Practicing Peace Together | Community Call Notes 3.2.2022

Peace at the end of the day is action, taking from your own personal story of sadness, grief, loss and trying to do something about it...and then coming to the realization that it's beyond you, actually. Peace is a scale and order that requires collective action.

-Amanuel Melles

The first Community Call of 2022 was Wednesday, March 2nd, We had such a beautiful start to our season. Our theme this year is Practicing Peace Together. Our virtual living room was filled with soul and story. It's so important to come together to not only share personal practices, but to care for one another in community spaces. We're so grateful for the gifts offered by the hearts and voices of Whitney McIntyre Miller, Aman Melles, and Wazieh Offuh - thank you!

For those that were not able to join the call, here is a brief summary with a few time stamps for those listening or watching the call recording.

  • Here is a link to the call recording.

  • Katy opened the call with a moment of silence, welcomed us back to the 2022 Community Call season - Practicing Peace Together, and offered compassionate support for Ukraine, all of Eastern Europe, and all of those who are currently residing in conflict zones.

  • Hollister (00:05:15) provided the group with a roadmap for the call and introduced our three guests, Aman Melles (Canada), Wazieh Offuh (Nigeria), and Dr. Whitney McIntyre Miller (USA).

  • Whitney (00:11:30) provided us with a brief, but solid introduction to the peace leadership model. She explored how we all can embody these ideals as peace leaders in our own contexts. And she confessed that this theory all started on a napkin (as most great ideas do!)

  • Merging the concepts of leadership and peace felt natural and necessary. Whitney noted that the work of peace leadership is a proactive, intentional approach by us both as individuals and collectively. "There's no formula, no magic, no if you 'check this box', you're a peace leader. The ultimate reality is that we are all able to be peace leaders in the work we do, in our families, in large systems and small systems. And ultimately it is this way of living our lives that actually provides space for peace to grow in our communities." (00:21:36)

  • After this introduction, Whitney opened the space to two incredible peace leaders - Aman & Wazieh. Wazieh first shared her personal story of childhood trauma and the difficult path she walked to get to the healing space she is today. (00:23:30) She explained that the deep dive into personal peace practices opened the door for healing. "After joining the PPA and learning what I learned in the first month, I was able to know that everything that happened was not my fault. I had to forgive myself. I had to love myself. If I don't accept myself, who will accept me. If I can't live with myself, how can I live with other people."

  • Aman (00:37:12) continued with sharing how triggering the reports are from Ukraine as he grew up in Eritrea in an environment where war was constant. He explained that peace leadership has shown up for him as a sort of "creeping into my bones and flesh." Having grown up with war being the solution to conflict, "I've seen the ugliness of war firsthand, but also have this life-known commitment to bridge and bring divides together." He encouraged us to answer the opportunity for peace leadership in all that we do in response to "the desire for inner peace and the collective responsibility we have to one another."

  • We then moved into breakout rooms for reflection and connection with each other and explored how we see ourselves as peace leaders and how and where we would like to practice peace leadership more fully.

  • Upon our return from the rooms, we opened the call to questions and reflections. (00:54:20)

  • We closed (01:11:08) with Euphrates Team member James Offuh sharing key takeaways and a beautiful benediction of prayer and hope for our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine and Russia.

Resources:

  • Razom – https://razomforukraine.org/razom-emergency-response/ (an organization based in the U.S. that aims to increase civic engagement to build a more prosperous and democratic Ukraine. Currently channeling funds towards medical supplies in the war effort).

  • Nova Ukraine – https://www.facebook.com/donate/1137971146948461/10161497920013976/ (an organization based in the U.S. that is providing humanitarian relief to Ukrainians).

  • Voices of Children – https://voices.org.ua/en/ (provides psychological support to children from Donbas who have war trauma).

  • United Help Ukraine – https://www.facebook.com/donate/337101825010055/ (providing life-saving individual first aid kits and other emergency medical supplies to the front lines, cooperating with other emergency response organizations to prepare humanitarian aid to civilians).

  • Come back alive – https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/ (works directly with the command and personnel of military units, purchasing infrared thermal imaging cameras, night vision goggles, hemostatics, etc).

  • Individual bank accounts - peace leaders from the region have reached out with information on sending funds to individuals/groups leading humanitarian aid and other efforts to get resources to people on the ground quickly. Often large international organizations have a ton of bureaucracy in these times and funds move slowly - please be in touch if you prefer to send funds to individual bank accounts for faster support.

  • Master document - Donate to Ukraine - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CdrWLAkEaOMV7fBbIWzHsgHmFz8s1GM6e_7a57oc3ug/edit

  • If you have any resources on trauma healing and personal peace practice that can be shared with our peace leaders in the region, please email sylvia@euphrates.org.


Hollister