Maoist combatants at a function to hand over command at the Shaktikhor Maoist cantonment in Chitwan, Nepal in January of this year (AP from thehindu.com)
On Tuesday, Nepal cleared its last remaining minefield, nearly five years after the country’s long civil war. The removal was one of the main terms of the 2006 peace accord. In other areas, however, the peace process has stalled, since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was begun in 2008. The Constituent Assembly was elected at that time, with a mandate to draft a new constitution within two years. But with no party holding the necessary 2/3’s majority, a coalition government was formed and consensus has proved difficult to reach.
May 28th marked the 2nd time the deadline to have the constitution ratified, passed without resolution. Nepal’s Prime Minister, Jhalanath Khanal stepped down as part of the deal to extend the deadline. One of the biggest challenges to find common ground on, is the issue of integrating former Maoist fighters into Nepal’s security forces.
We recently had two visitors from our Nepal Office who were able to speak about Nepal’s future regarding reintegration, Sujata our Community Peacebuilding Manager and Prem our Youth Program Coordinator.
“Although peace is signed at the national level, war is fought on the ground, therefore, peacebuilding must also happen on the ground.” ~Sujata read more…
Yesterday, SFCG hosted a screening of Three Stories of Galicia , a documentary film by Olha Onyshko and Sarah Farhat. The film is set in the region of Galicia, which straddles the modern nation-states of Ukraine and Poland; during the time before, during and after World War II.
Onyshko hails from the region herself and she and Sarah traveled the region collecting the past. The land was rich, they found, in personal histories of bravery and bloodshed. read more…
Sweden's Sara Johansson, left, attempts a shot at goal as North Korea's Sonu Kyong Sun heads the ball away during the last Women's World Cup in China. (Time Magazine - Greg Baker / AP)
The Women’s World Cup kicks off later this month in Germany (June 26 – July 17). To coincide with this, Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton announced the Women’s World Cup Initiative to empower women and girls through sports. The initiative is using international exchange to bring people together through sports diplomacy. Sports exchanges are actually the State Department’s most popular, Clinton said. read more…
The Impact of Participatory Theater: Testimonies from DRC
SFCG’s field office in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been involved in building bridges between the Munzaya and Enyele ethnic groups in the country’s Equateur province. In the past two years, violence between the communities has lead to mass displacement. One important tool used in this conflict transformation effort has been participatory theater . Recently, Search staff conducted a survey examining the impact that participatory theater has had in the area. As part of the survey, we received the following two testimonies that we would like to share:
Jean-Pierre Ilaba is a 27 year old young man who lives in the Bombangai neighborhood near the Dongo market. He shared the following story:
“What I am saying is not something that I have learned, it is the story of my uncle… My uncle lived in the house of a refugee who lives in Ngambo. One day, the owner of the house had returned home to find my uncle living there. During their exchange, my uncle refused to leave the house because he had a plot of land that required maintenance. The refugee therefore returned to Ngambo without success. Last year, my uncle attended one of your participatory theater events on the occupation of returnee houses. Touched by the theater, my uncle left the house and sent a message to the owner of the house, inviting him to return home.”
The second testimony comes from Willy Kasereka, a resident of Socobelam, near the Kimbanguiste church:
“Personally, I broke into the house of my neighbor who lives in Ngambo, a mother named Mete, and I stole eight chairs. When Mete came to check on her property and possessions, she saw that they were missing. When she asked me, I denied taking the chairs. But once I saw your theater performance on a returnee who has a similar dispute with cooking tools, I decided to go to the chief of the area to acknowledge that I have Mete’s chairs at my house. I sent a message directly to Mete to pass by when she can to take back her chairs. .. Your theaters are really very touching and I think it will help us to change.”
As these testimonies demonstrate, Search’s use of participatory theater as a conflict mediation tool in Congo has been a great success so far. Participatory theater allows people to put themselves in someone else’s position by inviting them to act out another’s story. When people are moved by the stories of others, they are inspired to resolve their own conflicts.
SFCG’s The Team has recently launched in Nepal. Called Hamro Team, the story revolves around three main characters: Seema, Sanket, and Resham. Seema is a star football player in a girls’ national team who also coaches high school students. Her family wants her to relocate to the US because they believe that “girls don’t have any future in sports in Nepal.” However, Seema refuses to immigrate and instead pursues her dream by coaching a boys’ team. She is joined in this effort by Sanket, who has returned from the US with the belief that he can contribute to his country. The two of them discover Resham, a young man who has run away from an armed gang in order to play football. He eventually becomes the captain of the team.
At the show’s launch event last Tuesday, director Bhusan Dahal, said that in order for a sports team to be successful, the players must rise above their individual differences and work together for a common goal under the leadership of their coach. “The team thinks on the notion of ‘We’, not ‘I,’” he said. The story of individuals overcoming their differences to play as a team is thus an apt metaphor for Nepal, a country which is in transition and where citizens have widely divergent opinions on political and social issues.
Another unique aspect of The Team for a Nepali audience is the idea of a woman coaching a men’s sports team. Reecha Sharma, who plays Seema, believes that there is no similar female character currently on Nepali television and that it will take time for another to appear. However, Yubakar Rajnikar, one of the producers of the show, notes that the series is “not just pushing women power but it’s pushing people to think differently.”
Hamro Team also focuses on the problems faced by Nepali youth along with their hopes, dreams and struggles. For example, the character of Resham was forced to join a Maoist gang in order to make money and the serial depicts how he is able to leave the gang with the help of Seema and Sanket and become the captain of the football team. Niraj Kumar Chaudhury, who plays Resham, said that it is important for people to follow their dreams and Hamro Team will help youth recognize and work through a lot of the issues that they are struggling with. “I work with a youth network in Bardia,” said the 20-year-old who added that his dream is to “collaborate with youth in the peace-building process.”
Hamro Team is about making helping people to believe in their dreams, pursue them, and work together collaboratively as a team to build the nation. As the director of the show states, the serial is “an effort to make you feel that if Nepal unites as a country, no one can beat us and stop us from moving forward.”
Hamro Team airs on Kantipur Television every Thursday at 9 PM with repeat telecasts on Fridays at 9 AM and Saturdays at 4 PM.
Hear what the Nepali Media is saying about the show at MyRepublica.com and CyberSansar.com.
Pastor James and Imam Ashafa are former members of competing militias in Nigeria who now work cooperatively to head the Inter-Faith Mediation Centre. (photo: Simon Clark/Eyebox)
By Shaya Gregory Poku
One of my best friends got married a week ago. We have known each other since middle school. We planned prom, encouraged each other through college applications, SATs, first loves and more, but I was unable to travel for the occasion—talk about disappointing.
As a peace practitioner, my feelings of loss and disappointment made me think about how people deal with sorrow, especially in zones affected by conflict. For many, and me included, the act of lamenting is closely related to their religious or spiritual practice, both in making sense of the pain and coping in its aftermath.
Currently, it feels like honest conversations about faith and religion in public life are few and far between. When the topic does arise, it often evokes images of violence; the attacks on 9/11 or the bombing of abortion clinics. Nigeria’s middlebelt region, in whose capital, Jos, Search currently works, has seen hundreds of deaths due to the violent clashes between Muslims and Christians. read more…
