I was planning to kill myself... Peace Circles in Orus village, Baringo County-Kenya

The Creators of Peace (CoP) team met and interacted with the women of Orus village in East Pokot of Baringo County, Kenya. The area is inhabited by the Pokot community who are basically herders due to the semi arid nature of the area that doesn’t support agricultural activities. The training took place from the 8-10 June, 2016, bringing together a group of nineteen women from the area. The participants were grateful that the training would finally happen after previously being adjourned two other times due to too much rains and impassable roads.

The training started with the usual introverted feelings encountered in most training on day one. But as time went by and the message sunk into their hearts and , they started opening up, giving ideas, comments, asking questions and that really got participation to a top notch. During the story sharing session, all were eager to share. One by one they shared from their heart especially after the assurance of confidentiality of what is being shared.

‘My daughter has truly made my life miserable. She is the only one that I managed to take to school and so I had all my hope in her. However, she dropped out of school, is ignorant, careless, violent and irresponsible. I have tried to counsel her to try and mend her ways but she is so adamant in maintaining the bad behaviour. As we speak, I have a bottle of the poison in my house because I was planning to kill myself, the fourth time this week. I believe its God himself who brought you around. Listening to you, I have been able to change my mind and will forgive my daughter and bless her as I had cursed her severely. I am going to throw the poison away and begin my journey of healing,’ confessed one woman. She left everyone in shock and wondering why she had never shared with any one before. The CoP team was glad that this training was able to touch her heart and even had her change her attitude and make better decisions in life.

Despite all the challenges of this area the women committed themselves to reach out to their families, neighbourhood and community with the message of peace. They formed a group and named it ‘Orus Women Peace Group’ as the first step in working for peace in their troubled area.

Facilitators: EstherMarrie Inzekellah, Mary Kuket and Rose Njeri

Report by: EstherMarrie Inzekellah