API Course at Mindolo

While undergoing the peace-building course, in May at MEF, a group of participants sponsored by the Mennonite Central Committee have come for an intensive peace-building course for one month. They are from Nigeria, Mozambique, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia and Sudan. The interaction during the time they have been here has been dynamic, as we have met together with group discussions, practical exercises, and shared in our planned modules. I personally, as a diploma student, was highly enriched by interacting with those who are already deeply involved in peace-building activities in conflict situations like the Sudan, South Africa, Uganda, and the Jhz, in Nigeria.

During this time, I have seen how these conflicts bring a lot of trauma in Africa. We were introduced to trauma awareness in our course, including healing interventions, to bring people back together again.

We took a field trip to visit the site where Dag Hamarskold died in a plane crash, not far from Kitwe. His life and work inspired us.

To my observation, this one-month course is too intensive with too much content squeezed in. It would be better to have 6 weeks or two months. We were placed in two groups and each group received different content. We would hear about what another group had studied, and we wished we could have also had that content. The course ends Friday, June 4.

We thank Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation for arranging this event and for being truly ecumenical and Peter Smith for his excellent professional coordination of this course.