Simply Transformative - that is Peace Circles!

‘The Peace Circles was simply transformative! My home has totally changed for good after my husband and I took part in it. If more people are taken through this programme, Kenya will become a safe place’  said Jane, one of the 21 participants (five being men) who participated in a Creators of Peace Circle in Kuresoi North constituency, Nakuru County from 22 to 24 May, 2014.

Gerald, a male participant, expressed how happy he was to take part in that workshop: ‘This has been a very transformative experience. The three days were more productive than all the other workshops I have ever attended combined.  I got to know myself! I have been full of myself - it has all been Myself, Me and I. I hated people looking down on me, but in the Peace Circles I actually realised that I am the one who looks down on people’, he said. ‘Men are actually a big problem, they need this training’, he added.

Forgiveness, as usual, was a highlight in the Peace Circles. ‘I was at logger heads with my uncle and never used to talk to him. After the training, I have visited him and told him that I forgave him, he was so happy and he also forgave me and now we are good friends’, said Heitho. For Joyce, listening to other people’s stories gave her courage to know that it is indeed possible to forgive. ‘I have been able to forgive a person that had hurt me so much’

Phyllis, another participant, realised that she had learnt to let go and be free. ‘I realised that keeping silent with things hurting me may make me end up doing the wrong things. If I let go, I am able to live more peacefully. I have learnt the power to forgive from the heart and I started it in my own home and my family is now more peaceful’, she said.

The 'story sharing' was a touching moment. Stories of courage, hope, perseverance and forgiveness were shared. Wambui shared her story of her mother’s early death when they were young. Together with her five siblings, they were left in the hands of their father and later a step mother who mistreated them so much to the point that her younger brother developed growth in the forehead as the a result of the beatings he received. Teresiah has been living a bitter life.  Because of her encounter with Creators of Peace Circles, she wrote a letter to the father and to her step mother about her pains and bitterness and the decision to forgive them.

The Peace Circles was a success with lives being transformed. Reaching Kuresoi North was a different story as Annie Gitu explains. ‘That is like a forgotten area, there are no roads and now with the rainy season it is worse. The mode of transport was by motorbike from where we were sleeping to the Peace Circles venue - it was very rough because the roads are muddy, have deep potholes and some other areas were flooded.  All the same, for the love of Peace, we made it and are happy about it.’

The workshops were facilitated by Annie Gitu and Teresiah Ngigi.

The Peace Circles was supported by Friends of Africa fund. We are very grateful to FoA fund for the support that has helped us reach women and men who are ready to be in the forefront to bring peace in our country.