QUOTATION
"I can do everything through him
who gives me strength."
Phil 4:13
Youth Peace Training Manual
The Contents
Greetings
and Welcome
Foreword
Acknowledgement
Coordination
Background
Introduction
Section A: Tools
Introduction
1. Building
a Culture of Peace
2 How to study the Bible effectively
3 The Role of Communication in the promotion of Peace
4. Tools of facilitation
Section B: Training Modules
Introduction
Introduction to Modules
1. Living
with Our Differences
2. Interfaith relations and Peace Building
3. Ethnicity and Peace Building
4. Youth, Gospel, Culture and Peace
5. Democratization
6. Institutionalized Conflict
7. Economic Approach to Peace Building
8. Peace and the Environment
9. Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Reconstruction
Section C: Wisdom from Africa
Section D: Ice-Breakers
Wayforward
Greetings and Welcome
Sanibonani and karibuni to the AACC Youth Peace Training Manual. Sanibonani is a Zulu greeting which means ‘I see you’ – but the actual meaning is ‘I recognise you as people’; and karibuni is a Swahili word which means ‘welcome’.
We don’t just want to welcome you to this manual, but also make you feel at home, be part of us and feel free. This would be mnakaribishwa in Swahili, which signifies much deeper hospitality.
It is the characteristic of most African greetings not to focus on the time of the day like morning, afternoon and night, but to be centred around relationships, peace, affirmation of life, community and Ubuntu (humanness); below are some examples:
Lesotho
- Khotso means peace, and the actual meaning is ‘Peace be with you’.
You respond by saying a e ate – which means ‘let it spread’.
Botswana
- Dumela means agree, and the actual meaning is ‘Agree that I am
not your enemy’. It is also said to anyone you come across. You respond
by saying a-he which means ‘yes’.
,br> Mozambique
- Hilosile means we greet you, and the actual meaning is ‘we bow
down before you’. It is a sign of respect, irrespective of who you
are.
Sierra Leone
- Gbobi nga hun? Means ‘how are you’. You respond by saying ‘kayi ngewoma’ which means ‘there is no fault with God’.
Togo/Ghana
- Nutifafa na wo means ‘peace be to you’. You respond by saying
‘mawu ne no kpliwo’ which means ‘God be with you’.
Kenya
- Okwe Uni means ‘may peace be with you’. You respond by saying
‘Okwe kodo bende’ which means ‘may you also have peace’.
Sudan
- Maath dhe rie means ‘let us exchange peace’.
- Asi Angjo means ‘I greet you’, but with a cool (peaceful)
heart that is symbolised with the shaking of hands.
- Salam alek means ‘peace be with you’.
It is through greetings that we keep our communities together and establish relationships because you greet even those you do not know, and you also greet the whole family. For example in Mozambique they also greet by saying Xeweni meaning ‘I greet you’, but the actual meaning is ‘I recognise the whole family’.
This greeting assumes that when you greet a person you automatically greet his/her family, because it is through greetings that we find out more about others. That is hwy we always look forward to greeting others.
Once more Hilosile, Xeweni and Mnakaribishwa to this manual and we are looking forward to you being part of this Youth Peace family of Africa. You are most welcome.
Please enjoy this manual written by the youth of Africa.
Khepi S.
Shole
Executive Secretary
AACC Youth Desk.
Foreword
It is with
a sense of celebration that I present to you the Youth Peace Training
Manual.
I view this manual as a public commitment of Africa’s youth to Christian
values. I also regard it as an expression of their acknowledgement of
duty to God. The production of the manual indeed defies the kind of thinking
which has systematically marginalized out youth in our institutions.
The Youth Peace Training Manual is a product of our youth’s vision and initiative. It is a manifestation of their integrity and collective responsibility to their continent and their future.
African’s youth want to live in better and peaceful communities in our continent, inspired by this desire. Christian values gave them the sense of direction, the motivation and strength to work tirelessly for this manual.
They have now produced a useful tool for peace building and how so wonderful it is that our youth to whom we vest the future of this continent, have gracefully resolved to use the manual for training across the continent in order to effectively undertake the noble and exacting task of instituting a culture of peace in Africa.
In conclusion, we recall that rich states were able to spend billions of dollars on armaments during the cold war, whose extension of proxy wars in Africa have not ceased. However modest funds required for peace building and rehabilitation of our societies who bore brutal destruction from the wars remain scatter.
It is for this reason that I wish to express out sincere appreciation to our partners, particularly World Council of Churches, and Christian Aid, who thought differently and accordingly provided financial support for this endeavour. I also commend that youth and facilitators who devoted their time and energies to this project under the auspices of our Youth Desk.
It is my hope that the Youth Peace Training Manual will prove a rewarding tool in our search for peace.
God bless you.
Rev. Canon
Clement Janda
General Secretary
AACC.
Background
(a) Situational analysis
After the cold war, it was hped that the international community would
work for the long term resolution of economic, political, cultural, and
social imbalalances and environmental problems plaguing the whole world.
Unfortunately, the conflicts have taken a surprising direction and Africa
is experiencing more internal conflicts than ever before.
Secondly, it was expected that the coming into power of our own leaders in Africa would help restore the distorted image of Africa, including the restoration of our identify, the exploration of our culture, the opportunity for African people to decide their destiny and build the continent, and most importantly, to break away from colonial strings and achieve peace at last. Unfortunately, the mission has not been accomplished. Africa is characterized by loss of identity, refugees, poverty, tribalism, corruption, individualistic tendencies, uncertainties, health problems, education crises, and most heartbreaking we are still at the mercy of the North and West. Mabe Africa is still under colonial rule, maybe more than ever before.
There is no economic peace, political peace, cultural peace, religious or social peace in this continent. NO PEACE AT ALL. The perpetrators and victims of this situation are the youth.
(b) The youth
peace building process (YPBP)
As an attempt to address the absence of peace in Africa the AACC Youth
Programme focus has been on peace building. The theme of 1995 was Building
a Culture of Peace and of 1996 was Leadership is a Peace Mission.
The process in 1996 gave birth to the new initiative called Youth Peace Building Initiative (YPBI). It is this new process that led to the production of this manual.
The aim of YPBI was to help young people to transform themselves from objects and subjects of wars into agents of peace, thus contributing substantially towards peace community building valuing and respecting life, fighting against the hearts and minds of war, restoring their identity and much more.
The YPBI
process included the following focuses:
- Established national, sub-regional and continental peace forums. These
forums were intended to research African values that promote peace.
- Organise sub-regional consultation so as to make inputs on the manual
production process.
- Produce the Youth Peace Training Manual for Youth in Africa (this manual).
- Establish youth peace movements in every sub-region by the year 2000.
These sub-regional movements will provide sub-regional training, monitor
the impact of the manual in the sub-region, advice the AACC on the peace
and conflict situations in their respective sub-regions, and draw peace
activities and programmes fr their sub-regions.
(c) Our approach
Irrespective of the number of efforts by peace initiatives inside and
outside the continent to avoid wars and stop those which are already in
place, we still witness a culture of war in most communities. There is
a need for a change in the approach and content of peace building. Peace
building does not consist merely in knowledge that can be acquired through
study like any other subject, peace building must impact behaviour, personality,
community, relations, and self-image.
On this basis, the churches in Africa recommended very strongly that peace building be deeply rooted in our African culture and guided by the Gospel, because it is mainly through Gospel and Culture that wars can be transformed into everlasting peace.
The African culture is to a large extent a culture of peace, the Gospel in the Bible is the Gospel of peace. We need both for the realisation of everlasting peace in Africa. Both the Gospel and culture are life giving.
The manual is a product of a very long process, initiated by the youth and implemented by the youth at all levels. Being an ecumenical structure, a large part of the work was done by church youth. This was one way of minimising costs, but most importantly, a way of ensuring the ownership of AACC initiative by the churches, especially the youth.
Introduction
Peace has been narrowed down by many to be the absence of armed war dictatorship at foreign rule. It has also been misunderstood to be the absence and presence of multi and single (respectively) party rule. For others, peace has been determined by those holding the leadership position e.g. my tribe’s leader or a particular ruling party, being able to destroy and silence the opposition and acquiring material wealth.These are not the bases of peace, but recipes for more conflicts.
Peace should be understood in a holistic way – a situation which enables the full realization of human potential, leading to self actualisation and the enjoyment of human rights without hindrance. This calls for respect for others, absence of physical, spiritual and psychological war, the equal distribution of power and resources, tolerance and coexistence. Indeed peace is life.
Peace is command. It requires balanced interaction. The powerful cannot have peace without peace for the weak. The minority cannot have peace without peace for the majority. The majority cannot have peace without peace for the minority. Peace is genuinely appreciating out differences, but honestly and sincerely addressing the imbalances.
The peace that Jesus Christ gave is about life, life in full or abundantly. It involves the wholeness of life which is spiritual, physical and mental, social-political, economic and cultural, based on and guided by genuine Christian principles. This is a call for an inclusive approach to peace.
Our lives are sustained by the natural environment. This environment is God’s creation which we have been asked to care for. It is part of our Christian obligation. There is no life without environment. We are busy degrading the valuable gift from God. We are not at peace with the environment. Peace is life and there is no life without the natural environment. Let us take care of the environment so as to sustain and take care of ourselves. When the environment is badly affected, peace and life will be effected. In peace, there is life. Let us not deform the environment by declaring war on it.
The overall
aim of this manual is to enable young people to be involved in peace building
and conflict prevention and transformation. Objectives
- Encourage young people to do research into African values that promote
pace.
- Encourage the youth to use Gospel and cultural values to analyse, prevent
and resolve conflict.
- Establish functional, national and sub-regional forums to coordinate
peace initiatives.
- This manual to be a reference and resource material for peace-building.
- Impact the bevariour and attitude of youth on peace.
Role of the
youth:
The people affected most by conflicts in Africa are the youth. We are
most affected by guiding poverty, unemployment, education crises, health
issues etc. All these issues affect our peace. It is also the youth who
are fighting wars in Africa, basically because of our economic vulnerability.
We are used as tools to achieve the political desires and dreams of politicians
in the name of improving and addressing our miseries. We lose our precious
lives in the process.
This manual
targets the youth because:
- More than 60% of the African population comprises young people. So peace
investment in them will substantially contribute to peace building in
both the present and the future of Africa.
- The majority of potential youth leaders are becoming involved in acts
of violence and the ideologies of war.
- There is a new alternative income for most young people in Africa, i.e.
being in possession of a gun, because with a gun you are able to obtain
food. Secondly, the gun provides security, and lastly, having a gun is
a status symbol, you are feared and respected.
The youth are energetic. They have an adventurous, emotional and dynamic spirit. Without the involvement of youth, there would be no wars in Africa and without Youth there won’t be any peace. The youth as agents of peace can and should be challenged to refrain from getting involved in war or violent activities. It is the youth who are in the best position to create a new war-free Africa.
Start today with yourself wherever you are.
“In times of crisis, God uses young people.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
How to use
the manual:
This manual is not intended to be the beginning and end of peace-building
in Africa. It is a contribution in support of youth and other peoples’
peace initiatives. It is intended to stimulate interest amongst young
people with the hope of generating local initiatives. This manual is meant
to stimulate youth participation in peace building and most importantly,
to be a source through which minds and hearts can be won towards peace
building.
The manual
can be used in the following ways:
Individuals: Please use the manual to add to your knowledge and most importantly,
read other books for more information and insight because the manual can
only provide basic orientation on different subjects.
Small groups: In groups of three, four or five etc. (small groups) draw a time-table with your friend and agree to meet certain days of the week for a certain number of hours. Each participant will be given an opportunity to research a particular topic, and then come together for discussion. This must not stop other participants from researching the same topic. Research and broad reading will enrich the discussion. Everybody must prepare for the discussion session.
Youth group/Youth
information:
The youth group can agree on certain topics/modules/chapters for a particular
month. Different tasks can be allocated to members e.g. who is going to
look for a resource person, the venue and who is going to gather information
prior to the discussion. The resource person can be asked to present a
paper to be followed by questions for clarification and comments and the
group can then break into small groups. It will be good for the small
groups to focus on what group members are going to do as individuals,
or collective follow up to the discussion.
It will be good if some of the discussions lead to youth projects on the same issues at the formation of a youth drama group on important issues; or the composition of songs. The drama and the song can be used during the usual church Youth Service to raise awareness. Be free to raise awareness beyond your congregation, and most importantly, in peace building you must set an example, because action speaks louder than words.
Themes:
Some of the topics can be used as themes for your annual conferences/meetings
or workshops, depending on the relevance to the context. These can provide
the framework for the year activities.
The manual
should help to achieve the following:
- Awareness raising: We would like to see more and more young people staying
away from war and destructive activities (e.g. rebels) and affirming the
importance of peace in this continent, especially the peaceful role they
are supposed to play.
- Youth networks: We would like to see functioning Youth Peace Networks
in Africa. We must go beyond our congregations.
- Training: We need a massive Youth Peace Training so establish a well
informed and well trained Youth Peace Corps. Let us build a Youth Peace
Movement. Everybody is a potential peace maker.
- Project: We won’t achieve peace through workshops and meetings,
awareness training, networking and training. Peace is action, and it is
lot of work. Good analysis and impressive theory is not sufficient for
peace building. We need well thought out projects that will address and
equip peace stakeholders in every locality. Good peace projects will definitely
contribute towards the overall mission of churches in Africa.
- Peace material: Africa has a very rich life oriented and life respecting
culture. We need to continue a process of producing local resources relevant
to our reality. Peace is life, and our way of life is contextual, it is
African. We need to produce African material, to address the African absence
of peace. The African churches’ understanding of the Gospel must
guide and spearhead the African peace processes.
This manual is not for breeding peace experts, but peace makers. That is why the LEARN & TEACH approach is used in this training, because everyone is a potential peace maker and therefore has a wealth of information and experience to share. In peace-building, one is never an expert; it is always a learning process.
Be free to use this manual creatively.
The manual is available in the local, regional and subregional coordination
offices.