November 2015 Newsletter
Over the past few months we've seen a healthy mix of strategic and organic progress at the Goldin Institute as new ideas are emerging into extraordinary initiatives and projects we've participated in for years are expanding into greater opportunities for community transformation. In this edition of the newsletter, you can read about the solidarity that was cultivated amongst the attendees of the Foundation for Reconciliation conference in Bogota, Colombia, the growth of a powerful partnership in East Africa that is changing the face of our Child Soldier Reintegration and Prevention efforts and progress on our grassroots leadership development platform.
Watch a brief video overview of this newsletter:
Colombia: Expanding the Network for Reconciliation
A sense of unity and purpose set the tone for the Foundation for Reconciliation's conference in Bogota, Colombia on October 21-26. Our associates Alexis and Srishtee participated in the conference and brought back with them the powerful conviction that communities, once united around a shared aspiration, can overcome the extreme challenges they often face. In its 5th year, this international convening of peace and reconciliation leaders had representation from the 18 countries including, but not limited to, Bolivia, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Panama, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala and Ecuador.
Our partner Father Leonel Narvaez, founder of the the Foundation for Reconciliation, led the conference with real world experiences that weaved inspiration, theories and insights into a powerful call for community leadership. Former combatants also took center stage to share the challenges and importance of humanizing and reintegrating former combatants, not only for their own sake, but also for the stability of the community. They told deeply personal stories of how rejection from society and the vilification of former combatants only loosens the threads within the fabric of a community, leaving too many young people vulnerable to violence and extremism.
[quote]While the history and nature of the conflicts varied between the 18 countries, we all shared the same commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation and the desire to continue to learn from each other."[/quote]
- Srishtee Dear, Goldin Associate
Click here to read more reflections and view photos from Srishtee and Alexis.
Representatives from each of the 18 countries also made presentations detailing how the ESPERE methodology was useful in their communities, proving once again that the idea of forgiveness and reconciliation breaks through cultural and geographical boundaries.
East Africa: Ending Recruitment of Children in Conflict
Our leadership team spent September in East Africa meeting with partners from Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Following recommendations from the former combatants who lead our work in Uganda, the Goldin Institute and our partners at Arigatou International are now expanding our efforts to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts throughout the region.
Charles (pictured third from right) was one of ten former child soldiers who led the research team that conducted over 100 oral testimony interviews with their peers to collect and analyze the stories, experiences, and insights of children forced to fight in armed conflict.
[quote]Child soldier abduction and recruitment doesn't stop at the border. We need a regional strategy to stop a regional problem."[/quote]
- Charles Okello, Uganda
The knowledge and aspirations collected through this groundbreaking research was collected in the report, Alone and Frightened: Experiential Stories of Former Child Soldiers of Northern Uganda. Charles and two of his colleagues from the research team, Geoffrey and Janet, joined over 40 leaders from Kenya to present the research report and to encourage an expansion of the reintegration program to include a focus on preventing children from being used in armed conflicts in the first place.
The need and commitment to work towards the end of recruitment of children in armed conflict was affirmed by all in attendance, including Goldin Institute representatives and senior leaders from the region such as Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia (Advisor to the President on Peace, Cohesion and Conflict Resolution) and Professor Abdulghafur Elbusaidy (Chairmen of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims).
The Goldin Institute is pleased to work in solidarity with our partners throughout the region on two key initiatives focused on preventing the use of children in armed conflict, particularly in light of the growth of violent extremist groups. This new initiative has two primary elements – a youth leadership development component named the Youth Peace Ambassadors and the public solidarity element named CRAVE: Community Resistance Against Violent Extremism.
One example of the initiative's results is the work of Maryam Famau, founder of local partner organization known as Peaceful Innovation in Nairobi. We saw first hand how Maryam and her team offers youth who are targeted by extremist groups like Al-Shabab an effective mixture of counseling, peer groups and job training to interrupt the recruitment process. These initiatives are combined with our Youth Peace Ambassadors program to provide advice, support and solidarity to reverse the recent growth of violent extremist groups throughout the region.
Our Team: Welcoming New Associates
Nancy Wairimu is an active Youth Peace Ambassador from Mombasa, Kenya. Nancy has been a youth leader since high school where she was elected as a student representative for the national schools council. Nancy has already participated in trainings for youth leaders in Zanzibar and Kenya.
Marjan Adbulrahman brings a MA in Communications and Media Technology and his experience working to support the CRAVE program with partner organization Arigatou International to his role as a Youth Peace Ambassador. He is currently focusing his work on identifying and collecting Islamic-specific resources to counter the recruitment and exploitation of Muslim youth.
Garenne Bigby has been working behind the scenes to redesign the Goldin Institute website as well as the development of the Grassroots Leadership platform, GATHER. Gather is an online curriculum and community of practice that will transform the way grassroots leaders across the globe learn from each other and implement community driven social change in their own communities. Look for more news on Gather in the next newsletter!
As always, thank you for supporting the work of the Goldin Institute! Please continue to be a champion for grassroots partnerships that create real change in the world.
If you have feedback on this edition of our newsletter, or story ideas you would like to see in a future issue, please contact our Newsletter Coordinator, Srilatha Lakkaraju. If you haven't already, but would like to receive our newsletter in your email inbox, sign up here.
East Africa Update
Our Leadership Team Makes New Alliances and Reaffirms Existing Ones in our Work to End the Use of Child Soldiers in East Africa
This Fall provided ideal timing for our co-founders to shore-up important project work in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
In late September, Travis and Diane journeyed to East Africa for several important regional events – allowing for follow-up to our ongoing child soldier reintegration efforts, while making inroads to support new initiatives.
Along the way, Travis and Diane were able to meet-up with some old friends of the Institute, re-establishing ties with some of the folks who took part in our earliest 'grassroots partnerships.'
What Took our Leadership Team to Kenya and Rwanda
Beginning with our work in Colombia in 2007, the Goldin Institute has spent several years working on the issue of Child Soldier Reintegration. What started as a National Partnership in that same year to engage Colombia's social, private and public sector agencies to prevent the victimization of vulnerable young people in armed conflict, has expanded in most recent years to include the ESPERE project throughout Latin America and the successful sharing of the methodology with our newest partners in Eastern Africa.
An Opportunity to Stop the Recruitment and Abduction of Child Combatants
As our work in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda has been focused on helping young people avoid recruitment into violent extremist groups, particularly Al-Shabab, Diane and Travis traveled to Africa for an important opportunity to stop the recruitment (and in some cases abduction) from happening in the first place. This new project has two primary elements – a youth leadership development component named the Youth Peace Ambassadors and the public solidarity element named CRAVE: Community Resistance to Violent Extremism. The Goldin Institute is partnering with an established organization already on the ground, known as Peaceful Innovation. Through this partnership we are focusing on the areas from which local extremist group Al-Shabab has done heavy recruiting – the Mombasa Coast, "slum" areas in Kenya and the refugee and IDP camps in Rwanda. Peaceful Innovation offers the youth who are being targeted by Al-Shabab an effective mixture of counseling, peer groups, and job training with the end goal of reducing the number of viable recruits for Al-Shabab, thus, reducing their size and acts of extreme violence.
The Official Launch of Alone and Frightened - Former Child Soldiers Get to Tell Their Own Story
Over the years, the Goldin Institute has worked with Arigatou International and the Global Network of Religions for Children to research, document, and analyze the experiences and challenges of former child soldiers to develop appropriate programs for their reintegration. The culmination of the research was released in the report Alone and Frightened: Experiential Stories of Former Child Soldiers on Improving Reintegration. While the report was published in 2014, the official launch occurred while Travis and Diane were in Kenya. Our colleague and former Global Associate Dr. Dorcas Kiplagat, was instrumental in both the research done in bringing together the child soldiers to tell their stories in Alone and Frightened and in bringing it to print, so it was fitting that Dr. Kiplagat was so involved in the official launch ceremony. To that end, Dorcas has shared this full report of September's Events.
We remain encouraged to see that with the expansion of our child soldier work into new regions and with new partners, we get closer to participating in an effort that ends the recruitment of child soldiers. To learn more and become more involved, please follow this link.
A View From Afar: My Trip to Colombia
Goldin Institute Associate Srishtee Dear on her Recent Trip to Colombia to Attend the Foundation for Reconcilation Conference
Ten thousand feet in the sky, rocking back and forth in a cable car to our accent, we reached Monserrat, a tourist destination and holy site for Christians. Houses speckled the mass of incredible and incredibly populated land below us, sheltering approximately eight million people. With so many bodies, it is quite easy to dismiss the social implications of economic or political moves, easy to forget that with each body comes a story – a past, and a future.
I arrived to El Dorado International Airport with seven years of Spanish under my belt, which I quickly and laughably realized was the equivalent of a fourth grade level of fluency. Nevertheless, communication was never much of an issue during our stay. Father Leonel Narvaez, the founder for the Foundación para Pardón y Reconciliación, Lissette, our Global Associate and den mother, as well as all those in attendance of the ES.PERE conference, treated us with the utmost hospitability. Sixteen volunteers for La Foundación gathered together from South and North America for the same purpose– to improve the lives of their people through forgiveness and reconciliation.
[quote]With rebel groups such as FARC and ELN, as well as right-wing paramilitary forces, former child soldiers make up a decent percentage of the population, yet are quickly ostracized for their pasts. In it in these communities, where victims and perpetrators collide, that the ES.PERE model is needed most.[/quote]
In the U.S., social services are accessible for most people, as therapy and community meet-ups are a quick click and commute away. Yet, due to rampant instability in many South American countries, their citizens lack the basic foundation to trust institutions, as they have always had to fend for themselves. Sabas, a local hero amongst organizers at the Center for Reconciliation and a former child solider, said that the ES.PERE (Schools for Forgiveness and Reconciliation) programs aim to initially attract citizens by providing everyday trainings for them, such as “how to properly take a bath” and “music therapy” so they are more likely to return to learn about Forgiveness and Reconciliation, a concept foreign to many.
As I quickly came to realize throughout my trip, the Colombian people are some of the most heart-warming, inclusive, and diverse people I have had the pleasure to meet. Walking down the streets of La Candelaria, I felt like one of them. Their artistic brilliance and eagerness to help outsiders is one that often gets overlooked in the media portrayal of a 'drug-crazed land'. These are people who have had to live and relive a violent past, and livelihoods filled with prioritizing survival amidst left and right wing battles for power. Hearing former combatants speak to the importance of humanizing and reintegrating an entire sect of citizens helped me understand how many people lack a community. It is through community building efforts that a population grows and stabilizes. Just as in Colombia with the ES.PERE program, and now steadily throughout South America and parts of Africa, it is imperative that the social services we often take for granted, are also given to those who could benefit most.
The Water Ladies of Navajo and Mindanao
Perhaps we like this story so much about one woman making a difference by bringing fresh water to her extended community, because it reminds us of our own global associate working in similar ways for her own people.
Both Darlene Adviso and Dr. Susana Anayatin share the common goal of ensuring that those in their communities without clean water don't continue to fall through the cracks of government bureaucracy. They both have taken matters into their own hands to serve a population that has been largely overlooked and forgotten.
Recently, CBS News featured Darlene and her story of driving a water tank truck daily to deliver clean water to those in the Navajo Nation near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Shockingly, an estimated 40% of people living there do not have access to clean water. They have to bring water into their homes bucket by bucket, because even if their homes are plumbed to bring running water in, they are off the 'water-grid' and there isn't a supply even available to them. Much of this is because Indian water rights were an after-thought to agreements between the U.S. government and the Navajo Nation and the only water that they legally have access to is 'ground-water'. Complicating the issue, are accessibility challenges, because even at 600 ft. deep, much of the water underground is contaminated by uranium. Engineers and dedicated non-profit leaders are working on a solution to provide a system of water to the population that will go deeper – deep enough to make sure that the water supply will be drinkable and clean for in-home use. This could be years away and until then, Darlene makes her daily rounds in her water truck to bring her community the water it needs to sustain life.
Akin to the Navajo clean water issue in New Mexico, the Goldin Institute's own Dr. Anayatin has cut through bureaucratic red tape and assembled those in the community on both sides of the civil-conflict in Mindanao, to work together in restoring safe drinking water to elementary schools serving both the children who attend and the communities at large in these rural areas. Just like Darlene and her water truck, Susana and her team have found a way to get around obstacles and negotiate a harsh environment and often harsher political climate, to make a difference in these communities. Susana and her story are profiled at our new microsite which can be found here.
Although one woman is in the southwest U.S. and one is in the southern Philippines, Darlene and Susana are connected by the common mission they share and the passion they bring to helping their communities.
This Week in GI History and Building on a Key Past Event
This week we mark the anniversary of one of the Institute's defining events: the 2003 Building Social Cohesion in the Midst of Diversity and Migration conference held in Manresa, Spain.
At that Event, community leaders from over 20 cities gathered to explore best practices from their practical experiences building social cohesion. The Conference came together over the central questions of:
- How do we promote a positive view of difference and build a sense of social cohesion in the midst of diversity?
- Where have people been effective at building relationships of trust, understanding and cooperation between diverse communities?
- How can we best learn from those communities that have successfully built trust amongst their diverse communities?
The collaborative learning, strategies and conversations at the Event provided tools for participants to bring solutions back to their respective cities. To find out more on how this was accomplished, view the full report on our findings of the conference. here.
In the time since we held the Manresa Event, the issue of how communities in sizable cities overcome the division and tensions often caused by their diverse populations, remains as relevant as it was in 2003. In many ways, we were fortunate to make the connections with a group of talented and committed leaders willing to address the issue head-on, as it has proven to be prescient and set the tone for future project work.
Which brings us to new events and the ways in which we continue to honor our mission, and honor those we work with dedicated to bringing social cohesion to their communities. This week, two of our associates from Chicago, Alexis Smyser and Srishtee Dear, are in attendance with our colleagues in Colombia at the Foundation for Reconciliation conference in Bogota. Here, participants from several countries review and reinforce the key principals of the ESPERE methods that the Foundation has been refining since first introducing in 2007.
The ESPERE methodology is engaging new community leaders, former child soldiers and educators in the proven concepts of reconciliation and forgiveness. What began as a grassroots project by Fr. Leonel and his team in Bogota less than a decade ago has now flourished to see participation throughout North and South America and recently to Africa. Partners of the Goldin Institute in Uganda have taken up the ESPERE methodology and have used is as a powerful tool in the reintegration for former child soldiers.
[hl bg="#d07000" fg="#ffffff"]Continue to follow us as we share new learnings and outcomes from this latest conference in Bogota. See how the common theme of social cohesion that began 12 years ago in Manresa is alive and well and being proven highly adaptive in new environments and by new leaders bringing positive change to their communities.[/hl]
[slide][img path="images/2003___17.jpg"] Goldin Institute co-founder Diane Goldin with participants at the 2003 Maresa, Spain Event. [/img] [/slide]
Cholera Epidemic in Haiti is Clearly a Human Rights Issue
The director of the Health and Human Rights Clinic at Indiana University's McKinney School of Law, makes a sharp criticism of both the U.S. and U.N policy in Haiti. In this recent piece at the Nation, attorney Fran Quigley also reminds us that the future of human rights is threatened by the U.N.'s "craven abdication of justice in Haiti" because in doing so, the U.N. has lost its moral right to speak out about other human rights or democracy issues in other parts of the world.
Quigley also makes it clear that although the earthquake of 2010 was a natural disaster, the cholera epidemic was completely man-made and the responses made in the aftermath have been shaped by long-held political biases against Haiti and its people. From the first Bush administration that blocked funds that would have updated the water system to the current Obama administration that has sided with the U.N. position that it be immune from legal accountability for bringing the epidemic to Haiti, Quigley runs through the list of how the response has exasperated the issue and further victimized an already vulnerable nation.
[quote]While the earthquake originated as a natural disaster, albeit one made worse by generations of international exploitation, the cholera epidemic was a fully human-made phenomenon. It demonstrates that the world's most powerful nation – the United States – and its most respected international organization – the United Nations – have no intention of treating the Haitian people as fully human beings, deserving of even the most basic of rights."[/quote]
- Fran Quigley, human rights attorney
Read the full piece at the Nation here. To find out how to become more involved, see this related issues page and our community-building efforts in Haiti here.
Above: People walk across an overpass as raw sewage flows beneath in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, September 2012.
Photo Credit: Rueters / Swoan Parker
Poignant Child Soldier Stories Connect with Wider Audience
In our own efforts to try and get the word out about the plight of child soldiers, and the progress that is being made towards former young combatants we work with in returning to civil society – we're always interested in new ways to connect with those who wish to help.
Visiting our website, you will find the personal stories of those involved in bringing attention to the issue, while they also work on sustainable and proven ways to create positive change in their communities, so that fomer child soldiers have opportunites for positive change in their own lives. Whether bringing you the ongoing project work we are doing in Colombia and Latin America with our two associates Lissette and Fr. Leonel, or updating you on the expansion of the successful national platform we helped develop with our colleagues on the ground in Uganda, we continue to explore ways to make a difficult story to tell, more compelling and personal to those who wish to make a difference by knowing the stories.
With that in mind, we are excited about a 'retelling' and fresh way of letting you know about our work in child soldier reintegration. In coming weeks, we'll look at ways to adapt a more personal approach to feature some of the key voices that have inspired us to stay committed to the issue.
Until then, we invite you to view the work by someone who is already telling the ordeal of the child soldier in a new way. With interactive storytelling, Marc Ellison and his graphic novel style communicates the plight of several former female child soldiers, but still conveys the hopefullness of those having the courage to tell their story. Ellison's work is featured in this profile story. A link depicting the story of one of the former child soldiers (Christine) is at Ellison's site.
Child Soldier Resource Library
No amount of cinematic prose or metaphorical ideology can accurately describe the atrocities committed to, and forcibly by, children in conflict zones. It is very easy to gage the situation from a distance, to analyze figures that measure in the hundred thousands, and to declare international emergencies. It requires more empathy, however, to see five, twelve, nineteen year old faces, and measure them by the same standard of “child-soldier.” Behind each of the estimated 300,000 children (under 18) engaged in ongoing conflict around the world, are aspirations, futures, and hobbies–all slashed in the name of violence. As 19 year old Ibrahim who admitted to killing a woman said,
[quote] I am deeply sorry. But you must understand that this was not my endeavor, I was under the command of men with no mercy. I wish I could turn back the time.[/quote]
(Human Rights Watch 2015)
These 'men with no mercy'10 have imbibed children with propaganda, forced them to kill their loved ones, and subjected them to heinous acts. Girls, comprising of 40% of child soldiers, often face the worst circumstances. Many are forced to engage in sexual acts with their peers and captors, and unable to take part in reintegration efforts as they are made to wed their commanders. This vicious cycle of sex, violence, and often drugs, is perpetrated by an older generation committed to the ruination of peace. It is our duty, then, as citizens of this world, to combat this paradigm. This is why Goldin Institute vows to use grassroots partnerships for the eradication and prevention of child soldiers.
Glossary: Child Soldier International1
Armed conflict: The term armed conflict is used to refer to both international and non-international conflicts of high and low intensity.
Child: A child is any person under 18 years of age. This is consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 1), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Article 2) and International Labour Organization Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (Article 2).
Child soldier: A child soldier refers to any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities. This definition is consistent with the definition of a “child associated with an armed force or armed group” in the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups.
Recruitment: Refers to the means by which people become (formally or informally) members of armed forces or armed groups.
- Enlistment or voluntary recruitment occurs when persons facing no threat or penalty join armed forces or groups of their own free will;
- Conscription is compulsory recruitment into armed forces;
- Forced recruitment is a form of forced labour: it takes place without the consent of the person joining the armed forces or armed groups. It is achieved mainly through coercion, abduction or under threat of penalty;
- Unlawful recruitment refers to the recruitment of children under the age stipulated in international treaties applicable to the armed forces or armed groups.
Resource Library:
1. Child Solider International Glossary Terms PDF
2. This UN High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) database named RefWorld helps identify UN articles based on country and issue. This resource is incredibly helpful when researching a specific refugee issue with UN backed data.
3. The European Country of Origin Information Network is an up-to-date database involved in aslyum and refugee cases. This resource has a variety of human rights reports as they relate to child soldiers from a variety of sources such as ReliefWeb, UNHCR, US Department of State, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and more.
4. A concise explanation of child soliders in various armed conflicts around the world via the Council on Foreign Relations.
5. WarChild is a small charity based in North London with a variety of infographics related to child soldier violations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, and Uganda, with adovacy in the UK.
6. Alone & Frightened is a Goldin-Institute backed study of that describes the state of children affected by the brutal war in Northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF). Through stories of Former Child Soldiers (FCS), a greater understanding is achieved of the atrocities committed against children. Please use your discretion while reading.
7. “I Was a Child Soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo” by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This article speaks of child soldier demobilization efforts by UNICEF Lubumbashi.
8. “Voices of Girl Child Soldiers Colombia” by Yvonne E. Keairns, PhD. (2003) This report is part of a larger study which detailed interviews with 23 girl soldiers from four different conflict areas around the world. The study breaks down the combination of circumstances involved in becoming a child soldier, as well as a “day in the life” of a girl in that position.
9. Child Soldiers International published a World Index Map that visualises trends in the military exploitation of children according to three essential criteria: ratification of OPAC (the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict), minimum recruitment age, and use of children in hostilities. Click on any country to see full details of the national legal framework, policies and practices.
10. “Men With No Mercy”: Rapid Support Forces Attacks against Civilians in Darfur, Sudan. This Human Rights Watch Article is an extensive background on the Rapid Support Forces (al-Quwat al-Dam’m al-Sari’ in Arabic, or RSF) which were created in mid-2013 to military defeat rebel armed groups throughout Sudan, but have participated in serious international human rights violations themselves, against civilians. The Human Rights Watch is a great resource for humanitarian issues internationally and often provides solutions that are tied to responsible reporting.
Colombia Brings Reconciliation Methods to Uganda
In the tradition of the Goldin Institute's Forgiveness and Reconciliation Project, and utilizing the ESPERE methodology developed with our colleagues in Colombia, our efforts towards building child soldier reintegration continues throughout Northern Uganda.
As our Global Associate on the ground in Uganda (Denis Okello) recently reported to us in this summary paper, both Kitgum and Amuru districts have suffered greatly from armed violence and conflict. The instability in the area results in the ongoing recruitment and coercion of countless adults and children into the rebel forces. As Denis tells it, "in some way or capacity, each and every household in Northern Uganda has suffered the direct effects of the conflict in terms of abduction, death, displacement, poverty or illness." Against this backdrop, both districts serve as ideal communities to workshop the methods of ESPERE, bringing effective training to those within the community wishing to cope with the effects of war – and also those hoping to better their lives.
In the Kitgum District, Denis' report focused on a workshop conducted specifically for secondary and vocational school teachers. Here, educators could be equipped with the knowledge and skills on the process of forgiveness and reconciliation in order for them to effectively respond to the needs of their students who have been directly impacted by the civil war that they have grown up in.
In the Amuru District, Denis overviewed the specific training to former child combatants, young mothers, and orphaned young adults of the conflict who have been left to become the 'heads' of their households. Denis provided the history and background, and explained that within Amuru, the sub-county of Pabbo was one of the first and largest camps for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) during the LRA War between 1986 and 2006. After the end of hostilities in 2006, the displaced persons, former combatants, victims of atrocities and children born from captivity within the LRA, flooded back to many parts of Pabbo. It is important to point out that Denis and his own family have been impacted by the conflict's history and because of his training directly from our Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa, was uniquely qualified to be one of the three facilitators of Amuru Workshop.
Workshops Follow Ongoing Committment to the Issue of Child Soldiers
The trainings held by Denis and his team on the ground in both Kitgum and Amuru Districts, would not have been possible without prior research conducted in Northern Uganda with former child soldiers. Released late last year, we published the guide, Alone and Frightened, to provide first-hand accounts and experiential stories of former child soldiers affected by the brutal war pitting the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) against the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF). Our extensive research with our partners in the region (including our former Global Associate from Kenya, Dr. Dorcas Kipligat, who served as the Project Coordinator to the report), provides an ongoing resource guide to all new workshops being conducted in Africa.
Readers familiar with the origins of the ESPERE methodology, will remember that it is made up several modules reinforcing the two phases of forgiveness and reconciliation. A link to an early version of what this looked liked as it was piloted in Colombia can be found here. The slideshow that we have put together at the end of this story is remarkable in the consistencies between the exercises in Latin America and those taking place to make up the workshops in Uganda.
We are excited to see from the expansion of the project from Latin America to East Africa, how in spite of the cultural, ethnic and societal differences between two unique continents and their people, the methods being shared for forgiveness and reconciliation are held in common. What we are learning in facilitating these trainings is the universal nature of how most all people impacted by conflict have the capacity to embrace these methods. Please follow along in the narrative slideshow below to see this happening in Kitgum and Amuru.
Immigration Crisis Developing Between Colombia and Venezuela
Developments to follow out of Colombia this week:
Over the weekend we learned of growing tensions between Colombia and Venezuela over immigration policy, and the forced deportation of several thousand Colombians from Venezuela in the last week.
Both countries have recalled their respective ambassadors, with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos declaring the deportations as "unacceptable" by the neighboring country.
This issue is likely to have wider-reaching implications in both countries, as Venezuela's President and his government faces an upcoming election in the fall and as Colombia continues to work towards a peace treaty between their own government and rebel forces.
More on the story can be found in The New York Times and BBC News.
