The Creators of Peace ‘Strategic Plan’ is launched - by Christina De Angelis

At the Creators of Peace AGM Meeting in Caux 2012, the first Creators of Peace Stra-tegic Plan was launched. The Strategic Plan was the vision of Christina DeAngelis to have a clear plan and direction for the next five years. Following the AGM, a group of committed Creators or Peace women met in Caux over

two days to develop a plan of action and to see how these direc-tions are currently being implemented. The Strategic Plan will also be used to obtain support of donors, sponsors and partners. Over the next five years, as we prepare for the 25th anniversary of Creators of Peace in 2016, we are committed to pursue the fol-lowing strategic directions identified as crucial to the effective-ness and sustainability of our work

Strategic Direction 1: Expand CoP Circles: We are committed to support participants as they seek to practically implement their commitment to peace. Strategic Direction 2: Explore new programmes and partnerships We are aware many of the women involved in Creators of Peace live in communities experiencing or recently recovering from violent conflicts. We seek to empower them further by exploring opportunities to develop new programs and trainings to respond to specific needs and linking them with other peace building practitioners. Strategic Direction 3: Build and consolidate our team We are committed to further building and supporting our team around the world. This team is made up of coordinators, facilitators, staff and all those who have experienced a Creators of Peace Circle. Strategic direction 4: Develop our resources We seek to develop resources and obtain the necessary funding required for our work to be effective and sustainable.

To obtain copies of The Strategic Plan email Christina De Angelis: christina.deangelis@googlemail.com

Dear Creators of Peace friends and colleagues,

How exciting to get a newsletter which will create a strong and active link within the worldwide Creators of Peace network ! This will enable us to follow the activities of Creators of Peace Circles around the globe and encourage us to share our pre-cious experiences. From Geneva where we meet many committed women’s NGO’s, I trust that the newsletter will be a vehicle to reinforce the links of friendship, to get inspiration from each others’ efforts and initiatives, and to stimulate new ideas or partnerships among the Initiatives of Change (IofC) and Creators of Peace (CoP) network, and other women's groups dedicated to the search and the creation of Peace. I hope it will contribute to pass on the special spark lit up by inner listening and silence, to busy women burdened with so many pressing needs and world concerns.

This comes with sincere wishes for a long and fruitful existence of this Newsletter, and a prosperous New Year for all Creators of Peace. Dr Christiane Garin Al-Azhari, President

“I felt a sense of relief when I finally understood Inner Listening. I cried uncon-trollably. At last I’d found a way to do something significant in the world. I didn’t have to wait till I

came up with a great plan and resources to make it work! I could begin now. I just needed to spend a bit of time each day listening to the deepest part of me - and to God… the steps would evolve.” I was conscious of seeing my own prejudice. I had a sense that “my kind” - Anglo-Christian, were more right or reliable. That sense was eroded. I was humbled by the strength of character and generosity of spirit of people of many cultures and beliefs. I knew they were my teachers...and friends. A great “dawning” for me came after hearing,

in Africa, women sharing their sense of loss at having their culture and laws disre-spected and being dispossessed of their land. For the first time I understood, at heart level, what my people inflicted on Aborigi-nal people in Australia. I can’t bear to think of it for more than a few seconds at a time. It is so cruel and heartless ..and, I have walked on the other side of the street to avoid Aboriginal people, though I knew this treatment was wrong. I now have Aborigi-nal friends and they have forgiven me. How did I connect with Creators of Peace? A chance meeting with a woman who told me how Creators of Peace gives a woman a way to first get herself “in order” and then help her family and community. That struck a chord. I wanted that.

WHAT is a Creators of Peace Facilitator

by Jean Brown

A CoP Facilitator is a practitioner not a theorist A CoP Facilitator is a guide not a teacher A CoP Facilitator is a midwife not a doctor A CoP Facilitator is engaged not aloof A CoP Facilitator is a learner not an expert A CoP Facilitator is human not a paragon of peace!

Creators of Peace “Global Connections” A Newsletter for reporting the voluntary efforts of women creating peace across the world’s divides

An international program of

Creators of Peace “Global Connections” Newsletter - January 2013 edition

Regular Feature Article: “On reflection of my CoP Journey”

Trish McDonald-Harrison Secretary Creators of Peace International Committee & International Coordinator

JANUARY 2013 EDITION

pated in the Peace Circle in Lebanon. Now I feel I have a family there in Lebanon who care about me and pray for me and my coun-try, and with God's will we will always be like family.

To share the blessings of the good intentions and wills with our people I suggested to sup-port an orphanage near our area where we visited the children once, brought them gifts and encouraged them. 2 girls of 19 years run games and activities there. It is a chance for one of them who can't go to school to par-ticipate in the society and make a difference in others lives.

We have a lot of ideas to bring joy to these kids who have lost the chance to be taken care of by parents and families. I am sure the light of the good work and peace will replace the clouds in Syria sky. Peace Circles have been a connection between some neighbours who had a cold relationship, melting the wall of mis-understanding and mis-judgement.

It was very different learning about peace when I was surrounded by peace. Now I am living surrounded by real conflict participat-ing in a Creators of Peace Circle while experi-encing war, anger and seeing blood around. Now I ask God to help me practice what I believe in, to share what I learned, to change my heart to the better and use me to help others. I don’t know if we will wake up the next day alive or dead, but I do know that if I wake up I want to tell my people that we need to build peace.

Iman says, “There is no other way but listening with consciousness, compassion and values. I hear myself many times saying “we HAVE TO LISTEN to one another, we HAVE TO find a way to communicate before we lose more and more people.” “Thank you Jean Brown and IofC for being with me during the sessions so I have a hand to hold when I stumble and get frustrated.”

Creators of Peace Circles will continue in Damascus because it lifts our broken souls and hearts.”

by Iman Al Ghafari I live now in Damascus, my first home, after liv-ing in Canada for 6.5 years where I learned about IofC and Creators of Peace, and learned that we all have the same hope and same pain.

After experiencing Creators of Peace in Leba-non that wiped fear and doubt from my heart and dwelt hope and friendship instead. I started Peace Circles in Damascus, gathering 3 women living in my building and 2 others living in the same neighborhood, for 7 weeks. The group is still connecting. They don't want to stop meeting because it's a time for them to be themselves, open up to each other and be lis-tened to without being judged. Interestingly, they share different opinions about what's going on in my country but respect and under-standing has prevailed in the Peace Circle meetings. That’s what happened to me when I partici-

“Our pains of wars, violence and hatred that have

been happening in both countries, and our hopes

and prayers for Peace and Love, have united

us ...something politics could not “

tumn as well as a series of small Peace Circles started up in Damascus. Reporting back from the week between the Circle experiences, several women talked of the inner peace that had remained with them; one spoke of a new awareness of her reaction-ary nature and how to pause and listen; an-other reported that her family commented how different she looked and the daughter of an-other said ‘Mum, even your voice has changed!’ This had added significance as we looked at the power of women finding their voices for peace in Lebanon. Linaltaki, which means “let’s meet”, brings Muslim and Christian women together and runs summer camps for school children from different backgrounds. Lina Hamadi and

Looking across the Bekaa Valley to the Syrian border, the context for the women meeting in the Creators of Peace Circle recently held in Lebanon could not have been more relevant. Memories of their own violent history still inform their rela-tionships and attitudes. One Syrian participant risked the journey across the border from Damascus. She was nervous to come, unsure of the reception from Lebanese colleagues who had experi-enced the Syrian occupation of their country during the civil war. She was welcomed with open arms, affection and understanding – from those who could offer empathy for her country descending into chaos. Creators of Peace coordinators, Jean Brown and Kate Monkhouse, were invited by Linal-taki, a women’s movement, to Lebanon to introduce Peace Circles. Fourteen women, Muslim, Christian and Druze, took part over one weekend and eleven returned the second weekend to receive facilitation training in order to set-up and run new Circles in future. Two more Peace Circles are already being planned, with another envisaged for the au-

Marie Chaftari, the two women who founded it, have built friendships across the divides of faith and cul-ture amongst their friends. Lebanon is avoiding major outbreaks of un-rest, whilst watching with concern the troubles in the north of the country around Tripoli and the de-teriorating situation in Syria.

Many people are anxious about renewed conflicts and keeping the peace is a key theme for national debate. Stress and ten-sion over many years has had a big impact on daily life, family and health. Themes of forgiveness, inner peace and qualities of a peace creator are as relevant for the home and workplace, as they are for the public sphere and politics.

Participants met at ‘ Days of Hope’ a centre for chil-dren with learning needs near Zahlé to the east of Beirut. << Close friendships were made. Marie Chaftari farewells Iman Al Ghafari from Damascus.

Marie Chaftari Jean Brown facilitating ‘”Listening skills” Lina Hamadi

Women finding their voices in Lebanon by Jean Brown and Kate Monkhouse

A joint initiative that has been taken up as a result of Peace Circles in Damascus is: Some Lebanese and Syrian ladies will translate the Creators of Peace Circles manual from English into Arabic.

Page 2 of 6 REPORTS OF CREATORS OF PEACE CIRCLES AROUND THE GLOBE

Creators of Peace “Global Connections” Newsletter - January 2013 edition

bura participated, while Mathilde dedicated the third circle to young people from Bu-jumbura Town and Rural Bujumbura. My sisters in Burundi were great and gave themselves generously.

Mylène and Martha were both able to share in taking part in and co-facilitating the four Peace Circles.

There is no doubt that these four circles will be followed by others, nearly all those that took part found that all Burundians should live and benefit from this experience, and that the Peace Circles will be indispensable for the Burundian people to enter serenely into the next process of “Truth and Recon-

ciliation”. By Daphrose Ntarataze

I have just come back from 4 Creators of Peace Circles, strongly exciting and very enriching, because they ran for a full week each in Burundi. Three or four were made up of women and men. One experience self-evidently for the Burundians who did not understand at all that such a “treasure” could be exclusively consecrated for women. “We have known the worst to-gether, we have no taboos special to one gender here. We will come out of it to-gether and all have a share” My two sisters from neighbouring Rwanda Marthe Dusabi-rema et Mathilde Kayitesi contributed to this success.

Martha co-facilitated the first circle with me where women leaders from Bujum-

“We have known the worst together—we will

come out of it together…”

Four Peace Circles ran in Burundi, Africa (translated by Kate Monkhouse)

CoP talks in Zimbabwe SA

We’re planning two CoPeace Circles in February and September 2013 and a Facilitator’s Training in May 2013. I’m also involved with our Provincial Hos-pital as a Board member. The Board has identified training needs for all Grades of staff 700 in all Our IofC team will be involved in a training program that will run 6 months, at this kind of training we get the opportunity to give talks on CoPeace Circles. The response has been very encouraging. By Faina Katito

The UGANDA CoP team are “on a quest” by Dorothy Tingu

We’ve set a goal to reach out to hurting com-munities via Peace Circles in the Hoima Dis-trict, Lira, and Northern and Western Uganda. In January 2012 a PC was held in one of the suburbs in Kampala attracting women of all ages and walks of life. Students from YMCA participated and were encouraged to practice being peace makers in their communities. Refer to http://www.iofc.org/creators-of-peace the website for further information

The Uganda CoP team comprises women from different ethnic groups and cultural back-ground and they’re on on on a quest of peace building a quest of peace building a quest of peace building one person at a time through informal round one person at a time through informal round one person at a time through informal round table talks, prayer meetings, visits to schools, table talks, prayer meetings, visits to schools, table talks, prayer meetings, visits to schools, churches, and prisons. churches, and prisons. churches, and prisons. The major reason for this focus is that a lot of resentment and anger are building in Uganda today as more and more people feel the pinch of economic inequality, rising costs of living and social evils such as blatant corruption and escalating terror threats.

cle and Facilitator’s training in 2012. IRDP helped to launch the CoP circle that had been planned for a long time with Dida-cienne Mukahabeshi-mana and other facili-tators.

During the Circle, par-During the Circle, par-

ticipants became aware of the importance of personal transformation ticipants became aware of the importance of personal transformation

and how the exchange of experiences between women from different and how the exchange of experiences between women from different

countries can be very enrichingcountries can be very enriching They have expressed their desire to continue together and to reach out to other women leaders. They aim to write up their experiences of Creators of Peace Circles and to have a CoP Facilitator Training in order to reach more women This first Creators of Peace circle will not be the last – but the begin-ning of a journey.

The first Creators of Peace Circle was held in Kigal in November 2012 in partnership with the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP). The Circle was part of IRDP’s program for enhancing the capacity of women in peace initiatives, Ababibyi b’amahoro (translated as Crea-tors of Peace), targeting women leaders in their own community. Nine women engaged in initiatives within their communities such as churches, women’s associations, counselors for victims of sexual violence during the genocide, youth workers and so on. They shared their experiences, often traumatic and also their willingness to create change. At the suggestion of Mathilde Kayitesi, after a visit from the Presi-dent of CoP, Dr Christiane Garin, the IRDP started a partnership with Creators of Peace by allowing its deputy Director Mukankubito Immaculee to attend the Caux conference in 2012. When she got back she introduced the Creators of Peace Circles into the Ababibyi b’Amahoro program. This first PC was facilitated by Mathilde Kayitesi and Marthe Dusabirema who had participated in the Caux Conference CoP Cir-

The IRDP partners with CoP in Rawanda, Africa: by Mathilde Kayitesi

Page 3 of 6 REPORTS OF CREATORS OF PEACE CIRCLES AROUND THE GLOBE

Creators of Peace “Global Connections” Newsletter - January 2013 edition

A Creators of Peace Circle with an Indigenous Focus by Glennis Johnston - Spiritual Director, Armagh Community , Melbourne Victoria Australia

On 17th November 8 indigenous women aged from 15 to 40 years from Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, came to Armagh for a week-long cross cultural course in leadership. Some had never been in a large city before. The program was designed to empower women to live effectively as creative change makers and nurturers of community. The Creators of Peace Circle was the focus of daily discussions, co-facilitated by Glennis Johnston (a white Aussie) and Chloe Jiang (Chinese), Other participants included a Korean woman and a young English mother. The program also included public speaking, and visits to places of interest for indigenous people. Living in community together for a whole week offered us all an amazing glimpse into a very different culture. Sitting at the table over meals, with the women speaking Warumungu, we saw a very close kinship system at work. “Although many of the women have stories of being touched by multiple social problems, we were also witness to the strength of extended family ties and the perseverance of women in the face of hardship.” Because many of the women had limited literacy, we recognised we needed to be flexible and so adapted the CoP Circle material to simplify it as necessary. The story of Margaret Tucker (an Indigenous IofC veteran) became an inspiration throughout the week, culminating in a visit to the Margaret Tucker Hostel and hearing from its indigenous founder, Walda Blow, what leadership means to her. The non-indigenous participants expressed the importance of seeing into the world of Central Australian indigenous culture, and had learned a great deal about developing relationship with people culturally different. We all had a most enriching encounter.

In between the Peace Circle and training time for facilitators, we had a number of days to get to know the participants further which proved to be valuable time. A guidance counsellor expressed that she had not shared her story with anyone else before. She was asked what had inspired her to share? She said, “I wanted to find inner peace. I had bottled things up to bury my worry. I am at peace with myself now, restoring my self esteem and building confidence I never had before”. The women looked at how they could put what they had learnt into practice besides taking personal steps in change, they showed serious concern for issues in their town and beyond and for the answers needed.

We offered moral support to do a short presentation to the Christian Women's group in the Presbyterian Church where a few of the p a r t i c i p a n t s attend; and p r e s e n t e d health care issues to girls at a bilingual High School in Buea.

Three groups were formed to look more in depth into concerns of the way widows are treated and abused; resource management and the dire water crisis and a proposal for the local municipal council on how to reach out to others. One idea was to use Radio, Talk Show, Awareness Seminars.

There’s great enthusiasm amongst the participants to use CoP Circles in their communities, as they had a deep desire for others to experience what they had personally discovered.

Drawing strength from each other in Cameroon, Africa by Portia Mosia and Jackie Euvrard

Women attending the All Africa conference in May 2012 in Cameroon showed keen interest in using CoP Circles in their areas. This led to a return visit by Portia Mosia and Jackie Euvrard in November 2012 to conduct CoP Circles and train facilitators in English in the town of Buea. It was the first of two CoP Circles to be conducted, a a

second one will take place in French in second one will take place in French in

YaoundeYaounde in February 2013. in February 2013. An accountant, insurance broker, students from Douala, and students and university lecturers were part of the nine who attended. Responses from participants at first were more of an intellectual and academic nature. As they allowed themselves to open up, the group came alive and shared honestly and deeply, especially about the breakdown of communication in family and relationships.

One participant said, “Exchanging One participant said, “Exchanging

experiences helped me to draw strength experiences helped me to draw strength

from other's lives and build on mine.” from other's lives and build on mine.” A uni lecturer expressed joyously “Life can never be the same, I now look forward to better days” now that she was able to release burdens and emotion she had been carrying for many years. Through role play and different exercises participants were able to put their lives into perspective motivating them to want to achieve more with their lives.

Participants practicing The Sacred Art of Listening

Page 4 of 6 REPORTS OF CREATORS OF PEACE CIRCLES AROUND THE GLOBE

"Let us not dismiss the possible effect of one drop of

peacemaking, however far away it may be from a conflict

situation” - Jean Brown

A Healing Circle in Gold Coast, Queensland

By Lesley Bryant & Ella Luxton When Lesley did her facilitation training in Sydney, there were no other trained facilitators back in her hometown Brisbane, Queensland, so Ella Luxton and Lyn Twin who are IofC’ers agreed to help her co-facilitate a Peace Circle ….“we followed the Facilitator’s Manual verbatim!“ Then a further 10 women came together for a Peace Circle on the Gold Coast and Ella reports, It was a most wonderful Peace Circle. We were honored to have been part of everyone's story and rejoiced in the healing that took place. Seeing how our Iraqi lady interacted with our Jewish participant was heart-warming to say the least; it is giving us all hope for a better world. Full praise for the creator of this concept that aids so strongly for forgiveness, understanding of where the other comes from, and guides us to a complete, gentle way of healing old wounds.

Creators of Peace “Global Connections” Newsletter - January 2013 edition

Building trust through a Creators of Peace Circle can

take many forms.

In this picture, during a Peace Circle run in Lebanon in a special needs children's centre last June, you can see that Jean Brown is having a ball with Maliha el Sadr and Lina Hamade!'

A first in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada by Melanie Klein & Shaneeza Nazseer

The first CoP Circle in the Greater Toronto Area was held in November 2012. Led by facilita-tors Janyce Konkin (Calgary) and Shaneeza Nazseer (Toronto), the diverse group of women created supportive bonds of friendship over the span of a weekend. Attendees allowed themselves to be vulnerable with new friends by sharing turning points in their lives. Every woman had a differ-

ent story from which empathy, compassion and understanding emerged.

We went away with practical tools to enable us to be more effective peace builders. We plan future CoP Circles in the Toronto region early 2013, fol-lowed soon after by facilitation training to expand this transfor-mative program across Ontario and beyond. To gather information and re-sources and keep track of all that’s happening across Can-

ada, the Programs Committee and the Council have put in place the volunteer role of a CoP Coor-dinator and Anne Hartnell has taken on the role for one year. See the “Creators of Peace Cir-cles Canada” promotional video on the Canadian website h t t p : / / w w w . c a . i o f c . o r g /programs/intercultural

Forgiveness in play in the Solomon Islands: by Rachel Abi

*Understanding the importance of inner listening and quiet time; *Gained a new approach to life; *Began to see clearly how to start bringing a solution as a creator of peace; *Realisation of failure to create peace in the family. Some Commitments that were made: *Will start a new beginning in our own families; *Gained confidence to share what we learnt in the PC; *Will try to have quiet time daily; *Ready to apologise and forgive our enemies; *Women’s reunion once a week; *Ready to for-give our inner being; *Call to community.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Winds of Change (IofC) for support of human resources to assist in facilitating the CoP Circles. Priscilla and I facilitated with co-facilitators Veronica Gebe and Petty Kukiti.

Following training given by Liz Weeks & Helen Mills to women from across Solomon Islands earlier this year, 16 women attended the first CoP Circle, in Niukoloula village, East Guadalca-nal, in Solomon Islands, home of the late Peace Creator, Susan Kukiti. Newly trained facilitator Rachel Abi, reports on some significant outcomes shared in our Circle: *Peace is not only without conflicts; *Peace creates a new spirit of understanding; *Peace starts within and comes from the heart; *True forgiveness starts from the heart; *Good listening can be transforming and life changing; *It’s relieving to share your personal life story;

A practical introduction to CoP in Cote d’Ivoire Ivory Coast by Olga & Estelle (Kate

Monkhouse translation) It’s with great joy we report that Estelle and Olga introduced Creators of Peace in Abidjan to nearly 80 women and some supporting men. The overall theme was “Women, where are you? Get up and fight!”. The event took place at the “Women’s Week” in their community from 29th May to 1st June. As part of the programme, an evening addressed the theme “Women Creators of Peace” in a practical and imaginative way. The event covered a presentation on CoP, an overview of the ten gathering points and practical experience of “What is peace anyway?” “Circles of Concern” and “What destroys and creates peace?” Interest and participation was strong and sincere amongst all, leading to 8 groups of 10 women. Our aim for a practical Introduction to CoP was achieved so we are now in the middle of preparing another session in the near future. There are already some candidates to be facilitators.

“True peace is not just the absence of conflict but the addressing of all the needs of human security: from hospitality to food provision; from friendship to shelter; from recognized identity to stable jobs. Women are ideally placed to engage with these needs from the grass roots in the market place, office, home and boardroom.”

by Pari Sanyu

about what makes for peace. With a wealth of experience to share, we were able to offer perspectives to each other's situations whilst listening to each others' stories with respect and appreciation. We met again later in the summer to talk about what we had learnt and to agree actions that we would each pursue in applying the Creators of Peace approach at personal, community and project levels. To see what else is happening in the UK, see us on http://www.ij.iofc.org/creators-of-peace

Ten women gathered at Greencoat Place over a weekend in July to experience their first peace circle. For some it fulfilled a long-standing desire to take part, for others it was a new idea and invitation. We came from differ-ent backgrounds - Turkey, India, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Russia, UK - all Londoners either working, studying, looking after family or vol-unteering. With just two days together, we connected quickly over coffees grabbed on the way from the tube, cupcakes made to raise money for a charity trip, and our discussions

CoP Circle in Greencoat Place, London UK by Kate Monkhouse

Page 5 of 6 REPORTS OF CREATORS OF PEACE CIRCLES AROUND THE GLOBE

Creators of Peace “Global Connections” Newsletter - January 2013 edition

CoP global network plans to date:

NORWAY: CoP Circle January 2013

CANADA: January 2013 CoP Canadian film to be screened at Missions Film Festival

ZIMBABWE: Two CoP Circles planned for February and Sep-tember 2013 and Facilitation Training in May 2013

SOUTH SUDAN: CoP Circles planned by Jean Brown as part of an IofC initiative to support peace & reconciliation in Sudan

KENYA: Creators of Peace Re-gional Gathering May 2013

SYDNEY, NSW: Five CoP Cir-cles are planned to take place in the north, west and south east-ern suburbs in the first 6 months of 2013

GOLD COAST, Qld: CoP Circle in February 2013.

CAMEROON: CoP Circle in French in Yaounde in February 2013.

SYDNEY, NSW: Facilitation Training to be held in Sydney March 2013

DONATIONS ARE NEEDED Creators of Peace is a voluntary not-for-profit

program that depends entirely on the belief and commitment of our dedicated CoP volunteers.

However we need funds to:

Respond to requests from regions of post conflict for CoP Circles, and Facilitation Training.

Help subsidize our volunteer Facilitators to travel across the world introducing CoP Circles and/or Facilitation Training

Enable some staffing to provide essential services to develop our worldwide network.

Have capacity to reimburse expenses laid out by volunteers for printing, photocopying, catering supplies, etc .

TO DONATE: Talk to a local CoP Coordinator

OR, Creators of Peace has an account with The UBS Bank in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bank account details are: UBS Current A/c No. 0279 205561.60E

IBAN : CH050027927920556160E BIC : UBSWCHZH80A

Congratulations Ann & Kimanthi It’s understandable that Ann Njeri’s wedding plans for her marriage to Kimanthi in November 2012 took precedence over her role as Editor of the CoP International Newsletter. THANK YOU ANN for being our Editor for the past 2 years.

Page 6 of 6

NEED A CO-FACILITATOR TO DO A CoP CIRCLE WITH YOU IN

YOUR AREA?

NEED FACILITATION TRAINING?

Contact: JEAN BROWN:

jean.brown@iofc.org or

CHRISTINA DE ANGELIS: christina.deangelis@googlemail.com

The Executive Committee and Coordinators that are currently serving Creators of Peace

Executive Committee President: Christiane Garin Al-Azhari (appointed President 2009-12 and International Co-ordinator 2008-13) Treasurer: Monica McIntosh (2008 – 13) Secretary: Trish McDonald-Harrison (2009–13) International Association Liaison: Jean Brown (2008-13) International Coordinators: Christina De Angelis (2008 – 13) Didacienne Mukahabeshimana (2008 -13) Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye (2008 -13) Tehmina Siganoria (2008 -13) Vijayalakshmi Subrahmanyan (2009 -14) Joanne Nabbanja (2009 – 14) Ann Njeri Ndiangui (2009 – 14) Kate Monkhouse (2011 – 16) Regional Coordinators East Africa: Dorothy Tingu West Africa: Rita Dikedi (per Jean Brown) North Africa: Suad Omer El Mubarak (per Jean Brown) Southern and Central Africa: Jackie Euvard/Angie Katito UK and Western Europe: Su Riddell South America: Helena Salazar (Von Armin) North America: Kathy Aquilina Country Coordinators Malaysia: Regina Morris

formed and members meet monthly via Skype to plan events and generally brain-storm new ideas to expand the scope of CoP work in Sydney.

Six CoP Circles we held in the northern, east-ern and western suburbs of Sydney; and two “Introduction to CoP” sessions were held in the east; a Facilitator’s (weekend residential) Refresher Course facilitated by Jean Brown was held in the beautiful Brahma Kumaris Wilton Spiritual Centre. Eight enthusiastic graduates of CoP Circles recently completed a weekend Facilitation Training session.

Recently Sydney Facilitators had a social catch up to ‘Welcome in 2013’ to reflect on our progress in 2012; and, not resting on our laurels, to reflect on where we could do bet-ter and brainstorm new directions for 2013. We all left feeling greatly inspired and ex-cited about our plans to expand our work for Creators of Peace .

Zohra Aly wrote: “It was unanimously agreed that the 2012 Annual Reunion and Celebration was ‘the best ever’.” An invita-tion in six languages was sent out to women all around Sydney inviting them to “contribute to creating a culture of peace”. An incredibly diverse turnout of more than 100 women enjoyed the day’s program which centred on the purpose of CoP, and

looked at the impact CoP Circles are having world-wide. Everyone participated in mini workshops exploring the CoP gathering points: “What creates peace”, “What de-stroys it”, and “The qualities of a peace maker’. Nearly half of those

that attended were new to Creators of Peace. They listened to personal experiences of past participants and gained insights into how their lives had changed for the better as a result.

It was a fitting celebration of a year of huge growth and development of CoP in Sydney. Following a Strategic Planning meeting held in June, a Sydney Coordinating Action Team was

”A fitting celebration of a huge year of growth in Sydney”, Australia

Photo by Shoshana Faire

ATTENTION FACILITATORS! STAY CONNECTED!!!

BE PART OF THE CREATORS OF PEACE GLOBAL NETWORK SHARE YOUR CoP

CIRCLE REPORTS, PHOTOS, STORIES, AND FUTURE PLANS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

SUBMIT (no more than 200 words) FOR THE NEXT EDITION

NOT LATER THAN ARPIL 2013 to: threepillars@ozemail.com.au

Editor and Producer: Tanya Fox, Sydney Australia

threepillars@ozemail.com.au

Co-Editor: Christina DeAngelis, Sydney Australia

christina.deangelis@googlemail.com

Creators of Peace “Global Connections” Newsletter - January 2013 edition