The Social Development - Young Woman Department of the Municipality of Johannesburg in the Johannesburg East of Johannesburg region called Ivory Park, welcomed the Creators of Peace team to assist them with the quest for inner healing. The group consisted of 12 women between the ages of 20 and 35 years and two toddlers.  We gathered at a community centre based in the same complex as the community Clinic named Hikhensile, which means “thank you” in Xitsonga, one of the official languages in South Africa” and the dominant language in this area.

The Ladies of Hope Organisation in Ennerdale, Johannesburg South, opened their doors for the Creators of Peace Circles to equip12 volunteers (three men and nine women) and give guidance with the journey of self discovery and how to be the peace-builders they aspire to be. The participants came from backgrounds of rejection, orphanages, substance abuse and crime prone environments. As the Peace Circle unfolded the participants become more interested in developing self respect and love. “I never realised that I still had the anger within me but thanks to Peace Circles I now start the journey of dealing with it so I can have peace within myself,” shared Chantel, when exploring the Inner Peace gathering point. Peace is the journey we are all on and one we need to give to others.

Braamfischerville is a 19-year old developing community with the majority of its residents being South African from different provinces of the country plus refugees from surrounding Southern African countries. They have come to Gauteng province (meaning ‘A Place of Gold’) in search of work in old mining areas. This community faces crime, lack of service delivery, rape and substance abuse.Debating the subject of what peace is, the group concluded that individual peace is a journey. Awareness of blind spots to finding peace and change in their characters helped them see how they can become motivated, tolerant, assertive and sympathetic. Zanele, a participant said that studying the “qualities of a peace creator helped me understand myself more.”

“Forgiveness brings Inner healing and freedom”Creators of Peace was invited from the 11-13 April 2018 to Braamfischerville, Johannesburg to facilitate a Peace Circle with a group of young ladies. These women explored their understanding of Peace and Inner Healing. They wanted to learn how to find self confidence and deal with anger, forgiveness.

The conference held over the first two days engaged participants around the theme of “Women as Every Day Peace Builders.” Alongside celebrating the achievements of CoP Kenya since its creation in 2007, delegates were invited to reflect on the impact of CoP in their own area, to share best practices and explore challenges and inspiration, and to workshop on the way forward and on creating the vision for CoP and the personal commitment for the horizon 2028. The conference was followed by a two-day training of CoPC facilitators. Two groups of women were trained simultaneously, as part of the capacity building (training of new facilitators) and capacity reinforcement (training of experienced facilitators) component of the programme. In total, 35 women were trained, including 23 new facilitators and 12 experienced facilitators. The training was provided by Dr Joy Mbaabu, Ann Njeri Kimanthi and Shoshana Faire.

Garissa lies in the northern part of Kenya. The town is 200km from the neighbouring war torn Somalia. It was initially considered among the top safest cities in Kenya but since 2013 things have changed. The town witnessed a series of attacks that claimed more than 200 lives, the latest being the Garissa University attack which claimed 148 innocent Kenyan lives. The Somalia based militia Al- Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack. Due to the wounds and tensions caused by this external force suspicion has been created in communities that once lived together without differences and hate. The incorrect perception that all Muslims are associated with the terror groups spread across the country causing more tension among the people from both faiths.

Moral Re-Armament (MRA) a.k.a Initiatives of Change (IofC) Nigeria organized a valuable reorientation program for Secondary School Students and their teachers on the 28th of March 2018. The event took place at the Digital Bridge Institute hall, Lagos and had 123 people in attendance. The main objective of the program was to raise a new set of conscious young leaders who would live a life of high moral values.

The Creators of Peace team were invited to facilitate a Peace Circle at Ladies of Hope, an NGO at Ennerdale, South West of Johannesburg. The three days from 28th February to the 2nd March 2018 brought together 11 women and 3 men aged between 19yrs and 54yrs. Some have served as volunteers and some are permanent and founding members of the Organisation. The outcome sought was to create a space to debrief and build a team.

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