..then what?
I was at the "Trauma, Reconciliation & Peacemaking after Mass Violence: Learning from Rwanda" seminar last week at the Justice Institute, and met Ramond. He's working on an MBA in London, after which he'll return to his homeland to work on economic development.
Simultaneous to that, I've been reading "Rwanda Inc." by Patricia Crisafulli and Andrea Redmond, and got to thinking.
There are NGO's and various other "ministries" that do and or train Rwandans in trauma healing, restorative justice, mediation, conflict transformation, and there are various NGO's, and socially conscious businesses that transfer knowledge, invest, and build capacity towards poverty reduction.
My heart is in trauma healing and restorative practices; and at the same time, I've been a successful businesswomen for almost 30 years. I had thought (assumed perhaps) God was asking me to leave the business market place to do peace building but now I'm thinking peace building just may include sustainable poverty reduction and skills capacity building too.
In my musings, I imagine a team going into a remote village in Rwanda where it's likely 90% of the inhabitants are subsistence farmers; the team trains local pastors and community members in trauma healing and recovery, as well as in restorative justice and reconciliation. The intended result is that many people in the village begin to heal and reconcile....and then what? Is the unintended result the fact that you now have healed, hopeful, invigorated people who can now imagine more?
Even after the stress of trauma is healed and the stress of severed, distrusting relationship is reconciled, there remains the stress of poverty and subsistence living. Stress can undo a lot of good work in a person's soul, I think.
I'm beginning to envision a holistic approach, one that addresses all needs...emotional, spiritual, and physical, provided by one organization or ministry, if only for ease of access.
I also believe that a skill, vocation, talent put to use, good old fashion "work", does wonders for a person's sense of identity, meaning, purpose, and esteem. So while it's much, it's not enough to heal people up and get them reconciled with their enemies, only to have them worry and wonder where the next meal is coming from or how they'll come up with the next terms school fees.
Simultaneous to that, I've been reading "Rwanda Inc." by Patricia Crisafulli and Andrea Redmond, and got to thinking.
There are NGO's and various other "ministries" that do and or train Rwandans in trauma healing, restorative justice, mediation, conflict transformation, and there are various NGO's, and socially conscious businesses that transfer knowledge, invest, and build capacity towards poverty reduction.
My heart is in trauma healing and restorative practices; and at the same time, I've been a successful businesswomen for almost 30 years. I had thought (assumed perhaps) God was asking me to leave the business market place to do peace building but now I'm thinking peace building just may include sustainable poverty reduction and skills capacity building too.
In my musings, I imagine a team going into a remote village in Rwanda where it's likely 90% of the inhabitants are subsistence farmers; the team trains local pastors and community members in trauma healing and recovery, as well as in restorative justice and reconciliation. The intended result is that many people in the village begin to heal and reconcile....and then what? Is the unintended result the fact that you now have healed, hopeful, invigorated people who can now imagine more?
Even after the stress of trauma is healed and the stress of severed, distrusting relationship is reconciled, there remains the stress of poverty and subsistence living. Stress can undo a lot of good work in a person's soul, I think.
I'm beginning to envision a holistic approach, one that addresses all needs...emotional, spiritual, and physical, provided by one organization or ministry, if only for ease of access.
I also believe that a skill, vocation, talent put to use, good old fashion "work", does wonders for a person's sense of identity, meaning, purpose, and esteem. So while it's much, it's not enough to heal people up and get them reconciled with their enemies, only to have them worry and wonder where the next meal is coming from or how they'll come up with the next terms school fees.
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