Limakatso (pronounced with a "D" sound, not an "L") from Lesotho. Her peace work has cost her her only son, murdered in the late seventies. A straight talker who cut through the bull every time. I became very fond of her, and I think it is mutual.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Leaving SPI
Its Saturday morning in Harrisonburg Virginia, and I'm ready, very ready, to return to Grand Rapids. Being away from Renita and the kids at such a critical time of transistion and for such a long time has been a strain on us all. The experience here has been unforgettable, and I take away information, tools, and especially memories that will be a part of me for the rest of my life. But now my thoughts are with my family and the important work we need to do in the remaining month we have before we leave.
While I've been gone, Renita has been doing the incredidble amount of work it takes to sell a home and almost all household goods, talking with the CRWRC people about shots, visas, insurance, contracts, and at the same time assisting Restorers as it completes the transition to its new director. She is something else. And I miss her. So by this time, four days hence, I will be on the road to be reunited for our last month in Michigan, USA.
While I've been gone, Renita has been doing the incredidble amount of work it takes to sell a home and almost all household goods, talking with the CRWRC people about shots, visas, insurance, contracts, and at the same time assisting Restorers as it completes the transition to its new director. She is something else. And I miss her. So by this time, four days hence, I will be on the road to be reunited for our last month in Michigan, USA.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
The Fam Reunites in DC
Hey folks, Bob here. The family came to visit me in Virginia, so we spent a few days together in our nation's capital. Washington DC is a great city, and the new World War II memorial is touching and beautiful. We spent the first day and a half at museums, and the next day and a half at monuments, memorials and Arlington Cemetary. The last day and a half seemed to me to be much more meaningful. Memorials are symbolic in nature; they speak a language beyond words, and thus allow the observer to create his or her meaning.
As a man dedicated to justice and peacebuilding, I found the war memorials evoked a more complex reaction than they used to. On the one hand, these places honor men and women who sacrificed their lives for duty or love of country or other values they may have held dear. This aspect created a sober and reverent sense within me. On the other hand, these sites offer no challenge the systems and powers that asked men and women to "give their last full measure of devotion." Indeed, one incription on the WWII memorial states-- in caps-- "WE ARE DETERMINED THAT BEFORE THE SUN SETS ON THIS TERRIBLE STRUGGLE OUR FLAG WILL BE RECOGNIZED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AS A SYMBOL OF FREEDOM ON THE ONE HAND AND OF OVERWHELMING FORCE ON THE OTHER."
This is why these men and women died in this "terrible" war? To show the entire world that our flag represents the strange bedfellows of freedom and overwhelming military power? I felt sadness and I admit some anger at the smallness of men that cause them to resort to war. These memorials honor the dead, and by design make no attempt to question whether the deaths were actually necessary. But as I walked past the Vietnam Veteran Memorial, and through the graves at Arlington, and tried to count the brass stars at the WWII memorial, I kept thinking to myself, "If conflicts someday can be transformed, and war can be shown for what it is-- an unnecessary evil-- what will these places come to mean then?"
Anyway, it was great to see Renita and the kids, but painful to watch them drive off for Grand Rapids. As I write, I only have seven more days before I get home and rejoin them for the final push berfore we leave for Liberia. Even though they were just here, I miss them terribly, and know this separation has taken a toll on us all.
As a man dedicated to justice and peacebuilding, I found the war memorials evoked a more complex reaction than they used to. On the one hand, these places honor men and women who sacrificed their lives for duty or love of country or other values they may have held dear. This aspect created a sober and reverent sense within me. On the other hand, these sites offer no challenge the systems and powers that asked men and women to "give their last full measure of devotion." Indeed, one incription on the WWII memorial states-- in caps-- "WE ARE DETERMINED THAT BEFORE THE SUN SETS ON THIS TERRIBLE STRUGGLE OUR FLAG WILL BE RECOGNIZED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AS A SYMBOL OF FREEDOM ON THE ONE HAND AND OF OVERWHELMING FORCE ON THE OTHER."
This is why these men and women died in this "terrible" war? To show the entire world that our flag represents the strange bedfellows of freedom and overwhelming military power? I felt sadness and I admit some anger at the smallness of men that cause them to resort to war. These memorials honor the dead, and by design make no attempt to question whether the deaths were actually necessary. But as I walked past the Vietnam Veteran Memorial, and through the graves at Arlington, and tried to count the brass stars at the WWII memorial, I kept thinking to myself, "If conflicts someday can be transformed, and war can be shown for what it is-- an unnecessary evil-- what will these places come to mean then?"
Anyway, it was great to see Renita and the kids, but painful to watch them drive off for Grand Rapids. As I write, I only have seven more days before I get home and rejoin them for the final push berfore we leave for Liberia. Even though they were just here, I miss them terribly, and know this separation has taken a toll on us all.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
The SPI Coursework
Bob Reed here. I am almost done with my third of four course sessions at the Center for Justice and Peace Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI). The content in these courses, coupled with the out-of-class experiences with peacebuilders from all over the world, has been a learning experience beyond the power of words to express. Everyday brings new gifts, new understanding, new delights. It is a remarkable privilege to be in the company of heroes and prophets from all over the world spending themselves for peace and justice. We are students from Palestine, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, South Africa, Lesotho, Nepal, Colombia, Sudan, and dozens of other countries. We are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, and even an Coptic monk. SPI has been perfect training for me as I ready myself for Liberia. Let me tell you a bit about the classes:
Session I-- Introduction to Conflict Transformation
Really, the course material was paradigm shattering. The entire conflict transformation approach was at once revelatory and novel, yet at the same time familiar and easy to embrace. It is not so much about technique or modality as it is a philosophy of being. I'd call it elegant if it were not for all the horror and chaos it lives in. The course normalized the concept of conflict and introduced me to a way of framing conflict, identifying underlying issues, and working with the principals to transform conflict into something new and better than what existed before. The instructor, David Hooker facilitated with grace, humor, and poise that can only come from doing this stuff in some of the toughest venues in the world.
Session II-- Designing Learner-Centered Training for Conflict Transformation
Just when I thought David Hooker could not be topped, I met Robb Davis. Completely different that David, Robb is another world-class instructor. The course content is the "dialogue education" approach from Jane Vella, founder of Global Learning Partners. I did not realize how much I could learn about teaching, but this was beyond all expectations. Dialogue education allows an abstract and intuitive guy like me to identify and organize the specifics of what I know. It will lay a path for me to do analysis to serve Liberians according to how they frame their needs, using resources they bring to the table. The approach will enable me to clearly articulate what I want students and trainees to do with the very specific content they are looking to learn. I have not worked as hard as I worked in this class in the last twenty years.
Session III-- Trauma and trauma Healing
Another important and relevant class. What it has most powerfully offered me is an articulation of what I have been thinking recently, namely that trauma, especially in contexts where entire societies have been traumatized, is simply outside the scope of traditional talk therapy to provide adequate healing. Because trauma is a whole mind, body and spirit experience, it is often completely beyond words to describe or recount. Symbolic language is often the most satisfying way a group or individual in deep trauma address and communicate the meaning of the events. I am receiving a steady stream of techniques and approaches to use: Mandalas, theatre, Haiku, human sculpting, symbolizing, memorializing. I'm also becoming acquainted with the language of restorative justice, which looks to forgiveness, restitution and relationship healing instead of retribution, blaming and punishment.
Session IV-- Peacebuilding for Traumatized Societies
Taught by Barry Hart, a man who has worked in Liberia, this course promises to be the perfect capstone to a remarkable training. It does not begin for another week, but already I am looking forward to it. Everyone I've talked to says its an outstanding course.
Each of these courses brought something new and unique to my training. Conflict Transformation, Curriculum Development, Trauma Healing, and Peacebuilding in a Traumatized Society-- these are exactly what I need for what I'll be doing, and I could not more pleased. Add to that the out-of-class relationships, and this place is indescribably rich and delightful. If in-class nourishes the mind and spirit, out of class feeds the heart and soul.
I wish you all could share this experiment in international peacebuilding.
Session I-- Introduction to Conflict Transformation
Really, the course material was paradigm shattering. The entire conflict transformation approach was at once revelatory and novel, yet at the same time familiar and easy to embrace. It is not so much about technique or modality as it is a philosophy of being. I'd call it elegant if it were not for all the horror and chaos it lives in. The course normalized the concept of conflict and introduced me to a way of framing conflict, identifying underlying issues, and working with the principals to transform conflict into something new and better than what existed before. The instructor, David Hooker facilitated with grace, humor, and poise that can only come from doing this stuff in some of the toughest venues in the world.
Session II-- Designing Learner-Centered Training for Conflict Transformation
Just when I thought David Hooker could not be topped, I met Robb Davis. Completely different that David, Robb is another world-class instructor. The course content is the "dialogue education" approach from Jane Vella, founder of Global Learning Partners. I did not realize how much I could learn about teaching, but this was beyond all expectations. Dialogue education allows an abstract and intuitive guy like me to identify and organize the specifics of what I know. It will lay a path for me to do analysis to serve Liberians according to how they frame their needs, using resources they bring to the table. The approach will enable me to clearly articulate what I want students and trainees to do with the very specific content they are looking to learn. I have not worked as hard as I worked in this class in the last twenty years.
Session III-- Trauma and trauma Healing
Another important and relevant class. What it has most powerfully offered me is an articulation of what I have been thinking recently, namely that trauma, especially in contexts where entire societies have been traumatized, is simply outside the scope of traditional talk therapy to provide adequate healing. Because trauma is a whole mind, body and spirit experience, it is often completely beyond words to describe or recount. Symbolic language is often the most satisfying way a group or individual in deep trauma address and communicate the meaning of the events. I am receiving a steady stream of techniques and approaches to use: Mandalas, theatre, Haiku, human sculpting, symbolizing, memorializing. I'm also becoming acquainted with the language of restorative justice, which looks to forgiveness, restitution and relationship healing instead of retribution, blaming and punishment.
Session IV-- Peacebuilding for Traumatized Societies
Taught by Barry Hart, a man who has worked in Liberia, this course promises to be the perfect capstone to a remarkable training. It does not begin for another week, but already I am looking forward to it. Everyone I've talked to says its an outstanding course.
Each of these courses brought something new and unique to my training. Conflict Transformation, Curriculum Development, Trauma Healing, and Peacebuilding in a Traumatized Society-- these are exactly what I need for what I'll be doing, and I could not more pleased. Add to that the out-of-class relationships, and this place is indescribably rich and delightful. If in-class nourishes the mind and spirit, out of class feeds the heart and soul.
I wish you all could share this experiment in international peacebuilding.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Renita checks in...
I figured it was time for me to check in and do a little writing as well.
We are slowly recovering, mostly physically, from last week’s sale. My sisters, Janette and Yvonne, my niece, Alexis, and my mom were such a great help and it was truly a blessing to have them here to help. In between the moments of craziness, there were moments of laughter and fun. The moving sale truly could not have happened without them.
It’s down to just Noah and me in the Reed house, as Hannah is off to camp for seven days with her school. It’s very quiet and lonely here, although Noah and I are good company to each other.
Tonight we celebrate his graduation from elementary school and my "graduation" from the GROW business class that I’ve been taking over the last three months. My sister and brother-in-law, Janette and Dale, will join us for these celebrations and for ice cream after.
Yesterday was my last day at Restorers, a place for which I have great fondness and love; yet I leave it in good hands, with the sense of a new chapter ahead. It also felt like it was time – fourteen months of preparing to leave is a long time. Yet there seemed to be the message that God is a God of order, and things must be done in His time.
As Hannah finishes up a year at John Ball Zoo School, a school that she loved, and as our chapter at Jefferson ends with Noah’s graduation, we enter into a real time of good-byes, which we each handle a little differently.
We miss Bob greatly and look forward with great anticipation to going to see him and spend a couple of days in Washington DC next week.
We are slowly recovering, mostly physically, from last week’s sale. My sisters, Janette and Yvonne, my niece, Alexis, and my mom were such a great help and it was truly a blessing to have them here to help. In between the moments of craziness, there were moments of laughter and fun. The moving sale truly could not have happened without them.
It’s down to just Noah and me in the Reed house, as Hannah is off to camp for seven days with her school. It’s very quiet and lonely here, although Noah and I are good company to each other.
Tonight we celebrate his graduation from elementary school and my "graduation" from the GROW business class that I’ve been taking over the last three months. My sister and brother-in-law, Janette and Dale, will join us for these celebrations and for ice cream after.
Yesterday was my last day at Restorers, a place for which I have great fondness and love; yet I leave it in good hands, with the sense of a new chapter ahead. It also felt like it was time – fourteen months of preparing to leave is a long time. Yet there seemed to be the message that God is a God of order, and things must be done in His time.
As Hannah finishes up a year at John Ball Zoo School, a school that she loved, and as our chapter at Jefferson ends with Noah’s graduation, we enter into a real time of good-byes, which we each handle a little differently.
We miss Bob greatly and look forward with great anticipation to going to see him and spend a couple of days in Washington DC next week.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
When We Dance Together
Hello folks. Bob writing from the Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Tonight is Potluck and dancing night for the students currently attending classes. The potluck was great, and after the dinner came the dancing. Everyone is dressed in the clothes of his or her country and we dance to music from every corner of the globe. In fact, it is still going on as I write at 10:00pm. It will probably take me a few of these gatherings to get me to dance, but I've been hanging out and watching with a surprising sense of delight. I find myself thinking, "there is hope for us."
Imagine a room of people from all over the world, each from a unique culture, a unique place. In this space we are people with different native tongues, different ways of seeing, different faiths. In the places we call home, there is racism, poverty, oppression, injustice, war and horror. And here, tonight, there is none of that. There is only laughter, music, and the joy of being together.
Imagine that. I know this kind of picture is not the world's reality. Much of the world would see this picture as sentimental and unrealistic. But tonight, in this space, this is how it is.
Imagine a room of people from all over the world, each from a unique culture, a unique place. In this space we are people with different native tongues, different ways of seeing, different faiths. In the places we call home, there is racism, poverty, oppression, injustice, war and horror. And here, tonight, there is none of that. There is only laughter, music, and the joy of being together.
Imagine that. I know this kind of picture is not the world's reality. Much of the world would see this picture as sentimental and unrealistic. But tonight, in this space, this is how it is.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Conflict Transformation
Hi folks-- Bob here. The courses I'm taking at Eastern Mennonite University are radical and life-affirming. As a therapist, I often think of approaching trauma or conflict from a technical or clinical perspective. "What should I do?" "What techniques are best applied here?" Or even, "How can I help?" On the surface of it, there is nothing wrong with these questions, and much right about them. However, they often are out of sync, that is, offered at the wrong time, or without regard to a larger context.
One thing I am learning is that conflict transformation first requires us to simply be. Before I jump to, "What's the nature of the conflict or trauma and how can I fix it or apply the appropriate techniques"-- before I even respond to it, I must be centered within myself. Who am I in the presence of this conflict or trauma, and how can I maintain myself and be who I am made to be. Conflict transformation requires a certain inner stillness and openness to receive and be with others. This work-- peacebuilding-- is much more about attitude of heart and the spirit of the approach than the content of the approach or the choice of therapeutic modalities. It is not first what we do that brings peace, but who we are. To bring peace, we must embody peace. We must be peace.
One thing I am learning is that conflict transformation first requires us to simply be. Before I jump to, "What's the nature of the conflict or trauma and how can I fix it or apply the appropriate techniques"-- before I even respond to it, I must be centered within myself. Who am I in the presence of this conflict or trauma, and how can I maintain myself and be who I am made to be. Conflict transformation requires a certain inner stillness and openness to receive and be with others. This work-- peacebuilding-- is much more about attitude of heart and the spirit of the approach than the content of the approach or the choice of therapeutic modalities. It is not first what we do that brings peace, but who we are. To bring peace, we must embody peace. We must be peace.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Rhythm
Bob Reed here. Life at Eastern Mennonite University has a definite rhythm that I'm adjusting to. If fact I need the rythm because because it is something I can hold as familiar in a place where so much is different. There are 99 students here from 35 countries-- countries in significant turmoil. I am one of the few Americans, and I think I have less experience in the kind of work I want to do than anyone here. But everyday we hold classes from 8:30am to 5:00pm. Everyday, I see the same 15 faces. And even though they are from Syria, and Palestine, and Israel, and Iraq, and Nepal, and Bangeldesh, and Lesotho, and Australia via Colombia, I feel like I'm getting into the groove of being here. I still don't mingle much. I'm pushing myself to mingle more. I don't do introductory chat well, but it is necessary so some.
I miss the family. They are in Grand Rapids organizing and preparing-- an enormous task. Soon, Renita and the kids will be writing, and that will add spice to the spin.
I miss the family. They are in Grand Rapids organizing and preparing-- an enormous task. Soon, Renita and the kids will be writing, and that will add spice to the spin.
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