The International Farmers’ Dialogue Conference started on 5 May at Rest Gardens Training Center in Bweyogerere in the Eastern part of Kampala. In his welcome speech Jamil Ssebalu, President of Farmers’ Dialogue Africa, welcomed participants and introduced the theme of the conference Responding to the Challenge of feeding Africa.

80 farmers, mostly women, met in Muheza, situated in the North-East of Tanzania, from April 27-28, invited by the Farmers dialogue local team. The District Commissioner opened the meeting, with the Director of the Agricultural District Services and the Chairman of the Council of Muheza.

Over the last two months workshops have been conducted for young people in Soweto; a multiracial group of women in the coastal town of Mossel Bay; for young and up coming social workers in Johannesburg. While the Gandhi group was in Johannesburg we took the opportunity to hold a follow up workshop on leadership for some of the young people.

The Gandhi voyage of dialogue and discovery spent six days in Kenya, supporting the local Initiatives of Change team. As well as meeting the Prime Minister and Vice President, they engaged with grass roots communities and initiatives to tackle tribalism, corruption and hopelessness.

Raila Odinga, the Kenyan Prime Minister, spent an hour with Rajmohan Gandhi and others from Initiatives of Change this morning.

“I never knew I carried so much emotional baggage, but now I know where to start”, said Fathima during the discussion on forgiveness. She was one of the eleven participants, Muslim and Christian, attending a Creators of Peace Circle workshop arranged by a Muslim NGO, Baytul Nur on 10 and 11 December in Durban.

'I never knew I carried so much emotional baggage, but now I know where to start', said Fathima during the discussion on forgiveness. She was one of the eleven participants, Muslim and Christian, attending a Creators of Peace Circle workshop arranged by a Muslim NGO, Baytul Nur on 10 and 11 December in Durban.

My tears and screams were too much for me to bear. I remember even wishing to die rather than to stay in this condition… That morning I had woken up early, prepared my son to go to school and given my loving wife a big hug. I had told her as usual that I would take her for a special treat as I had done before, not knowing what was awaiting me.

At the recent launch of Initiatives of Change-Ethiopia, keynote speaker Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun of Algeria, former President of Initiatives of Change-International, held out the hope that ‘we Africans can help build a free, just and prosperous Africa and make our contribution to building a free, just and prosperous world’.

Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye have won the Fondation Chirac Prize for Conflict Prevention. They have accepted the Prize, which goes to support their work, and will attend to the ceremony on 6 November in Paris, at la Sorbonne. Former President of France Jacques Chirac, Kofi Annan and members of the jury of the Prize will attend.