Facing one’s fears brings hope to the other, Creators of Peace Circles at Ivory Park
Creators of Peace explored another journey of healing and hope with a group of young women between the ages of twenty and thirty years at Hikhensile Clinic, Ivory Park, south east of Johannesburg from the 2nd to the 4th May 2018. Their hopes were to have peace and inner healing in their lives, self confidence, and new perspectives on life after the three-day workshop.
The young women daily face challenges that take away hope of any positive outcomes in their lives. This is because the community is full of sarcastic and negative people coming from broken homes and all they can give is pain and frustration. This leads to demotivation and people lacking in courage. Through our conversations they realised that they are more than their mistakes. They opened up to understanding and self care. These women live within conflicting situations such as Fights and verbal challenges however the sessions allowed a new perspective - that conflict is an opportunity to build and not destroy relationships. Kuhle, one of the participants said, “I see now that I am a creator of my own problems by my mistakes and I am a creator of my own solutions by learning.”
During the Peace Circels they were deepening their communication skills in listening and inner listening, opened an opportunity to experience for the first time how to reflect and make important decisions without doubt and feeling unworthy. Prudence, a participant said, “I realise how important it is to listen and give attention to others. I have never done that before.” Another said, “I never thought I could love myself but this space made me appreciate and want to care for myself even more”
'The Power of Forgiveness' topic brought an awareness of the steps one needs to take in order to overcome the grief and pain and to have the ability to accept and make the most of the life one lives. The group wanted to know how to forgive, because they know it is the right thing to do. However it is difficult to give or receive forgiveness when all they know is pain in their lives.
Lucel shared her story of how she had to forgive her husband after being in a fourteen year abusive marriage and how forgiveness has benefited her life positively. In the end the group accepted that pain and grudges create a world of revenge, but they would rather choose to forgive so as to build a peaceful and happy future.
Some of the next steps taken include sibling reunion meetings, practicing belief in oneself and caring for what means the most to them. They would like to create sub-groups to be part of the positive change in their community such as “Group Crime”, “Group no - street kids”, “Group teenage pregnancy” - all in attempt to be the change in their community.
Cleo expressed: “I treasure these conversations because they allow us to tell our stories, as raw and honest as they are. When it feels like we are cracking apart, then to realise that after the sharing we are remoulding ourselves to become better. These magical connections and hope giving moments help our healing and regrouping journey. Seeing the women come on the first day, hopeless and down, and then depart on the third day with high spirits and different convictions, to make themselves better helps me believe that I have become a ripple effect of change and empowerment. When we care for ourselves we impact those around us.”
Thank you to Creators of Peace, Aulicious Food and Decor and the City of Johannesburg for believing and trusting that the lives of people are being built and restored.
Reported by:
Lucel Snyers and Cleo Mohlaodi