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Bridges of Healing

Barry Hart

On July 5, 2000, in Nairobi, Kenya, local victims and bereaved family members of the U.S. Embassy bombing met with four survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing. This was the second such encounter, since six Kenyans had traveled to Oklahoma City less than a month earlier. The purpose of the Nairobi gathering was to hold a workshop to continue and expand the healing that took place in Oklahoma. The Oklahomans traveled to Nairobi to meet with 40 Kenyan survivors, bereaved family members, local service providers and international representatives. Together they participated in a four-day healing and problem-solving workshop.

The original idea for the exchange between the two groups came from Karimi Kinota, a student from Kenya enrolled in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP). Howard Zehr, professor, and Tammy Krause, an associate of the Practice Institute, had previously worked with the Oklahoma victims of the bombing. The trust they established with survivors and family members in that context was foundational to the success of this exchange.

Jan Jenner, a staff member in the Conflict Transformation Program coordinated and helped structure the exchanges. Krista Rigalo, a CTP graduate student, helped facilitate the Nairobi workshop. My role was to plan the workshop and be the primary facilitator of the four-day process. Funding for the exchange and seminar largely came from Church World Service, with additional resources provided by foundation gifts for special CTP projects. Visual Seventh August (VSA) and the Nairobi Council of Churches were the Kenyan hosts of the exchange.

The workshop segment of the exchange was meant to enhance the process of healing for Kenyan bomb blast survivors and bereaved family members. The seminar turned out to be transformative for all involved. The process started in Oklahoma City and the bonding and sense of compassion expanded in Nairobi. There, the four Oklahomans told their stories, listened deeply and cried with people who knew the pain caused by a terrorist bombing. The Oklahoma victims had started the healing process three years earlierÑand the sharing of their experience was most meaningful to the Kenyans—but, it was clear that their own healing process was continuing as they listened to and interacted with their Kenyan counterparts.

Each day of the workshop began by providing the Kenyan survivors and bereaved family members an opportunity to share where they were on their journey of healing. They were asked to bring symbols of this journey that reflected their pain—past and present—and/or their hope for the future. Each day more and more workshop participants placed a material symbol—be it a pair of glasses of a loved one killed in the bombing, or a dress torn by the bomb blast—on a table placed in the center of the room. After several days we added another table to accommodate everyone's symbol.

The participants were given the opportunity to place the objects on the table without saying anything or, if they wanted, to tell what the symbol meant to them. In the process they began to tell their story of the bombing. Most chose to talk about what happened. Some, for the first time, were able to share the tragic event that "changed their lives forever." Others told their stories through panels set up for this purpose, e.g., people who lost their loved ones in the bomb blast. One person's comment sums up well what most participants experienced through this sharing, "If we had more opportunities like this where we could talk about our lives now, we could be further along in the healing process."

A trauma awareness and recovery presentation was made. This gave the participants some needed cognitive understanding of trauma and the mourning and grieving process, but also allowed for a respite from the draining emotional sharing. A problem-solving approach was also used to help survivors, family members and service providers look at the past and address what next steps they could take together. Tensions and confusion regarding past problems were addressed. Strategies for the future were discussed, with several concrete steps spelled out. This problem-solving approach was seen as an integral part of the healing process.

Together, the Oklahoma and Nairobi survivors planned the fourth day. This "Open Day" was to be more public, providing a place for other survivors and family members, as well as interested Kenyan citizens, to hear about the workshop, meet the Oklahoma survivors and participate in the process of healing. Over 300 people attended the Open Day gathering. Local and international media were invited to cover the event. One Oklahoman told the group, "Your stories are just like our stories. A thing we have in common is that our lives have been changed forever." Another said, "Even though we are from very different places, we are united and we are one." Kenya participants shared some of the stories about their chosen symbols.

The Open Day ended with the symbolic signing of two large white cloths. Everyone was given the opportunity to write a word or blessing on each, knowing that one would be placed in the Oklahoma City National Memorial and the other at the memorial site being constructed in Nairobi. Over 200 comments and signatures were collected, four of which reflected the power of what happened that day: "Love must continue"; "Whoever did this should remember that he only touched our bodies, but left our souls intact and stronger than he found us"; "May we live long to forgive our enemies"; "May God give guidance to the perpetuators of violence."

My own experience was one of gratitude. I had once again been given the opportunity to experience the power of healing through acts of caring. I witnessed the deep connection between people who had suffered a similar terror and saw how this common experience allowed them—all of us—to experience the power of our common humanity. Bridges of healing were indeed built through this exchange and I am convinced that those who shared this time together will be positively changed forever.

Since September 11, Barry has been involved in trauma awareness and recovery initiatives in New York City and Washington, D.C., as well as the new Seminars for Trauma Awareness and Recovery (STAR) at EMU.