From war to peace corridor, Creators of Peace in Kadogoi village, Baringo County, Kenya

Kadogoi, which is mainly inhabited by the Pokot, has long been known as a war corridor by the surrounding communities. It has always acted like a meeting and preparation ground for criminals. ‘We want to change this negative narrative for the sake of future generations’. This was said by the area Assistant Chief who was a participant.

Illiteracy is very high in this part of Baringo and thus many cultural practices and lifestyles are still rife. Some of which when practised, are very unfair to people living around this community. This includes stealing of livestock to pay for dowry.

Creators of Peace Circles in Kadogoi village took place on 12-14 July, bringing together 20 women. One of them, Esther, was blessed with a baby girl on the eve of the third day. This was heralded joyfully by participants as a blessing brought by Creators of Peace. Earlier Esther had shared things that were disturbing her a lot. She and her sister don’t see eye to 

eye and she said that this had resulted in their husbands prompting some of their family members to form cliques. She had tried to reconcile everyone without success. She looked forward to the last day of the workshop, hoping to get a lasting solution to her problem but in the meantime, she was enjoying her little bundle of joy.

One morning, as the facilitators were doing some preparations for the day’s training, and as they waited for the participants to arrive, there was a little drama. Jennifer was jumping up and down from one side to the other and hugging fellow women. No one understood her until later when she shared her story. She had lost one of her sons, who, according to her was killed by the Ilchamus community. She confessed that since then, she started suffering mental health challenges. In addition, whenever she heard someone speak the dialect, she would get lost in herself and would get feelings of dreadful revenge. She had waited in vain for someone to reach out to her and say sorry. Creators of Peace (CoP) taught her something new; to seek inner peace for herself and she really appreciated that.

How would one feel if someone made jokes, laughed and criticized ones dead relatives? Gladys suffered pain when three of her relatives had died and were the talk of the village by people she knew well. She always wished those who were talking about her relatives had had a similar experience so that they would learn a lesson. Creators of Peace Circles taught her forgiveness and reconciliation. Unfortunately, by the time she met with CoP, her ‘enemies’ were already dead. She felt very sorry and wished they were alive so they could reconcile and forgive each other. All the same she decided to forgive them even in death.

Having the Assistant Chief as one of the participants and also being the translator was an advantage. Despite communication being a big challenge in this Peace Circle, the message went home and the women were glad and highly appreciative of the work of CoP. Together with the Assistant Chief, they made their own plan to deal with some of the community concerns they had mentioned together.

Facilitated by Mumbi Wambugu, Mary Kuket and Anastasia Munene

Report by Mumbi Wambugu