News
Violent conflict leaves wounds not only on the victim's body but also in the soul of the community. The healing of these invisible wounds was the subject of a 5-11 September regional consultation and training session for Southern African church representatives.
The event was the first step in the promotion and development of an African network on "Healing of memories". This network will help its member churches to contribute more effectively to the healing and reconciliation of individuals, communities and nations.
The event was hosted by the Institute for Healing of Memories in Cape Town, South Africa and co-sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).
Similar consultations will take place in West and Central Africa in 2011 and East Africa in 2012. The continental process will feed into the AACC General Assembly in 2013 as well as the global work on healing and reconciliation sponsored by both the WCC and LWF.
The motto of the training event in Cape Town was "Every story needs a listener". The 40 participants from Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe drew on the most painful and joyful experiences in their own lives in order to elicit the feelings – such as anger, love, helplessness, self-blame or grief, and the themes – family, political violence, domestic violence, identity, that are relevant to the healing of memories.
The purpose of the training was to illustrate the methodology used by the Institute to work on healing of memories. Acknowledgment of the wrong done is key to beginning the journey to healing and reconciliation.
The consultation following the training workshop was an opportunity for the participants to learn about the ancient, more recent and newest wounds inflicted in each other’s countries and explore ways in which the churches may respond to enable reconciliation.
Examples of such wounds are situations of political violence, persistent economic injustice, tensions between different religious groups and even within one church. The discussion brought to light the great need for healing of memories in the whole region as well as in other parts of the world.
Stories of healing from South Africa
Stories from the host country South Africa illustrated the efforts undertaken by churches and individuals to overcome traumas of the past. The participants heard from, among others, a member of the San ethnic group, indigenous to southern Africa, about the struggle to preserve the San identity and traditional knowledge.
Prof. Mark Solms of the Solms Delta wine estate spoke about how he transformed the white-run farm he inherited from his ancestors into a partnership of three farms, one of which is now owned by the descendants of the former slaves and labourers on his farm, and the development of a trust benefitting the estate’s historically disadvantaged residents and employees.
Dr Deon Snyman of the Foundation for Church-led Restitution presented the efforts of his church, among which is a toolkit used to promote the concept of restorative justice in South Africa. "Restorative justice often entails an acknowledgment of wrongdoing on the part of the transgressor, and a profession of repentance, usually followed up with some sort of concrete gesture of restitution", according to instructions in the toolkit.
"Central to this is the recognition that the offender has not simply broken a law, but hurt a real person and community, and must look them in the eye and take responsibility for that. The wronged party, in turn, extends forgiveness and a willingness to take on good faith the repentance of the wrongdoer."
Issues discussed at the consultation included the treatment of immigrants from neighbouring countries in South Africa, economic justice as a necessity for peaceful relations, as well as the observation that often the victim of one situation later becomes a victimizer.
