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Friends United Meeting |
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Watu Wa Amani: People of Peace
By Ben Richmond
About 75 Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers from all parts of Africa came together with 25 ecumenical participants from other parts of the world to do “practical theology” in a retreat center outside of Nairobi, Kenya, in August, 2004. The experience of listening, day after day, hour by hour, to the stories of trauma and peacemaking, was overwhelming. Burundi:
“In Gitega, a 28-year-old woman was raped by soldiers. She bore a child from this rape, but had great diffi culty adjusting to motherhood. While this child was still young, government soldiers attacked her family compound, and she witnessed the execution of her parents and siblings. She was the last to be killed, but survived only when the soldier who was doing the killings said, ‘I’m tired, I have been killing people all day and I want to quit.’”
This story, told by David Niyonzima, a Quaker pastor from Burundi, came out in the context of the ministry of Burundi Friends Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services. There, she received support for her healing and extensive therapy.
Congo
“Looting and pillaging took place when the soldiers started, lasting for 48 hours. It was hard to distinguish between Christians and non-Christians, as all were taking part in the looting. The country lost 700 million dollars, causing many to lose their jobs later, adding greatly to the already present economic chaos.
“Later the pillaging of houses started at 8:00 p.m. Many stayed home with lights out, so as to not attract the soldiers who were looting. Today, hospitals are empty of materials, from the looting. Public transport no longer exists.” Cathy Mputu, a Mennonite, and Ramadhani Kokosi, a Quaker, both from the Congo, detailed looting, systematic rape and killing which accompanied the struggle between armed groups. The churches in the Congo are teaching Christians not to take part in looting. A pamphlet based on the story of Jesus and Zaccheus led some people to return property they had pillaged.
Nigeria:
Bitrus V.K. Debki, an EYN (Brethren) pastor, reported, “Since the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, Muslims have been attacking Christians to assist their Muslim brothers there. They seem to be stronger than any other Muslims in the world, as they can fi ght for others as well as fi ght for God.” “One of our pastors, who encouraged his congregation to fi nd peace and not fi ght, had his church surrounded by Muslims on a Sunday morning. They set the church building on fi re and shot all the people when they tried to escape, including the pastor. This is how it is for Christians in Kaduna State in Nigeria.”
Yet, there are remarkable stories of peacemaking. A new EYN (Brethren) church building was being built near the center of the village of Chinene in northeastern Nigeria. In April 1979, Muslims destroyed the structure. The next day 2,000 Christian men from surrounding villages gathered, furious because, in their view, the insult had come with no provocation. They were ready to attack their Muslim neighbors. EYN President Filibus Kumba Gwama asked, “What will happen after we go to war? Probably one person will be killed among us and maybe one among the Muslims. How can we compare two lives with the building? The building was not yet roofed. Even if it was roofed, which of them will be of more value: the lives that we are going to lose or the building?” Hesitantly they agreed that lives were of more value than the building. Pastor Gwama concluded that it is often possible to prevent bloodshed even in a crisis.
David Zarembka reported a conversation in one of the small groups during the conference: “Sizeli Marcellin from Rwanda was also in my group and so I spoke of how his son had been saved during the genocide by a Muslim who had hid him in a Mosque. I asked the Nigerians how they responded to that. They answered that many Muslims hid Christians during the violence and many Christians hid Muslims!”
Zimbabwe:
Representatives of the Brethren in Christ Church (Mennonite) in Zimbabwe recounted the state-sponsored violence that broke out in the 1980s. Violence by liberation groups led to reprisals. The government granted immunity to those who would put down anyone suspected of dissent. The violence spread to the point that victims were beaten in public and forced to dig their own graves. Then they were shot and neighbors were forced to cover the graves, even though some had not died. As the violence spread, thousands of victims were killed. A peace accord was reached in the late 1980s, and there was relative quiet until the late 1990s. As opposition to the government arose in the elections of 2000, torture chambers and disappearances also returned. Many of the white landowners were driven off their property. Currently young people, both boys and girls, are sent to “national service” camps for military training. AIDS spreads quickly in these camps.
The church works quietly to seek alternatives. Pastors are given training on how to listen to, support and encourage victims. Meetings are held where persons can publicly express what has happened to them. Family members are assisted to obtain birth certificates and ID cards.
Kenya:
Ethnic clashes at Christmas 1991 spread throughout Western Kenya. Houses were burned and many innocent people were killed. Quaker Nora Musundi spoke of the response of her family and prayer group to the situation. As refugees came to her village, she and her family began to care for them. Two years later her family gave an acre of land on which a community health center was constructed. Thereafter, she served on a National Council of Churches of Kenya committee that toured many parts of the country, visiting community leaders, administrators, housewives and common folks to discuss the reasons for the ethnic clashes. After months of fasting and prayer, a group of Quaker women decided to care for HIV/ AIDS victims, train school dropouts in skills such as tailoring and carpentry and offer counseling and guidance for those in need. They were able to bring together groups from all sides of the conflict.
The Watu Wa Amani (People of Peace) conference was the second in a series of theological conferences in which the Historic Peace Churches have responded to the World Council of Churches program, Decade to Overcome Violence. The WCC asked the Peace Churches to share their experience in peacemaking with the wider church. The first gathering was held at the Mennonite Bible School and seminary in Bienenberg, Switzerland, near Basel in 2001. The results of those discussions have been published as Seeking Cultures of Peace: A Peace Church Conversation (Cascadia, Herald and WCC, 2004). A video and bilingual book are planned to report and carry on the dialogue from this second conference. Details will be forthcoming on the series website: www. peacetheology.org.
The conference issued a letter to churches, which was prepared by a theological panel. It said in part: “In the midst of widespread despair and trauma, we Historic Peace Churches in Africa are living our faith, by ministries of prayer, by breaking the silence, by showing our presence in places of conflict, by getting in direct contact with armed groups, by initiating dialogues between governments and opposition groups when public space is closed for all other non-governmental organizations and facing the tension between Christian and Muslim communities. We try to listen and tell the stories from the victims’ perspectives and to provide alternative perspectives to all sides of a conflict by spreading information. We work in peace and justice committees, we are providing trauma-healing centers, we are training our pastors in non-violent conflict transformation and healing skills for victims and relatives. We are developing seminars on political situations, special ministries to women and peace-building youth programs. We build networks with other churches and organizations, as we seek voices of support from outside one country.”
But the attenders felt keenly they had a long way to go to live up to their calling as peace churches. In denominational caucuses on the final day of the conference, there was much ferment toward increased work in peace education curriculum and development of further cooperation between the churches.
Deenabandhu Manchala, World Council of Churches staff member for peace advocacy, attended the conference and spoke enthusiastically about the contribution this conference made to the Decade to Overcome Violence: “The event was a celebration of hope amidst turmoil, of the prospects of peace in an overwhelming ethos of violence, blatant abuse of life and massive human suffering. It was about faith in action and was theology in practice.”
Ben Richmond of the FUM staff was part of the planning committee for Watu Wa Amani.