Creators of Peace has an active presence in 13 African countries. Coordinators and facilitators from nine of them came together in Johannesburg from 16-23 September 2014 for a retreat/refresher gathering, initiated by the South African Creators of Peace facilitation team.

Last week we shared about the Peace Circles that took place in Nakuru county. This week we take you to the county of Nairobi and just in case you don’t know, Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya. Our facilitators took the Peace Circles to a total of 50 women from the slums of Korogocho, Huruma and Dandora.

Since the month of June 2014, 13 Creators of Peace Circles have taken place reaching and sparking personal transformation in over 200 women from different parts of Kenya - and they are still going on! We must mention that we have taken the Peace Circles to areas that are hard to reach due to poor road network and to people who are mostly forgotten but who matter a lot - the women on the low side of economic life. We will take you on a journey of the different Peace Circles that have taken place, sharing what it has meant for the women and for our country Kenya. We start off our journey with the County of Nakuru. Here, two Peace Circles took place in two slum areas - Bondeni and Kivumbini.

The newly elected members of the Africa Coordination Group (ACG) had their first face to face meeting in Caux, Switzerland, from 13th to 21st July, 2014.

Specially dedicated music by Obas Ukoko turned into video montage for bringing hope to the Chibok girls, their friends, relations and the entire world. Help is coming.

Ginn Fourie and Letlapa Mphahlele arrived in the UK for the eagerly anticipated Beyond Forgiving Speaking Tour (18-30 May) that aimed to inspire and left many lingering on the key question of ‘could you forgive?’

‘We asked the children what they understand by the words radicalization, extremism and terrorism. They were not sure,’ Mariam Wambui told us. She was speaking at a meeting of the MIKA initiative – a partnership between the Muslim-inspired Minda Trust and the Christian-inspired Eleka Trust, based in Kenya’s second city, Mombasa.

‘The workshop was simply transformative! My home has totally changed for good after my husband and I took part in it. If more people are taken through this programme, Kenya will become a safe place’ said Jane, one of the 21 participants who participated in a Creators of Peace Circle in Kuresoi North constituency, Nakuru County from 22 to 24 May, 2014.

‘I feel this workshop was meant for me. I wrote a letter of forgiveness to my husband and I presented it to him. He could not believe that I had actually forgiven him and he has changed a lot since then,’ said Esther a month after she had attended a Creators of Peace (CoP) workshop for 19 participants (three being men) from 9-11 April, 2014 in Kabazi area.

The Royal Geographical Society’s Ondaatje Theatre opened its doors for the biggest London event of The Beyond Forgiving Tour on 27 May. Here to a hugely attentive, 400-strong crowd, South Africans Ginn Fourie and Letlapa Mphahlele spread their message of the transformative nature of forgiveness and apology.