12 December 2013 marks 50 years of Kenyan independence. People came to Nairobi from the desert reaches bordering Somalia, the port city of Mombasa, the drylands of Baringo and the political hotbed of Eldoret. The All Africa Conference of Churches provided the venue without charge. The theme of the gathering was ‘The dynamics of peace and reconciliation in Kenya’. It was facilitated by internationally acclaimed peacemakers from Nigeria, Imam Dr Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor Dr James Wuye.

In a press release by the German Africa Foundation, the 'German Africa Award' for 2013 has been awarded to Imam Dr Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor Dr James Wuye from Kaduna, northern Nigeria, who feature in the Initiatives of film The Imam and the Pastor. The award ceremony will take place on 12 December 2013 in Berlin.

A national conference for Christian leaders brought together over 1,000 Chadians in N'Djamena from 24-28 June. One of the two main themes of the conference was interfaith dialogue. This was addressed by Chawkat Moucarry, director for inter-faith relations at World Vision, who showed the film The Imam and the Pastor (made by Initiatives of Change's FLTfilms) to the 1,000 participants.

For Joseph Wainaina, to lead a peace caravan in his home city of Eldoret was a dream come true. In 1992, Wainaina and his family, who are Kikuyus, had to flee for their lives from Eldoret, after election-triggered clashes between the Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities. His house was burnt down and his aunt was killed. On 16 May, he led the peace caravan, through former conflict hot-spots of the city, with his close friend and co-organizer, Chrisostom Maiyo, former Area Chief of Eldoret, a Kalenjin.

Pokot, Ilchamus, Tugen and Turkana communities came together over two days in March in Baringo, Kenya seeking the means to finding lasting peace. Joseph Karanja reports.

The Chaplain to the Kenya Defence Forces, the Rt Rev Bishop Alfred Rotich, gave his advice and blessing to participants at a workshop for peace practitioners in Nakuru, Kenya. Addressing the final meeting on 23 November, he said, ‘I can see and I can feel, from your expressions and the way you are with one another, that you practise peace.’

Seven people were killed by a bomb that tore through a bus in the Nairobi suburb of Eastleigh on Sunday 18 November. At the time of the explosion, Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye were addressing a group of Muslim and Christian leaders in Eastleigh. During the night there were reprisal attacks, leaving six people dead.

Pastor James Wuye, Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Dr Alan Channer were invited to Chad by the United Nations from 24 March – 2 April. Their visit, under the theme ‘Media and Mediation’, was part of a bid by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to build skills in mediation and peace-building amongst a newly-forged network of Chadian mediators.

Over 600 people filled the room at the eighth Annual Celebration Gala of the We Are Family Foundation on October 26, 2010 in New York. Among the honourees were Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye for their work of peacemaking in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

The protagonists of the award-winning documentary film The Imam and the Pastor, Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye, and the film’s co-Producer Dr Imad Karam were guests of the Directorate of Religious Affairs of the Government of South Sudan in Juba from 29 October to 2 November 2010. The fourth guest Mrs Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye, a Nigerian widely travelled in Africa, helped conduct workshops for women on a previous visit to Juba and Khartoum.