The Emmaus Lutheran Church in the
city of Medellin and its ministry of the “House of Reconciliation and Peace Education”
has finished its first module of the certificate program “Conflict, Justice,
and Reconciliation”. It has been a process of engaging in sometimes difficult conversations
about issues related to peace and justice in Colombia. Every other Saturday,
over 20 people (from the church as well as from other churches or other
organizations) have been participating in the certificate program, as well as
invited leaders from civil society, universities or government agencies to help
explain and explore certain themes in the Colombian conflict and the
peace-building process.
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| Logo for the House of Reconciliation and Peace Education, designed by Pastor John Hernández and Daniel Padierna. |
To wrap up the first module of the program, I traveled to Medellin and we held an all-day workshop last Saturday the 17
th of June. The
workshop was titled “Contributions to understanding the armed conflict in
Colombia”. We touched on topics such as the centrality of land ownership to the
causes of the conflict and the role of the media in producing distrust and biases
in the country. While difficult, these conversations are crucial to peace-building and reconciliation in the country.
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| Members of the certificate program, broken up into small groups to discuss what had been most challenging to them up to now during the certificate program. Photo by Curtis Kline. |
The next module will start at the beginning
of July, and will be focused on conflict resolution. From the national to the
local to the inter-personal levels, those participating in the certificate
program will explore and strengthen their abilities to resolve conflicts in
peaceful manners.
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| On the left, Ady and Maily, on the right, Oscar and Jorge, continuing to discuss the topics of the workshop during a break. Photo by Curtis Kline. |
