Snowy Mohlala, chairperson of a local community centre for the aged in Kwa Thema (90 km from Johannesburg), invited Portia Mosia and Jackie Euvrard to facilitate a Peace Circle for retired teachers, housewives, nurses and government officials on 2nd and 3rd June.

Snowy was concerned about divisions amongst this group which seemed to have reached a critical point, despite her best efforts to resolve the problems.

The group was larger than usual, about 37 participants; the oldest was 83 years old. The size of the group was a challenge in itself, but everyone eagerly took part in the role plays and interactive discussions.

The turning point came during the discussion on the power of apology and forgiveness when the facilitators shared stories of forgiveness. In particular when Portia told of her painful experience of being gang raped in 2001, the horror of it, the slow recovery and then the freedom she found through forgiveness. This touched the hearts of the participants in such a way that it seemed to dissolve any pride that had prevented steps towards reconciliation between individuals in the group.

There were a number of sincere apologies that led to the clearing of suspicion and mistrust between participants.

Elisabeth is the secretary of the Centre. She apologised to the group for being rude to them when they confronted her for not taking all their grievances to management. She admitted that she had left out the grievances she didn’t agree with. The group was happy with her apology and they decided to start over again with a clean slate.

Another key reconciliation that took place during the workshop was between two powerful ladies, a division that was well known amongst everyone and which affected the well being of the whole group. After Portia had shared her experience Tumi put up her hand and asked to speak. She spoke of her hurt and pain at having been falsely accused of stealing money from the group and was called names which went deep in her heart. She looked at a certain lady across the room and accused her of instigating the rumours which had influenced everyone else. She was so bitter and wanted to have nothing to do with this lady and had decided to stop coming to the centre.

Tumi said the sharing in the workshop had really touched her and felt she should forgive this particular lady and also ask for forgiveness from her and the group.

The lady in question shared her side of the story, insisting that she was simply fighting for the rights of the group. Soon after that she turned to Tumi, they hugged and tearfully apologised to each other.

It was very encouraging to see a new sense of purpose and teamwork emerging amongst the group as they spent time discussing practical solutions to their concerns of poverty, unemployment, family and health issues in the Kwa Thema community where they hope to implement their ideas.

Snowy said, “The workshop helped a lot. It was God’s blessing as it was too heavy to carry alone. It is going to make my job easier to work with them now.

"I received a number of calls from participants afterwards. One was from the administrator of the centre who said it was the first night for a long time that she slept peacefully as before she had worried what she could say to the group when they were so divided.”

Snowy continued, “It opened their hearts and minds to each other. It mustn’t stop. We will continue using programmes to keep the group going.”

Portia Mosia said after facilitating her first Peace Circle workshop, “Being part of this experience was wonderful and it gave me another opportunity to explore the power of forgiveness and to see others reconcile, it blew my mind and made me realise that it takes only one to decide and then freedom and healing begins right there.

"Peace Circles is a tool that can be used continuously to make our communities a better place. Getting people to talk about their experiences made me realise that we need more of these workshops.”