At the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University "you can see sheep interacting with lions," says Noe Alberto Jose of Luanda, Angola. "People who would normally be enemies are in the same room in fellowship, which back home might be impossible."
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While studying in Zambia, Jose remembers meeting Hutu and Tutsi refugees who refused to look at each other. This year there were Hutu and Tutsi participants at the institute. Jose and To Thi Bay, of Hanoi, Vietnam, are both directors of fledgling peace programs. The contexts in which they work are remarkably different, yet they face similar challenges, such as shortages of mediation materials in their languages.
With support from Mennonite Central Committee, Jose and Bay participated in the institute and have returned home with improved skills for dealing with conflict and a worldwide connection to peace builders. In the past seven years, MCC has sponsored more than 100 participants.
Bay says this summer's courses helped her understand more about her own perspectives as well as typical Vietnamese responses to conflict. She is organizing mediation training for Vietnamese development workers who want to integrate peace building with community development.
Jose, who directs the peace program of the Council of Christian Churches in Angola, began his peace work among displaced Angolan families. A cease-fire agreement recently ended 27 years of civil war in Angola and the need for training in conflict resolution is urgent.
He has organized Core Peace Groups in provincial capitals. The groups hold workshops to help people analyze conflicts and discuss nonviolent solutions.--From MCC release by Maria Linder-Hess
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