November 10, 2020
Community-based reconciliation efforts
In this conversation, Rwandan Gacaca community court leaders discussed how they are promoting reconciliation at a community level. Beyond this case, the conversation centred on the feasibility of incorporating methods in different contexts, highlighting the power of transformative mediation and restorative justice to bridge divides at all levels of peacebuilding.
Activities that build common ground can support mediation
Sizeli Marcelin, a Rwandan peacebuilding pioneer who is a former Gacaca court judge, uses “The Wind Game” to bring together prisoners and survivors. In the game, participants are asked what they fear, what they feel, and other meaningful questions. They place different answers around a room, wherein one corner is anger, another guilt and another sadness. The wind blows, and people then scatter toward different emotions. When both perpetrators and victims end up in the same place, they realize that they feel the same emotion. They then engage in a form of mediation, starting from the place of common ground, recognising they have the same emotions.
Helping people see themselves as the “other” is essential to reconciliation
Antoine Samvure, the coordinator of Friends Peace House in Rwanda, spoke about a programme that connects widows of genocide victims with the wives of prisoners. Through their engagement, the widows start to see that the other women have also lost their husbands — but to the prison system as a result of the genocide. In finding a common ground of loss, the women begin forging bonds with one another. These bonds ultimately help lead to reconciling and forgiving the perpetrators of the genocide. This transformative justice process all begins with recognizing yourself in another human.
Community goals and values determine peacebuilding methods
While building peace is a common goal among these communities, the approaches to peacebuilding differ depending on what each community values. The Rwandan peacebuilding described is centred around forgiveness, reconciliation, and peaceful reintegration which are crucial when developing games to build peace.
Antoine Samvure
Antoine Samvure
Antoine Samvure
Antoine Samvure
Antoine Samvure
Antoine Samvure
Sizeli Marcelin
Sizeli Marcelin
Sizeli Marcelin
Sizeli Marcelin
Sizeli Marcelin
Sizeli Marcelin
