Creators of Peace Circles in Bungoma County- Kenya

‘When women are united, we can have peace, year in and year out,’ said one of the 16 women of Bungoma County who gathered at Generations Hotel for a Creators of Peace Circles (CoPC) training from 8-10 October. This was the first time that the CoPC training took place in Bungoma and it happened to be the last of the 21 Creators of Peace Circles training that took place in Kenya this year.

The participants were able to see their role and importance in creating peace in their families and their society. As in many others CoPC training workshops, the women came with expectations of learning how to be peace makers in society, only to realize that the ‘society’ started in their own lives and their own families. More work, as they learnt, needed to be done in their own lives and families for them to be at peace and in peace with themselves and those around them. And as one participant said  ‘If women fail to understand their role in the society, we have no hope for the future generations.’

After brainstorming on the topic of ‘Qualities of a Peace Creator’ the participants were asked to name their role models- people in their society who had the qualities they had mentioned. After a time of silence and deep thought they sadly couldn’t come up with one single name! Only later were they able to come up with one name. We challenged the women to be community role models in order to save the generations to come.  They said they were committed to doing this.

The story sharing sessions were a highlight as the women shared moments and experiences that have made them who they are today.  The stories brought the women together in tears and in joy.  As experienced in very many other stories, there seems to be a very huge problem in families and pain, hatred and hurts fill many people’s lives.  Many women shared how they were abused by their husbands, being abandoned with children and facing discrimination by their in laws. Not until these pains and hurts are dealt with can a community be enabled to build a solid foundation for peace in the society.  After going through the reflective sessions of Peace Circles, most of the women were able to forgive and let go the pains, hatred and resentments they have been carrying for many years in order to be creators of peace in the society. 

We had the privilege of having a representative from the Bungoma county senator’s office, Mr Wafula Wakholi, who graced the closing meeting by giving women their certificates and urged them to put what they had learnt into practice and promising to work closely with them. Some of the media houses were present at the closing ceremony. 

The facilitators for the training were Judy Mumbi, Mediatrix Masava and Rose Njeri.

It is with much appreciation that we wish to thank the Irene Prestwitch (IPT) for the financial support that made this Creators of Peace Circles possible.

By Judy Mumbi and Mediatrix Masava