Reaching out for peace: Peace Circles in Kaptuya and Amaya Villages - Baringo County, Kenya
From March 7-11, two Peace Circles took place in two interior villages of Baringo County - Kaptuya and Amaya reaching out to 48 women in total.
Kaptuya Village
‘A woman is the back bone of the family. I should therefore be a role model in my family and community in bringing peace.’ These were the words of Susan, one of the 23 Peace Circles' participants in Kaptuya village in East Pokot Sub County of Baringo County from 7 to 9 March, 2016. Patrick, a representative of the County Assembly was present at the opening and he welcomed the team and applauded Creators of Peace (CoP) for going all the way to Kaptuya which is at the end of Baringo County, to train women on peace building and reconciliation.He encouraged the participants to take the three days training seriously and share with others. He also emphasized the importance of peace in the families.
Eunice shared her gratitude for helping her learn how to forgive and its importance. Previously, she could not forgive anyone who crossed her line.
Mary experienced a lot of personal change from the training and wishes to be a role model in the community. For Monica, she learnt that ‘peace in the family is very important and it should start with me, then to neighbours and community.’ While for Susan, the Peace Circles helped her change her attitude towards her neighbours and other women.
Our host, Jenifer said that she could see a great change in her family and the community especially the women who had already been trained. She challenged and encouraged each participant to reach out to two or three other women, and with that, she was certain that within three months Kaptuya community would be different. She added that it was a new lesson for her to realise that corruption starts even at home and it is a bad monster.
As a way forward, they agreed to hold peace awareness campaigns in churches, schools and meeting places for the community. They would also advocate against early marriage and female genital mutilation given the spread of the problems in the area.
Three government officials namely Assistant County Commissioner Mr. Herdmon Machoni, the Chief, Mr.Albert Kellma and the Assistant Chief of Tabulikwo area, Mr. Lernard Chenguli, were present at the closing ceremony. The Chief, Mr. Kellma encouraged the participants to use the peace building skills they had learnt to train others and bring peace to Kaptuya and Baringo County. He was grateful for CoP facilitators and for their time and courage to be in Kaptuya and requested more such training workshops.
Amaya Village
Amaya is a close neighbour to the village of Samburu where there has been years of non-ending conflicts between the Pokot and the Samburu communities. Despite the challenges of rough roads witnessed along the way, the Creators of Peace (CoP) team managed to get there to the delight of 25 participants who were between the ages of 23 and 59 years. This training took place from 9 to 11 March, 2016.
The women had their moments of reflection and personal evaluation during the training. It was a time for learning and seeing things from a different perspective. The story sharing was a source of encouragement for many of the women. The many social and economic challenges are made worse by the inter-ethnic conflicts in the area. But as many learned, it becomes difficult to deal with bigger challenges if you haven’t dealt with the smaller challenges. This was true for Cheptoyo who shared how hard it was growing up amid the conflicts within the two communities - Pokot and Samburu. During the CoP training, despite the fact that the area needs inter-ethnic cohesion, she first became aware of the source of conflict within her family and how to resolve it by forgiving them. She said that forgiving is the only medicine for her life. ‘Since I have learnt how to forgive, I have forgiven my relative Nancy for what she did to me and I will go and greet her by the hand and tell her that I have forgiven her.’ These words moved those in the workshop.They could feel her pain.
Mary, one of the CoP Peace Ambassadors in Baringo, was very grateful for the Creators of Peace team taking the trouble to be in Baringo County. She expressed her conviction on the role of women in reaching out to their husbands, children and neighbours with the message of forgiveness. She urged the participants to talk more about peace in the community since the impact and the truth about peace could be felt.
Facilitated and Reported by Mediatrix Masava, Annastasia Munene and Rachel Wamalwa