exercises with a large group who aren't used to such learning can demand a lot from the facilitator. But we eventually got them going. By the end as we were working on the Sermon on the Mount and Transforming Initiatives the energy was very high. The response was so positive that they arranged for me to do an unscheduled late afternoon training related to transformative leadership the next day. That time we didn't need to worry about the energy as they were fully into the flow of the participatory style.

6--The main workshop, however, over the next 2 1/2 days only had 6 participants, a shocking decline from the good-sized sessions we'd had everywhere else. We learned that some pastors had received warnings that the police would arrest people who participated. Those warnings didn't come from the police, who actually had representatives at the workshops in Bulawayo and Gweru in a very positive and interactive way. The threats came from Baptist leaders who were not in control of the project! I never got names of those who were causing the problems, but it was clear that the internal conflicts were upsetting the organizers and some of the participants. They were embarrassed that such a good program (that could help those involved in the conflict on all sides!) was being targeted in such a way.

We went ahead anyway with the training with a few others along the way who would come and go. 6 is a number of quantity, but as for quality we had some of the top leaders in the convention's youth department and a wonderful young clergy couple recently graduated from the seminary. Investing oneself in key young leaders is never a waste!

2--The highlight for me wasn't any of the trainings in Zimbabwe, though we had some great times. The highlight was spending 2 weeks with 2 emerging leaders who have a great passion for peace flowing out of their great passion for Christ. Philip Mdzidzi is the Director of the Youth Department for the convention, and his vision about raising up a generation of Baptists committed to Christian peacemaking in their context and with the skills to make an impact has been the driving force in the program. He saw us laying the foundation across the country with this trip and the trainings, but also envisions local networks with an annual gathering to share stories, learn skills and encourage one another. Lancelot Muteyo is in his early 20s and is already a dynamo. He directs the Distance Adoption Program (a form of child sponsorship) between the Zimbawean convention and the Italian Baptist Union. He's also a passionate peace activist who was one of the youth leaders at the Global Baptist Peace Conference in Rome last year.

The three of us--Philip, Lance and I--traveled the length of Zimbabwe in the car (we finally got it fixed in Bulawayo!). During the long drives and around the tables where we ate we had the deepest training and conversations. It was a mobile training of trainers program as we shared stories and experiences. Lance especially went through much of the material 4 times over the course of the trip. He led some of the transition activities and energizer games, but then I began to incorporate him into leading some of the content pieces. He jumped in with flair and skill, playing an announcer for ZBC (Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp.) interviewing Paul and Barnabas about their conflict over taking John Mark on a missionary trip (see Acts 15.36-41 for the story). When he joined me in the leadership of the Village Game he was delightfully slick and nasty (that's the role). Afterward we discussed the trainings and talked about ways to adapt or meet various challenges that can emerge in different groups.

There was much else to share that I'll gloss over--the involvement of Brickson Sam from Sierra Leone (also a Rome conference participant--had a little reunion with 4 of us including Chiromo) teaching on tribalism and conflict, the mosquito nets distribution that Brickson was doing with the help of the Youth Department through His Nets, cooking breakfast over a fire because of no electricity, singing about sadza and sauce with Philip, giving Lance astronomy lessons under the incredible night sky, hauling a paper mache lion around that was a gift from a craftsman in one church, meeting with the General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches to discuss possible ecumenical work in the future, and the great difficulty getting internet access. A full trip to say the least!

From Zimbabwe #2--Sept. 2010

So here's the second edition of the news from Zimbabwe, brought to you by the letter "A":

Anxious Automobile--as we departed from Harare for Bulawayo, about a 5 hour trip, we had many delays. One of the biggest was needing to get new tires for Philip Mdzidzi's car as one was flat when we got out of the training sessions in Harare. That tire was balder than me, and another one was no better. So with a long trip through lots of desolate area we knew we had to do something. With a few other delays we left Harare around 6 pm, still hoping to get to Bulawayo. But a couple hours into the trip we developed transmission trouble which finally came to a head with the car stopped late at night in the middle of an intersection in a town along the way. Fortunately, we were to pick someone up in that town, and they helped us limp into a 24-hour gas station. The transmission fluid was gone, so we filled up and took extra with us. For the rest of the journey we had to stop periodically to top off. We limped into Gweru, a little more than half way and the home for the Baptist Convention offices and the seminary, a little after midnight. In the morning we continued on to Bulawayo, stopping all along the way to keep pouring more fluid in for the transmission--obviously a serious leak going on, but we finally made it!

Another training--because of our delay in getting to Bulawayo, we had to shorten the training. But we had a good group. About 2/3 of the group was youth, the others older adults. The pastor of the host church was the student dean of the seminary. We had about a day and a half of training on conflict transformation and nonviolence. The church invited the police to come and be a part (a long and interesting story). Two women community officers came and talked about various crime issues. I had some interesting discussions with them and found out that they were developing community policing, pre-trial mediation and restorative justice practices--so that bodes well for the future of Zimbabwe. Meanwhile I had a great time especially with the youth, encouraging them, helping them find their voices, and stretching their horizons. On Sunday I preached at the host church (Ebenezer Baptist Church), and some folks from other churches who had attended the workshop came with the blessing of their pastors.

Antelope and other Animals--Sunday afternoon we got another late start for Victoria Falls (late starts are a constant theme here). That was about a 5 or 6 hour journey, and soon night fell. But along the way we saw antelope near the roads. I was dozing when a small herd of zebras crossed--bummer! We pulled into a cheap lodge (look up to see Motel 6!) around midnight. Then as we came into Victoria Falls the next day we saw lots of baboons, a sight we were to see a number of times on the trip back. Later when we got to Gweru and had some off time, Philip took us to a private game preserve. We went on a ride through the preserve seeing herds of impalas, water bucks, wildebeests (gnus), zebras (so I did finally get to see them) and giraffes. We saw elephants at a distance going down to a lake to drink. The park also has a special 500 acre enclosure to rescue lions from bad captivity situations or injuries and then raise cubs that can be returned to the wild. So we saw lions, but not out in the bush.

Awesome--Victoria Falls is one of the 7 natural wonders in the world as recently designated by the United Nations, and without a doubt it is awesome. It's the widest waterfall in the world, with the falls spanning 1.7 kilometers in a fairly straight line, broken by a couple islands, and plunging into a gorge at a height about twice that of Niagara Falls. It's the dry season, so the Zambesi River is lower (not it's lowest), still creating the awesome sight and sound that gives the falls its indigenous name that translates "Smoke that Thunders." Opposite the falls the mist creates a permanent rainfall and lush rain forest. We were soaked, but quickly dried off as we backed off from the falls. I rejoiced in the majestic work of the Creator--truly awesome!

Accident--on our way back from Victoria Falls, we were only 20 or 30 kilometers out of town when we came upon a typical poor country accident. A pick-up truck had been carrying a full load of passengers in the back, riding on bald tires like we once had. A tire blew out at high speed (maybe 90 to 100 kilometers per hour) and the truck flipped over slamming the unprotected passengers into the pavement. We were about the third or fourth vehicle to stop. One woman was seriously injured and needed to be moved by professionals. Many others had severe cuts and abrasions. We gave people water to wash their wounds. An ambulance had been called for, but the nearest hospital was about 45 minutes away. We took a woman with a bad head wound and a mother whose baby has a bloody scrap across its forehead, shoving everything into the "boot" so we could make room for them. Then we drove them off to the hospital in the next town (where they happened to reside as well). In a place like this everyone needs to work together in such a crisis. If there aren't Good Samaritans, there is little hope.

Also, we're now in Gweru. I'll tell about that in the next letter. I started this two days ago but computer problems at the Cyber Cafe prevented me from sending it.

From Zimbabwe #1--Sept. 2010

I arrived in Zimbabwe (after stops in Senegal and South Africa) on Sunday night. Monday I met with the organizers for the training trip here--Philip Mundzidzi, the director of the youth program for the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe and C.H. Chiromo, a Baptist pastor and peace activist I first met in Nicaragua in 1992 at a global Baptist peace conference. Also, Lancelot Muteyo, a youth leader who was at the Rome conference last year with Chiromo, is involved in the leadership of this training program.

Already there have been major changes. Some of the resource people didn't come (one may join us later in another city), so basically I'm doing the major programming with some input at transitions and summaries with the rest of the leadership team. So on Tuesday and today (Wednesday) I've led intensive conflict transformation and nonviolence training. We have about 25 participants, including about half youth, about a quarter of the group are women. We have pastors and leaders from two of the four Baptist bodies in the country. For a special evening program on transformative leadership last night we had about 35 people including an Assembly of God pastor.

I'm loving working with the youth. That's the focus of the training, and we have some great young leaders in the group. At first they were a bit hesitant to jump into the participatory form of the training, but today the energy and creativity was incredible.

Zimbabwe has lots of political turmoil. There are also conflicts within the Baptist churches. So we're pursuing how to be engaged nonviolently in church and social transformation. One pastor told me, "This is electric!" Another said he was discovering things he had never thought about. During breaks and after sessions I can hear the conversations where people are processing the content with lots of excitement.

So it's going well. Tomorrow we wrap up here in the capital of Harare (in the north east). Then we travel south west to the city of Bulawayo to repeat the program. Philip and Lancelot will be the team with me. Along the way we're doing a lot of talking about facilitation as they want to continue doing this kind of work (actually, they are already working in teaching and training, but this training will help expand their tool box).

The weather is wonderful. It's spring here, so some of the trees are bursting out with blossoms. It's cool in the evening--sweater or jacket weather. In the day it's pleasantly warm but not hot. Not sure if it will be this way across the country or just here in Harare which they say is at a higher elevation than the other cities.

Thanks for your prayers. I'll share more if possible. Internet access is a challenge.

Peace,
Dan

Naga Covenant of Reconciliation Signed

This June all of the top leaders of the Naga insurgent factions have signed a “Covenant of Reconciliation.” For over thirty years these groups have split Naga society, and the warfare between the factions has left thousands of Nagas dead and deep divisions within the Naga people. In 2008 a process of reconciliation was launched that brought people from the factions face-to-face, developing momentum that couldn’t even be halted by violent outbursts. Thanks to the persistence of Naga peacemakers and the moving of the Holy Spirit, all the major leaders have publicly committed themselves to the reconciliation process.

For over twelve years I’ve been working for peace and reconciliation with the Nagas who live in northeast India and northwest Burma. The war between the Nagas and India has been going on since 1955. Then in 1975 a flawed peace agreement sparked division among the Nagas that has been as bloody as the conflict with India. In 1997 I participated with Ken Sehested Baptist Peace Fellowship and John Sundquist of International Ministries in the Atlanta Talks. Wati Aier was the leader of the Naga mediation team with whom we worked. All four of the major Naga factions at the time were due to attend, but at the last minute one of the largest groups pulled out. Though the participants drafted “The Atlanta Appeal” for reconciliation, the splits were still very deep and expressed in on-going violence.

Wati, John, Ken and I continued to work on Naga peace efforts in various ways over the years. There were rounds of shuttling back-and-forth between the key groups. Cease-fires were established with India and sporadic negotiations on political issues with India were undertaken. Informal cease-fires between the Naga factions were established that were periodically shaken by assassinations and firefights.

We trained the Naga civil society leaders in conflict transformation—church leaders, human rights activists, women’s leaders, student activists, civic leaders. Out of their growing relationships and skills they launched “The Journey of Conscience” nonviolent campaign that changed the context for political discussions both in the Naga homeland and in Indian society. The people with the guns were no longer running the debate but were now being pushed by an organized, vocal and focused civil society that was sick and tired of the violence.

Year followed year with progress in fits and starts, but also much frustration at the seeming stubbornness of various leaders and anguish as yet more lives were extinguished. Then a breakthrough happened. Wati Aier, who is the Principal of the Oriental Theological Seminary, the leading seminary for Naga Baptists, helped pull together a series of meetings in Chiang Mai, Thailand that brought together all the Naga factions for reconciliation talks. Wati was joined by Naga civil society leaders and community activists who eventually formed the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR). The Forum was supported by a team of British Quakers and me as well as by John Sunquist at some points. Traditional tribal leaders were brought into the process to work on the social divides which somewhat paralleled the divides between the political factions.

During the Chiang Mai talks the basis for reconciliation was hammered out in what became known as a “Covenant of Common Hope.” The Covenant had ten action steps and commitments to give substance to the reconciliation process. The FNR has followed-up on the Chiang Mai meetings with on-going communication efforts back in Nagaland to keep the momentum going. They have facilitated technical talks about cease-fire modalities and engaged in the detailed work of forging peace in a concrete conflict.

One of the symbols of reconciliation has been soccer. During Chiang Mai 3 Wati announced that we would have a soccer (a.k.a. “football”) match. All the factional representatives were on one side, all the tribal leaders on the other, with civil society folks mixed between the two teams. Even before halftime participants were excited at how being on the same team working for the same goal made reconciliation tangible. As we drove back from the soccer field we were making plans for reconciliation games to be held in Nagaland. Shortly after the Chiang Mai meeting, a game was held in the main stadium in Kohima, then another in Diampur. The games were watched by thousands, with days of prayer and other reconciliation activities around the matches.

The Nagas have had the gospel percolating among them for over 140 years. They left head-hunting to embrace the love of Jesus. The trials of the Indo-Naga conflict have wracked the Naga society with many divisions and have challenged the faith that has brought 80% of Nagas to identify themselves as Baptists. But that faith evidenced through many creative and courageous leaders like Wati Aier has begun to bring the harvest of reconciliation out of the hard ground of chronic conflict. Wati may have had his weary moments, but he persevered in doing good, joined by many other Naga peacemakers.

In peace, hope and trust,
Dan