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Friends United Meeting |
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Quaker Life
October 2002
AVP Training to be Used in Gacaca Courts
By David Zarembka
The Rwandan Government has decided to resurrect the traditional village court system called gacaca (see article by Helena Cobban, page 18). This bold experiment is trying to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again so that peaceful coexistence is possible between the perpetuators of the genocide and their families, the survivors of the genocide and the many bystanders who lives were disrupted by the genocide and its aftermath.Ê Revenge, intimidation, hostility, anger and hurt must all be dealt with in a way that heals the society.
The African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI) had already trained 15 Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) facilitators in Rwanda.ÊThe Quakers in Rwanda were very concerned that many of those imprisoned for eight years would return to society perhaps still with violent, anti-social thoughts and behaviors. Consequently AGLI and AVP-Rwanda had developed a proposal to hold five basic AVP workshops with the soon-to-be-released prisoners, an evaluation and then 24 more workshops in Kigali, Kigali Rurale, Ruhengeri, and Kibungo.Ê AVP-Rwanda is awaiting sufficient funding ($20,971) and Governmental approval to begin.
On July 16, an AFSC delegation to Africa including myselfÊmet with Aloysie Cyanzayire, the head of the SupremeÊCourt's GacacaÊDepartment who would be implementing these 10,500 courts.Ê David Bucura, General Secretary of Rwanda Yearly Meeting and the AVP-Rwanda coordinator, reported what the AVP facilitators were planning with the prisoners.ÊHe spoke for about five minutes in Kiyarwanda and heard the words "transforming power" used. ÊHer immediate reaction was that AVP should be holding workshops for the gacacas so AVP would be working with the judges in addition to the suspects!Ê What an exciting possibility!Ê She asked David Bucura to return the next day to talk more about the possibilities, but by the next day, a person on the gacaca staff was visiting with him.
Imagine doing 10,500 AVP basic workshops!Ê But then imagine putting a country back together with justice and reconciliation.Ê I discussed the possibilities with David and other AVP facilitators and we recommended that we start with three basic workshops for the gacaca department staff and then 25 workshops in the same four areas we planned to do with the prisoners.
In our discussions, it became clear that our fifteen facilitators were not enough for even the beginning programs we envisioned. Therefore we would need another international team to come for four weeks to lead facilitator workshops. Also, the basic AVP manual would have to be translated into Kinyarwandan. What an exciting opportunity!
David Zarembka is a member of Bethesda (Maryland) Monthly Meeting (Baltimore Yearly Meeting) but is now sojourning at St. Louis MM. He is the coordinator of the Friends Peace Teams' African Great Lakes Initiative and is married to Gladys Kamonya.
Copyright (c) 2002 Friends United Meeting
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