I am no longer the official Spokesman for the President. After leaving that job, I wanted to work independently, but the President asked me to join his National Security Council, which is a structure responsible for formulating his policies. I became responsible for all diplomatic matters.

In addition to working at the National Security Council, I also started a think tank called the Center for Political and Strategic Studies. The Center makes contextual analysis and every Wednesday has a discussion forum that brings together diplomats, politicians and the population from the grassroots to discuss and make recommendations on different issues affecting the country.

We also organize one seminar outside the province. This seminar serves to put decision makers in touch with the population in the provinces. In July 2005, we did a seminar in Bukavu to discuss security. Participants included the British Ambassador, delegates from the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, international organizations, European and American diplomats, local NGOs and representatives from the grassroots.

During the first round of elections last year, the Center set up political debates across the country, getting political candidates to answer questions from the electors. It was the first time this has been done in the country. We plan to continue the same initiative when local elections are organized.

On the eve of announcing results of the first round of Presidential elections, violence flared up between troops loyal to the President and the runner up. As fear grew that the same thing may happen during the second round of elections, the Center played a role in building a bridge between the two candidates. In the end God smiled on the country, and no violence broke out.

A lot remains to be done in this country, and, with or without me, the Center will continue to be involved in issues affecting the nation.

In the upcoming months, as things settle down here, I would like to pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science. I would also like to go back to SPI as often as possible to brush up on what I learned during my wonderful years at EMU. The rest, we shall see what the Creator has in store for me!

I am a private consultant on conflict management, democracy and good governance, socioeconomic justice, export and import promotion sector, and value chains development.

My address is:

P.O.Box 11194
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
E-mail simon_badi@yahoo.com

Fall 2007:

I’m still in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since August of ‘07 I have been serving as Deputy Chief in the Democracy and Governance Office (DGO) of the USAID-Ethiopia Mission. I provide office and program management as well as technical expertise to the DGO within the full scope of its democracy and governance portfolio with a specific focus on conflict mitigation and reconciliation programming in the country.

First Report:

I am based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and work from the National Headquarters of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). I was sent under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.'s Worldwide Ministries Division.  

The EECMY Peace Office is striving towards the eventual attainment of a just political and social order where the recognition and respect for human rights and sanctity of all life in God's creation are paramount.  

My role as advisor is one where I wear a number of hats, but in a sentence, I am assisting this office to develop its capacity to make sustainable contributions to the peace and justice work of the Church.  

I am also learning a lot as the days, weeks and now months pass by, and language acquisition takes a significant portion of my time.

In August, 2005, Emmanuel Bombande, Executive Director and co-founder of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) was awarded the Millennium Excellence Peace Award 2005 at a grand ceremony held at the Accra International Conference Center. The award was given in recognition of his dedication “to using peace methods to ensure the co-existence of all in our society.” Receiving the Award, Mr. Bombande said Ghanaians have the alternative choice of non-violence in resolving conflicts.  He called on all Ghanaians to work hard to sustain the peace in the country.  Mr. Bombande dedicated the Award to the hard working staff of WANEP.

The award recognized Mr. Bombande as a Peacebuilding Practitioner, International Trainer in Conflict Mitigation and Prevention across Africa and beyond with a strong background in conflict analysis. He has contributed relentlessly to conflict prevention and peacebuilding across the sub-region, especially in Ghana .  A Ghanaian and a native of Bawku, he plays a significant role in building capacity for community-based conflict prevention, mitigation, management and resolution.  Since the 1990s Mr. Bombande has availed his conflict analytical and medication skills to resolving the Northern Ghana multi-ethnic hostilities, the Bawku Chieftaincy crisis, the Dagbon inter-clan disputes and currently, the Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict.

Beyond numerous contributions through media, Mr. Bombande brings to the policy domain, a civil society perspective and expertise to support government’s effort in building peace in conflict-prone communities.  He is a member of the Special Committee set up by the Government of Ghana to promote peace in the Northern Region.  As his contribution to good governance, he provides objective and insightful analysis on issues of peace and security whenever he is called upon to do so.

Mr. Bombande smoothly blends practice and academia as he teaches at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center (KAIPTC), Legon Center for International Affairs (LECIA), the West Africa Peacebuilding Institute (WAPI), and a member of a team of experts conducting training in peace building world with Caritas International.  He holds a Masters Degree in Conflict Transformation from the Eastern Mennonite University, USA.

January ‘06

Since Sam Doe resigned as executive director of WANEP to return to graduate studies, I have moved into the directorship. However, I am first and foremost a Peacebuilding Practitioner. I find that the balance between being available on the ground—the communities and countries of West Africa—and heading the organization means making choices in regards to urgent priorities.

Click here to learn more about the work of WANEP.

Apirl 2008

After completion of my MA on Development and Peacebuilding, I returned to Kenya and joined an International peacebuilding organization called International Peacebuilding Alliance (Interpeace). Interpeace is affiliated to the UN. For more information go to http://www.interpeace.org

This organization primarily works with local actors to ensure that peace processes go beyond the small political elite and engage a broader spectrum of the society. It uses Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology in its interaction with the communities. (This is enshrined in CJP’s research methodologies.) However, the interface between theory and practice (as learned in CJP’s Practice Institute) is also stressed here, and the application of necessary skills comes in handy.

Currently, I am the Programme Manager for Eastern and Central Africa on strengthening the role of women in peacebuilding and decision making through participatory processes, enhancing women’s participation in decision-making spheres both locally and internationally.

However, in the African context, the challenges of dealing with the patriarchal male dominated society, where men control resources and all decision making, is an obstacle to enhancing women’s participatory role in decision making processes. These challenges create opportunities for further engagement with all stakeholders, using the theory of change through popular participation and looking for other options of engagement. Thus, despite the challenges, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for enhancing women’s participation in peacebuilding and decision making spheres.

7/07
I am currently functioning as an independent consultant in the design and facilitation of conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes; as a researcher and trainer in arts, peace education and development communication; and in program evaluation and development with various organizations.  

In the recent past, I served as Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Centre at Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation, Zambia. As well, I served as adjunct faculty at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute, Eastern Mennonite University (USA); Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute (Philippines); the National Youth JustPeace Camp (Fiji Islands) and the Peacebuilding and Development Institute of The American University (Washington, DC). Most of this work has involved applying “arts approaches” in peacebuilding in various parts of the world.  

Working with other CJP alumni in this field has also taken me to Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Mozambique, various parts of Europe, Korea and Fiji Islands.  

I co-authored (with Jan Jenner and Sam Gbyadee Doe) the acclaimed When You Are the Peacebuilder, as well as publishing several articles on arts, peace and politics. My recent article “Arts Approaches to Peace: Playing Our Way to Transcendence” will be published in the forthcoming book Peacebuilding in Traumatized Societies edited by Prof Barry Hart of CJP.

I earned a B.Ed from Kenyatta University ( Nairobi, Kenya) and the M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, USA.

Because we firmly believe that genuine and sustainable justpeace begins when people have access to quality food, I spend half my time joining my wife Miriam in organic farming. We have three children Biko, Sankara and Che — who join in the farming when they have time along with school!

Jim and his wife Cathy are co-country representatives for Mennonite Central Committee, Kenya. They have overall responsibility for the program which includes food security, peacebuilding, HIV-AIDS.

Our first few months in Nairobi have gone by swiftly. We are CT and Peacebuildingually learning our roles. There have been surprises, both good and bad. We are getting to know MCC partners and generally feel very good about our involvement here.

In the Kajiado district of the Rift valley, MCC is involved with the Maasai in 'food security work' (a term covering crop and animal husbandry, food and crop storage, marketing and water development) as well as the Generations at Risk program with issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. We presently have food for work projects with the Kenya Mennonite Churches close to Lake Victoria and are working with several other programs in capacity building. Educating future leaders is so important.

The drought is certainly taking its toll in some areas of Kenya. Water is at a premium. An exciting, new to us, development is the construction of 'sand dams' which have the potential to transform the surrounding areas into oases and had already benefited several communities close to Kitui, where former MCCers had taught several years ago.

I am back in Nairobi, Kenya, since October 2006, after making my presentation on Minerals, Forests and Conflict in the Congo at the Woodrow Wilson Int’l Center for Scholars before I left Washington, D.C. (The presentation seemed to have been well received.)

As of February 2007, I am delighted to be working for CRS (Catholic Relief Services) as the Technical Advisor for Peacebuilding and Justice in East Africa Region. I am new in this organization, and I cannot say I fully understand its operation systems yet. However, I have heard from the CRS president himself that peacebuilding is among the top three priorities of the Agency today. And apparently it will remain so for the coming 10 years!

I will be participating in CRS regional meeting of peacebuilding technical advisors in Johannesburg , South Africa , from February 25 to beginning of March.

Rachel and the kids (including a new baby girl, Milca G’weka, born the 14th November 2006 ) are all very happy with the changes. We are relocating to Lavington, and the kids might be studying at the Braeburn School. We hope everything works well.

I have opened a consultancy office on conflict issues in Nairobi .

I was director and associate producer of a DVD released early this year called “We Should Talk Peace.” Filming took place in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Nigeria, with funding from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). (Purchase it online at www.mccstore.org or borrow it from an MCC office.) Earlier I filmed for an HIV/AIDS project in Tanzania . (My first training in filmmaking came under EMU communication professor Jerry Holsopple.)

November ‘06:

I have just come from town having met with the local press where peacebuilders made a press statement on violence that affected some parts of Kenya. It’s amazing how people no longer sit and watch violence escalate out of hand--kudos to all of us.

I want to inform you on my new appointment at COPA (Coalition for Peace in Africa). 

While I will be able to give more details on COPA in future, in short, COPA is a network of organizations working on peacebuilding in parts of Eastern, Central, Horn and Southern Africa. Our main activities in the past have been in capacity building. I believe EMU would recognize many of the Board members and trustees. It’s a little like WANEP but on the other side of Africa, and it pays specific attention to peacebuilers, ‘though we would like to expand its scope in the future.

My position as the coordinator is both challenging and very interesting since I now have a leadership role. (Your course on organizational leadership is instrumental right now, Ruth.) I want to maintain my links with EMU and collaborate in our mutual programs.

In January 2005 I joined Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as an in-house consultant in post-conflict reconstruction/peace building for Eastern and Southern Africa . I work at fact finding, project formulation, monitoring, and evaluation for peacebuilding projects in this area of Africa .  

Under JICA, I am currently working in the field of post conflict reconstruction and reintegration in Southern Sudan and Burundi . I am concerned about marginalization of rural communities in post conflict reconstruction programs. These communities form 80% of the population in most African countries, including Sudan and Burundi . I would like to do a research focusing on the need and challenge of targeting rural communities for post conflict reconstruction and reintegration for sustainable peace and development in Africa , with specific reference to Southern Sudan .  

In May 2005 I helped organize a two-day post conflict reintegration and reconstruction workshop. JICA collaborated with the UN High Commission for Refugees. It was held at the African Institute for Capacity Development at Juja. The workshop attracted the attendance of around 100 participants, including government officials and participants from regional organizations, international donor organizations and international and local NGO’s. The workshop was enriched by case studies presented from Mozambique , Rwanda and Sudan . These countries have all experienced conflict at various stages. The objective was for Sudan , which is about to enter the post conflict stage after signing the comprehensive peace agreement, to learn from the experiences and challenges of Mozambique and Rwanda . Sierra Leone also experienced conflict and went through a successful post conflict reconstruction and reintegration phase, and its case was also presented.  

After the Sudan workshop I got busy organizing an exchange program for the Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission to Rwanda which took place November 11-17.  

I have been on the steering committee of the Coalition for Peace in Africa , a network of African peace practitioners, and I was a founding member of Action for Conflict, a global network of peace practitioners.  

The highest recognition I have received was in 2005 to be one of the 1,000 women nominated to receive collectively the Nobel Peace Prize (out of 2,000 names of women presented world wide).  

I have been actively training peace practitioners in many different settings in Africa and Asia and I have attended international meetings and seminars as well. To read more about my work and experience, click here for my CV.    

I am working as a Child Protection Advisor in the Human Rights and Protection Section for the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).  

In the summer of 2006 I returned for two sessions of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Returning to SPI was rejuvenating, and it was an incredible opportunity to reconnect with the members of the 1013 College Ave. community whom I knew before, as well as new members. I keep good memories of Harrisonburg and CJP.  

David Moussa Ntambara
Child Protection Advisor Human Rights and Protection Section United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)
Monrovia , Liberia
Tel: + 231-06-842566, Extension: 6727
e-mail: ntambara@un.org

Following graduation in April, I returned to Casablanca, Morocco . Here I am working with the National Democratic Institute where we do focus groups for political parties, CSOs, and governmental agencies. I have been REALLY busy, especially with the upcoming legislative elections.

January ‘07

Since my return from EMU after my graduation in 1999, I continued to work for the Program on Conflict Transformation, established by the United Methodist Church . In December 1999, the Church decided to transform the Department into a Center for Study and Transformation of Conflicts - JustaPaz (in English JustPeace). With the establishment of the Department, the programs expanded. We started new training programs targeting senior Government officials at District and Provincial levels, Police Offices countrywide, and religious leaders.  

Last year, we expanded our activities to other Lusophone countries in Africa (those countries where Portuguese is spoken) with the inauguration of "Lusophone Peacebuilding Institute." It is a program structured like SPI . One of the modules within the Lusophone Institute is the Peacebuilding Conference, which will bring together practitioners, academics, politicians and various individuals from NGOs to discuss issues related to Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation in Portuguese Africa. All these programs are run in Portuguese.  

Last year we offered three courses: Introduction to Conflict Transformation, Intra-organizational Conflicts and their Transformation, and Conflict and Development. The Conference had the theme Peacebuilding in the Lusophone Africa : Challenges and Opportunities.  

This first institute was a success. We had Mozambican lecturers and some literature in Portuguese. We are excited about it and hope to get more material in Portuguese, although it is scarce. This year's Institute will run on the second and third week of July. In case you need more info, I can send it to you.  

Going to personal notes: We now have four girls. The new born (five months old) is named Mirela. The names of the first two are Letice and Gene. The third one is Melissa. We managed to get land and build a mansion. We are raising goats, turkeys and chickens in our property.  

I am currently in Nigeria, managing a project on Building Right Relationships between the ethnic groups in the Niger Delta and oil companies.  

Now I am in the last lap of the PhD in conflict analysis and resolution through Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Now I have a second book with the publishers, billed to come out January 2007. It is titled: From Erris Shore to the Nigerian Delta, Comparing Shell's Presence in Ireland and Nigeria . This book is the outcome of my speaking tour of Ireland and the US .  

I have also been involved in the USAID conflict abatement through local mitigation (CALM) project in Nigeria as a consultant. I was one of those that designed their Early Warning Training manual which is currently being reviewed. I also wrote six case studies on oil revenue management. The case studies were written for an advocacy project of a consortium of NGOs, and included Chad, Indonesia, Nigeria, Alaska and Ireland . Another project was an Emergency Preparedness and Response Manual for Catholic Relief Services, Nigeria program.  

In the summer of 2006, NPR interviewed me for their program Morning Edition. The subject was my role in moderating talks between oil company officials and Nigerian resisters to the impact of the oil companies on Nigeria ’s environment and economy.  

Authored:
From Conflict to Collaboration: Building Peace in Nigeria's Oil-Producing Communities. Publisher: Adonis & Abbey Publishers, London

April '06

Toma is appointed head of Nigerian Church of the Brethren Peace and Reconciliation office.

December '06

Gopar and his wife Monica are studying French in preparation for taking new roles as Mennonite Central Committee West Africa Regional Peace Coordinators in January 2007.

Upon returning to Nigeria in 2001, Gopar and his family settled in Jos, the capital of Plateau State. The state had been destabilized by an influx of migrants from other parts of the country and spiraling poverty. Gopar took the challenge of building connections among the diverse groups in Jos. He designed workshops contextualizing the materials from his years of conflict resolution study for the situation there. In the neighborhood of Anglo-Jos Christian and Muslim leaders created a plan for non-violent resistance of their community.

Early in September tensions between Christians and Muslims erupted into riots that killed about 500 people. However, when news of the riots reached the leaders in this area within Jos, the religious leaders convened and made a plan to save their neighborhood, non-violently. The people pledged their support. They blocked access to all those who came to incite violence.

Gopar has continued to focus on building bridges between Christians and Muslims with the goal of decreasing conflict and transforming society in Nigeria. He also is involved in setting up conflict-monitoring teams and emergency-preparedness response teams, using the plateau state in Nigeria as a pilot project for all of West Africa.

As Director of Peace-building Practice for Mennonite Central Committee in southern Africa, my area includes trauma healing, non-violent action, restorative justice and reconciliation foci: I work with 12 African associates, and my work involves connecting ideas, people, organizations and resources across all sectors of society in order to build peace in Africa. This is accomplished through the activities of peace education, training, intervention consultation and networking.

Carl also works with the African Peacebuilding Institute in Zambia.

Carl is married to Carolyn Swarr Stauffer and they have two—now teen-age—children, Christopher and Grace.

Director, Mennonite Central Committee/Somalia

January ‘07

My summer’s work in Kakuma and Kibera slums with the youth, using the Youth STAR manual, was received with a lot of eagerness. It was an eye opener of the need for this training in the region.The challenge of the trauma that HIV/AIDS has brought in the slum areas was real.

The program also stretched my skills of communicating in Kiswahili in these slum areas.   The program particularly affirmed the goals/objectives of the curriculum which was mainly to pass on the message on the cycles of violence. This helped to build further the confidence I had in the curriculum we had developed. The program proved its relevance in the region, and I would be happy to replicate the same to other areas once the material is available for distribution (we were using it on a pilot basis).  

In December I took up a post with Mercy Corps in Bosaso, Somalia, as the Program Manager, Conflict Mitigation Program. We will be engaged in promoting practical action in reconciliation and peace building to address conflict and promote peace in North Eastern Somalia. We will be working to build the capacity in the communities by working with and through four local NGOs.  

We are still in the initial stages of our planning. It’s a challenging task. The team is wonderful and the people I meet are wonderful. We will soon be going to the interior to work in the communities.   The skills I gained at CJP will surely come in handy: the conflict mapping, dialogue skills, negotiations, learner centered skills in conflict transformation, etc. The list is endless! Everything will surely come in handy.  

I will want to keep in touch with other peace builders in the world in order to share practices and ideas. SPI will surely be useful too, to keep abreast with the current trends in peacebuilding. Hope I can attend those in the near future.  

I left the BBC in May of 2004, ending an exciting career as a field correspondent over the past 14 years. I immediately started a new one as a media trainer. I’ve worked in Iraq and Sudan extensively from 2003 -2005.  

I have been working in Sudan for some time now, in different jobs, three so far in the media field. In 2004- 2005, I spent time with the United Nations Development Programme as a communications consultant. Before and after that, I did several consultancy jobs in various places in Sudan with the BCC World Service Trust. My focus was on training and upCT and Peacebuildinging media skills at the national level.

December '05 up to Now  

I work for the Radio unit of the UN Mission in Sudan as the chief news editor. We are not yet on air, as the government is blocking the license, so we have been by default in an extended training/virtual phase.  

Sudan is an interesting country for anyone with a conflict resolution background, as it is both ridden with conflicts (Darfur and the East) and at the same time emerging from a major war between the North and the South. I feel my master’s in conflict resolution was worth while, helping me put into perspective and understand the different dynamics of these intricate conflicts.  

Monitoring and observing the various processes that are unfolding along the road towards reconciliation, or in the opposite direction, of slipping back into a mode of conflict, is something that I am doing very closely. Consequently, I seem to be drawn more and more to those areas where there are intersections between restorative justice, peacemaking, peacebuilding and human rights.

April 2007:

Upon returning to Uganda, I returned to working with the police force, and I was promoted to director of information, public relations and protocol in the force.

However, in June I was interviewed for the post of Technical Advisor to the Inspector General of Police, Southern Sudan. I passed the interviews for the Juba job and moved to Jube to begin working on the 1st of July. This is a UN posting, for the next 3 years.

I am quite busy and the challenges are glaringly real. There are no systems in the law enforcement area, and my major task is to try and establish them. The police must be strongly founded to be able to hand the huge problem of the existing gaps in civil policing.

We shall be designing community policing strategies to address the high levels of conflict that are almost cultural as a result of the long civil war here—over 25 years. Restorative justice programs will have to play a leading role in order to facilitate peaceful resolution of disputes and conflicts. There is a strong presence of traditional chiefs in this region of Southern Sudan, and we shall have to rely heavily on them to manage important issues like transitional justice. The local communities believe in them more than they believe in the police.

Another role for these traditional chiefs is community disarmament. Communities in Southern Sudan were armed extensively, and this has been used as a means to settle all conflicts.

My big news to tell you: I BECOME A FATHER! In fact, Mary gave birth on January 1 st (2006) to our son Hakeem Lennon Zabaar. A beautiful baby! I am so happy and Mary as well. I am attaching some pictures of the baby so that you know he is really, really cute.

Professionally: I joined Freedom House in Tunisia, and it is an interesting job. I work on two projects. One is called New Generation that aims to build the capacity of mid level leaders in order to achieve democratic change in the Arab region. The second is the Algeria Project where I mainly work on transitional Justice in Algeria. This project has a lot to deal with the last ten years’ massacres that occurred in Algeria. However, the last law on national reconciliation represents an impediment to our work and the project is threatened.

There is a lot to do, but the obstacles are many as well. I hope that my legal background and knowledge in human rights field will help me and my colleagues overcome these obstacles.

I always think that if I had CTP (or CJP if you are already used to this new name so strange to me) people here, we would be able to solve all the region's problems. These scattered efforts frustrate me. I know that I have the backup but it is frustrating anyway. In CTP we learnt a language that few people speak, and a language so hard to teach especially that I had to learn it as well. 

In the Algeria Project we will need experts in transitional justice issues and I will probably need help from CJP to come to the region. 

When I returned from my Fulbright scholarship at EMU, I did some part-time consulting on conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

In January 2005 I was appointed as Consultant/Advisor to the Archbishop and the Justice & Peace Council (JPC) of the Ecclesiastical Province of Gulu. The Council brings together the Justice & Peace Commissions (JPC) of Gulu Archdiocese, Nebbi, Arua and Lira Dioceses. These are four (4) Catholic dioceses in northern Uganda. Since consultancy is rather temporary, effective this December, my designation has been changed to Executive Secretary.

My tasks include:  

* organizational development

* program designing and planning

* capacity building and planning

* working across the border with adjacent South Sudan

* also linking up with North-Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC)

The programs that the constituents of the Council deal with and I support include:

(a) Community dialogue, reconciliation and peacebuilding, both within Uganda and with South Sudanese communties. Peace Week for inter-communal interaction and engagement, Youth and Women in Peace building

(b) Human Rights Education and para-legal services

(c) Working with victims of violence and war--especially the children formerly abducted by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA)

(d) Networking and collaboration with various stakeholders involved in the transformation of the violence in northern Uganda and undertaking peace. We are developing a site: www.jpcganal.com

(e) Research, Documentation and Information dissemination

I am also an associate with the MS-Training Centre for Development Cooperation (TCDC) in Arusha, Tanzania, where I facilitate in the "Conflict Sensitive Approaches to Development (CAD).

April 2008

Kirstin and Merwyn are still based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Kirstin:  Since Feburary 2007, I have been working with the Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation (CCMT), a local NGO that primarily works at the grassroots level, building local peacebuilding and conflict management capacity.  My role at the organization is to coordinate our program with university students, the Campus Sustained Dialogue Network. 

Over the past year we have helped students from three universities in Zimbabwe create dialogue groups to analyze the issues affecting them on campus, such as sexual harassment, the lack of good communication with the administration, and poor service delivery.  The dialogue sessions give them a safe space to explore the dynamics of those conflicts and then decide what they can do about them. I have been doing a range of activities for the project, including facilitating trainings on understanding and analyzing conflict as well as trying to budget for the project in this hyperinflationary environment!

CCMT is also the coordinator for the Peacebuilding Network of Zimbabwe, so I have been playing a minor role in helping to shape the direction of that network. 

The other exciting project I am involved with is bringing together representatives from several NGOs in different sectors—counselling/trauma healing for victims of organized violence, prisoner rehabilitation, civic education, community peace monitoring, orphaned and vulnerable children, community peacebuilding—for a series of trainings in the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP). The final training is a training of trainers, and we hope that after that we can work together to facilitate contextualized AVP trainings in our respective areas of operation.

Merwyn is working with an organization that primarily focuses on providing treatment and counselling for those who have experienced organized violence.  Merwyn networks with individuals and organizations at many different sectors of society to develop the visionary side of the organization, which is to create a space in Zimbabwean society for reconciliation and transitional justice.

December 2006

From us in Harare, Zimbabwe come these wishes of peace for the season of Advent and through all of 2007:  

***May the spirit of love and compassion be the beacon lighting the path before us. Let us all with unity of heart and joined hands embody peace to those near and far and across the expanses that separate.***  

After three-months of Shona language study in a rural setting, we are settling into our garden flat in Avondale, just outside the centre of Harare, Zimbabwe 's capital city.  

After our Christmas break we begin our work with two local peacebuilding organizations located in Harare. This promises to be a new and challenging experience for us.  

Presently Zimbabwe is in the midst of her rainy season. Rains have been sporadic and not as heavy as the farming community would like. Both of us, when we were doing our language study in a rural area experienced first-hand the routine, the uncertainty of small farmers struggling for day-to-day sustenance.  

We have you all in our thoughts and prayers. Chisarai zvakanaka....(stay well)  

Our address and phone number are:

Merwyn and Kirstin Rothrock-DeMello
44 Oxford Road #10 Woodfield Flats
Avondale, Harare , ZIMBABWE
Tel: 263.4.339807

Conversation as a Tool of Conflict Transformation
Article written by Merwyn DeMello and Ann McBroom