URI Multiregion

URI GLOBAL YOUTH CC HOLDS 2^nd CYPRUS RETREAT

The People for Peace Training-of-Trainers program from June 4-10, hosted at the Environmental Studies Centre in Cyprus, brought together 27 young leaders ages 16-45 from 10 nations in Europe and the Middle East (Cyprus – both North and South, Egypt, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Lithuania, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, UK), to equip them with skills in communication and conflict transformation useful for inter-faith and inter-cultural contexts in their communities.

           
Trainers from 10 Countries

These young people have committed to take their learning and skills into their universities, organizations and communities, to share with their peers, with members of the local community, with key strategic partners they work with such as NGOs, government level officials and grassroots peace builders, and to younger students ages 8 – 15. The intentional inclusion of participants from places of long-term and recent conflict, including Israel, Palestine, Syria and Egypt, in the training program has helped to build a powerful and sustainable bridge based on relations of trust, understanding and reconciliation between young people from these vulnerable areas.

Different youth organizations and URI Cooperation Circles selected participants. They came from six United Religions Initiative Cooperation Circles (CCs) – the Women’s Interfaith Network for the Middle East and North Africa CC, the German Muslim League Bonn CC, the Interfaith Encounter Association MCC in Israel, Jordan Interfaith Action CC, Quested Peace CC, and Iris Women CC. Some were selected from youth organization partners including the Youth Development Department in Palestine, Panevezys county NGO information and support centre in Lithuania, Administration of Trakai District Municipality in Lithuania, Minorities of Europe in the UK, the Asha Centre in the UK, the Management Centre in Cyprus, Drum Inspire in Cyprus, and the Cyprus Environmental Studies Centre.

The majority of the program expenses were funded by the Euro Med Youth Action Programme, a program of the European Commission, administered by the National Youth Agency in Cyprus. Participants funded 30% of their own travel expenses. United Religions Initiative funded the planning and coordination of the program.

The training program brought in skilled trainers to share specific tools and practices in Non-Violent Communication and conflict transformation. It began with a two-day module in Non-Violent Communication, taught by trainers from NVC Resolutions from the UK. They introduced a methodology of communication developed by Marshall Rosenberg to help participants to develop an empathic connection with others and to communicate from the heart; to ensure that each person is able to get their basic human needs met.

For many who took part in the program, this was the first time they had an opportunity and a space that allowed and encouraged them to connect with their feelings and share them with others; this was a profound and transformative awakening. Non-Violent Communication also teaches participants how to honestly communicate one’s needs and feelings to another person without attaching any judgment or blame, which helps to transform relationships and traditional, abusive patterns of communication.

NVC also provides a framework for teaching people how to genuinely empathize with others dealing with emotional or crisis situations in their lives, and teaches them how to support those who are in crisis by being present to what is alive in the other person, and to connect with them from that place in order to help them get their needs met.

Overall, the program created a deeply open, safe space in which participants could share their feelings with others and the challenges they deal with in their daily lives.

Conflict resolution workshop

The second module, taught by a trainer from Palestine who has a Masters degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, introduced practical tools in conflict analysis and transformation, approaching conflict from the perspective of a peace builder. These tools taught participants how to analyze the needs, interests and positions of key stakeholders in a conflict situation.

Participants learned a method for mapping out the different elements in a conflict, including the alliances, points of divergence and conflict, and key issues. They worked in small groups on case studies to analyze hypothetical conflicts and present their findings and analyses to the large group.

Finally, they were asked to share about conflicts in their own country context and to represent these to the rest of the group through human sculptures. This was an eye-opening process for the group, uncovering assumptions and stereotypes that may be associated with a place or region, and helping participants to better understand each other and the key issues and conflicts they are facing in their home countries.

It was an important exercise in learning to understand one’s place in a conflict situation, in order to understand the role and context a peace builder must bring in planning an intervention. The module also asked participants about the roots of peace and reconciliation in their own religious or spiritual tradition to share sources of wisdom and inspiration about forgiveness and reconciliation.

The program offered participants the opportunity to learn and experience different spiritual practices for individual and group healing and inner peace, including yoga and guided meditation in the morning “spiritual immersions.” The young people participated in two enlivening drumming workshops to gain a physical experience of harmony and unity in themselves and the larger group through synchronized drumming sessions on African Djembe drums, led by a drumming instructor from South Africa / Cyprus.

Though the overall program was intensive and energetically demanding, there was space for participants to experience some of the natural beauty and the cultural richness of the local environment, including trips to nearby beaches for afternoon swims, a guided walk in nature led by the Director of the Environmental Studies Centre and co-organizer, Nick Symons, and some outings to the nearby village of Polis and the city of Paphos.

The Environmental Studies Centre itself is based in the traditional Cypriot village of Kritou Terra that used to be a mixed village of both Turkish and Greek Cypriots and now is home to about 90 elder Greek Cypriot villagers. One can still see some remnants of the traditional culture and history in the village, including the washing holes where the women used to do their washing, an old “cinema,” “casino” and olive presses.

           
Arabic wedding ritual

The organizers encouraged creative contributions from the participants themselves. The first evening, they prepared and shared food from their culture and countries with each other for an inter-cultural feast. Throughout the week, participants offered music and traditional dances during evening sessions.  The final day a group performed a traditional Arabic wedding with the larger group.

If you are interested in reading a synthesis of the follow-up plans that participants formulated with each other during the program, please email Sarah Talcott ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) for a copy of the plans.