Creators of Peace in Durban Deep, A participant mentioned that she was abused and had lost her personal values. She could not even walk on the streets because she felt the community would see her shame. She was also not comfortable playing with other kids, until she had dealt with the abuse through counselling and slowly regained her value s as a woman.From 12th ­to 14th March, 2019, Creators of Peace (CoP) visited a community in Durban Deep, a former mining area east of Johannesburg.  Thirty-two women and one man entered into the process of the Peace Circle (PC) coming from as far afield as Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Free State and Mpumalanga, however residing in Durban Deep as means to get the liberation needed for a successful.

The Creators of Peace team, on the 6th March 6th visited Diepkloof Welfare Centre to Check in on the participants who had been through a Peace Circle two weeks earlier. There was eagerness from the participants with regards to finding out about the progress among each other. the time together was motivational and inspiring to see and hear of changes made.

The opening remarks by Roy Ncube of Zimbabwe who is the Convener of Africa Coordination Group during the opening ceremony expressed a Jewish Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson quote,”If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have found a piece of the world that God has left for you to complete. But if you only see what is wrong and what is ugly in the world, then it is you yourself that needs repair”. This set a tone of responsibility for all participants to avoid finger pointing, but instead take action in restoring what we can in Africa. As had been said, failure is part of success.

Pan African Consultation, Lagos, Nigeria
Initiatives of Change (IofC) Nigeria team is preparing to host around 40 people drawn from about 13 IofC African National teams for a Pan Africa consultation going by the theme “Catalysing an era of concrete action”. Organized by the Africa Coordination Group (ACG), the four-day consultation is set for 27-30 March, 2019. The Pan Africa Consultation shall be two fold; a) there shall be a retreat for the participants to fellowship and go deep into the core of IofC as well as strategize and vision the way forward b) there shall be a workshop element focusing on building leadership skills i.e. Transformational Leadership, Team Building and Project Management.

IofC/MRA youth conference, held in Gweru from the 14 – 19 December,aimed to promote ‘foundations for change and development’. Young people came together from different parts of Zimbabwe to learn deeply about MRA, how to build their skills and strengthen friendships to work together for a just, peaceful and sustainable Zimbabwe.

It is with immense sadness that we announce that Ambassador Mohamed Sahnoun, former President of Initiatives of Change International, died on 20 September 2018.

Despite the fame and transformative work of CoP worldwide, and the idea having been conceived in Tanzania by a Tanzanian, this initiative has not been active in Tanzania. The first Peace Circle took place at DUCE – Dar es Salaam University College of Education in Dar es Salaam city.  It commenced on 31st August and ended on 2nd September 2018. The group consisted of 17 participants within the age bracket of 24 to 35 - some of them being recent university graduates and others already working.

Turning our scars to stars is how the participants of Creators of Peace Naledi became comfortable to share, some turning points included self-love and acceptance. The majority valued this experience, they expressed their wish that we come monthly to offer the Peace Circle to other community members in Naledi.  They felt that they will benefit from it so much and Naledi could start to change, in a positive way.

How fitting it was that the Creators of Peace team delivered the Peace Circles from the 13th to 15th June 2018 at the Naledi Recreation Centre to a group of nine men and eight women of Naledi Township in Soweto. This is because the country was in reflection of the 1976 Soweto youth uprising, the centenary celebration of the late Dr Nelson Mandela as well as the anti-apartheid activist known as mother of South Africa Albetina Sisulu. When the Creators of Peace was in Soweto, we contributed to planting seeds of healing for a stronger youth in the future.

Initiatives of Change (IofC), Nigeria, also known as Moral Re-Armament, in a bid to ensure strategic solutions towards making the Nigerian democracy real, invited active Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working on Governance and Democracy, to it’s 2018 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Roundtable Dialogue. The event took place at the Initiatives of Change secretariat in Ikoyi, Lagos on 14th April 2018.  Fourteen registered NGOs attended.