South Sudan’s first Peace Circle and cross-country collaborations

With support from CoP internationally, our global network and IofC we were offered some funding – we now needed a suitable venue, participants and facilitators. In July 2019 we had a retreat with IofC colleagues at The Good Shepherd Peace Centre (Kit).  There was no question that this was the right place for our first Peace Circle, also it was only 12kms from Juba, the capital. Our initial plan was to deliver the Peace Circle in August 2019, however, due to some challenges the final date was set for 18-20th of October 2019.

We invited women from our networks, who knew about our work and were willing to come with an open heart to exploring peace, peace creation and identifying causes of the destruction of peace. There was no formal advert as we had a limited number of spaces. Some of our participants were from Juba, the capital city of South Sudan. We had fourteen women sign up however, only six participants actually attended. In our debrief after the Peace Circle we concluded that it was best to invite up to 20 knowing that some would not attend. We asked the women how they felt at the end of the experience. Some said they were inspired, others said they were enlightened and found the experience educative.

With a lack of national facilitators, we collaborated with Creators of Peace Kenya, a neighbour of South Sudan. This has helped us kick start our Peace Circles here. We were delighted to have the support of Creators of Peace facilitators Dr Joy Mbaabu and Mediatrix Massava from Kenya. It is important for us to begin to invest in building a team of facilitators in South Sudan, it costly to continue to host facilitators from Kenya. Our hopes are to offer training to some of the women who came to the Peace Circle and also to re-engage with the women and facilitators that were active in 2013.

A special thank you to the global Creators of Peace Network, the members of Initiatives of Change South Sudan, peace mobilizers, Youth in Solidarity, New Page for Peace and all who supported. The fellowship and testing of the materials ensured the content and the English we used was understandable at Juba level.

‘With inner peace I will respond but not react to things.’
Mary a participant of South Sudan first Peace Circle October 2019

‘I enjoyed the time of reflection and silence to organize my thoughts and resolve how to approach challenges. I plan to invite positivity and I wish we can do this monthly for encouragement and re-affirmation of the pursuit of inner peace’.
Mama Yar Paul a participant of South Sudan first Peace Circle October 2019

‘I need to spend more time with myself, do things for myself, strengthen my relationship with God and evaluate myself. This verse keeps ringing in me Psalms 8.32’.
Rhoda a participant of South Sudan first Peace Circle October 2019

‘Peace is sensitive and should be handled with care. I wonder what is holding us back not to achieve inner peace. What can I put on my agenda? I will get rid of negative thoughts and look at my attitudes’.
Mama Sarah James a participant of South Sudan first Peace Circle October 2019

‘I will think about the negativity among people with no reason and ensure I am not hating them just because I heard something about them. I will be truthful to myself, avoid lies, love equally and not isolate, share with friends when I am stressed, forgive and forget and be at peace’.
Vicki, a participant of South Sudan first Peace Circle October 2019