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Challenges, Cultural Complexities, Satisfaction

The following was excerpted from a letter we received from Ron Kraybill, professor in the Conflict Transformation Program, during a leave of absence at the Henry Martyn Institute (HMI) in Hyderabad, India. At HMI'S request, Ron was sponsored by Mennonite Central Committee to assist in training staff and setting up a program to respond to religious and communal conflicts from August 1999 to June 2000.

For the last several months, I have been leading workshop after workshop in an intensive effort to strengthen the program here at the Henry Martyn Institute. There are three persons with whom I'm working closely who were hired at the end of 1999. They will carry on the program after I leave. This has meant that more than just leading workshops, I am training trainers, which requires that I spend extensive time with these three before, during, and after each workshop to reflect on what happened. As they develop competence in various areas, they move to the front and lead these sections in workshops.

This is an immensely challenging job, for it is not merely a matter of teaching a set of techniques for them to teach others. Responding to conflict raises complex cultural issues, and every skill that we work with needs to be scrutinized carefully as to its appropriateness in the Indian context. What is more, developing a clear understanding of culturally grounded responses to conflict is a process that requires years, not months. This means that although I am investing great energy into initiating a learning process about peacemaking, I will not be on the scene when the real payoffs begin to emerge, as people experiment with various responses in real-life settings and begin to see the patterns in their learnings. Nevertheless, there is considerable satisfaction in interacting with a wide variety of people in the workshops we are doing. These have included school principals, psychologists and social workers, business people, professors of various stripes, pastors and church leaders, and development workers.

Ron returned to EMU in June 2000.