PEACE MOTHERS JOURNEY DAY ONE VILLAGE TWO

December 17, 2012

Village Two

Note The Goat Using The Bridge!

This village is located a long way out into the bush over very narrow bumpy, O.K. back wrenching, roads and a short way up a mountain. Once we arrive it is worth the journey as the scenery is wonderful. Again they are not aware we are visiting! Even though we are spending the night! Such is the hospitality found wherever we go. They want to feed us, and give us gifts of bananas, chickens and kola nuts.

To the district staff’s surprise we learn they are having a reconciliation bonfire tonight! One of the villagers who left for Guinea during the war has returned to find two of his cows and ten of his goats taken by another villager. This is a BIG deal as these animals are the man’s wealth and is the same as if someone stole the majority of our money.

This type of offense is often punished by the killing of the thief by the wronged party. The village, however, is using the Fambul Tok process to solve the conflict. The community Peace Mothers Reconciliation Committee, trained by Fambul Tok, has been working with both of the men and have gotten them to agree to reconcile at the bonfire tonight. Relatives have arrived from Freetown to witness this event.

The Teams

First there will be a football match between the young girls of the villages from the section and several from Freetown. It is symbolic of the reconciliation and will take place on the field at the school. As we are visiting with the chiefs and elders the coach brings the girls to meet us. They arrive singing and dancing and soon I am pulled down to dance with them.

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One teen begins to challenge me in the dancing and I respond in kind. I know it is all in fun, but Ibraham tells me later he was about to intervene it looked so real!  As I walked out onto the field to kick off the first ball (yes again and in flip flops!) she runs up to me and hugs me calling me her padi (friend). I hug her back and agree to be her padi. She plops herself down next to my chair during their break saying she is sitting by her padi!

Cow to the Right!

The game ends in a tie and even though it is not supposed to be a competition, tying the score is the best ending. At one point a cow (they are free to roam everywhere) wanders onto the field. The girls are not deterred and run right at it in pursuit of the ball. The cow beats a hasty retreat.

We are led to sit under the Peace Tree that can be found in every village. This tree is where anyone can go to work out even the smallest conflict. All are equal under this tree. We are welcomed once again and are here to listen to the stories of successes. 

Kola Nuts

First a bowl is presented to us. It contains kola nuts in some water and is a tradition here to welcome visitors. The kola nut is known to make you “high”. It contains a high amount of nicotine which causes energy and suppression of appetite if too many are eaten at once. I am given the bowl first and told to take a nut, break it in half and take a bite out of one half. Then I am to present the other half to the Town Chief.

This I do and when I return to my seat Micheala says I have done the ceremony like a traditional woman. She wants to know how I knew to bow when presenting the half to the elder. I said it was instinct and reminded her I have an African soul :-).

One of the men then told the story of the village right after the war. When the villagers began to return to the village some of the men went to the river where before the war there was plenty of fish. When they got to the river there were only a small amount of fish. As time went on and the village struggled to get along with one another, the fish disappeared completely.

Fambul Tok arrived with the reconciliation and power of forgiveness intervention and conducted the bonfire. The village then celebrated a ceremony honoring their ancestors. After those two ceremonies the village settled into a routine of peace and unity beginning to work together in peace. One day the men returned to the river and found the fish back in more numbers than before! In their minds a miracle had occurred due to the reconciliation and forgiveness process. Whose to day they are wrong? Many villages say there is magic in the bonfire put there by Fambul Tok!

Several women speak about the success of the rice and groundnut harvest on the Peace Mothers cooperative farms. They all give credit to Fambul Tok and the power of forgiveness. They say that they love the fact they have empowered themselves and can now send their children to school. Disputes are now settled under the Peace Tree eliminating the chief, the police, the courts and the cost of filing a complaint with those entities.

After that presentation we are invited to go back to the village and rest until time for the bonfire. As we sit resting on the porch of a large house villagers come and go to visit with us. One of the elders brings us a whole tray full of bananas and later a rooster that will be cooked for us. We all have to put our hands on the rooster as acceptance of the gift before he is taken into the house to be dealt with!

One of the other women in our group and myself will share a room in this house. Walking into the house we find ourselves in a very large empty room. There are doors to chambers all along both side walls. It is dark inside and I almost step in the rice drying on the floor. This room is used for drying rice and social gatherings especially in the rainy season.

Our room is very large and serves both as a bedroom and storage room for all kinds of cooking pots, cups, dishes and other utensils. In these village houses cupboards and closets do not exist due to the expense of building or buying them. Thus every nook and cranny is used for storage. Cooking is done outside or in a small outdoor hut during the rain.

The bed we will share is larger than our king size bed in America and very comfortable. Needless to say the facilities are outside in a little hut. The bucket bath is conducted in another hut using water heated over a fire. When the lamp (no electricity at all) is extinguished the room is as black as coal. 

Later that night we make our way through the dark cold night to the bonfire. The sky is bright with stars. It has been a wish of mine to witness a Fambul Tok reconciliation bonfire so I am in a state of anticipation. The beauty of this event is that the process is being followed by the villagers without the knowledge of even the Fambul Tok district staff. Fambul Tok’s ultimate goal is sustainable peace and unity using the Fambul Tok process without help from outside the community. Thus this event is very special to the Fambul Tok staff. 

Before the war these fires were a regular occurrence used for dancing, singing, and story telling. After the war the pain of victim and victimizers living in the same village was too great until Fambul Tok intervened. Now they are used as before and for ongoing reconciliation as issues arise.

Bon Fire

A hush comes over the large crowd gathered around the raging fire. The victim is the first to speak. He tells his story of the war and how he tried to stay in the bush outside the village, but the rebels were too active and, fearing for his life, he ran away to nearby Guinea. He left his entire wealth behind; 4 cows and 10 goats.

Why he stayed away so long is unknown to me, but he has recently returned to find two of his cows and all of his goats stolen by a man of his village who was captured by the rebels and made to fight. He says it is his right to kill the man and was going to do that when the local reconciliation committee intervened using the Fambul Tok process they were taught. After counciling and mediation he finally agreed to forgive the perpetrator.

Next the perpetrator tells his story. He was captured by the rebels before he could run away and made to take the cows and goats for the rebels to eat. If he didn’t do this, the rebels threatened to kill him. He knew the man who owned the cows and goats had the right to kill him for this act, but he knew the rebels would kill him if he didn’t.

After telling his story he expresses his regret in stealing the animals and asks for forgiveness. He stretches out flat face down on the ground in supplication before the man he wronged asking for his blessing and forgiveness. It is probably the most heart wrenching act I have seen in a very long time. Tears are running down my face as I am writing this just like they did that night as I witnessed this blessed event.

The victim reaches down, lifts the man up, hugs him and grants him forgiveness. Then they danced together to a cheering crowd who join in the dance. The faces on both the men are shining with joy and peace.

Tonight I saw and felt first hand the peace and joy true forgiveness brings. I go to bed with my heart full of that peace, joy and love.

As Alan Paton is quoted “There is a hard law. When an injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive”

Much Love To You All,

Mom/Grandma/Sara