The Chaplain to the Kenya Defence Forces, the Rt Rev Bishop Alfred Rotich, gave his advice and blessing to participants at a workshop for peace practitioners in Nakuru, Kenya. Addressing the final meeting on 23 November, he said, ‘I can see and I can feel, from your expressions and the way you are with one another, that you practise peace.’
The workshop brought together 35 people from hotspots of tension across Kenya. It was facilitated by renowned peace-makers from Nigeria, Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa, and was made possible by the United States Institute of Peace and Initiatives of Change.
The workshop started with a screening of the film An African Answer, which depicts a reconciliation between Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities, mediated by Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye, following post-election violence in Kenya in 2007/8.
Workshop attendees included representatives from the Kalenjin, Kikuyu, Luo, Luya, Kamba, Kisii, Pokot, Il Chamus and Turkana communities, from many walks of life.
Imam Ashafa and Pastor James brought out practical instruction from the film and their Resource Guide for Grass-roots Practitioners (FLTfilms 2010).
They emphasised the value of trauma counselling - ‘because conflict is about causing injury to people’. Gunilla Hamne, a Swedish trauma counsellor from the Peaceful Heart Network, gave participants a practical introduction to the ‘trauma tapping technique’ - a ‘first-aid’, as she described it, of trauma therapy.
Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye also turned their attention to cattle-rustling, which, because raiders are armed with automatic weapons, is a cause of 
insecurity amongst pastoralist communities in Kenya’s vast semi-arid regions. Addressing the nine pastoralist participants from Baringo County, all Christians, Imam Ashafa laid down a challenge from a Christian saint: ‘Where there is injury, may I bring pardon’. Together the pastoralists pledged to end the practise of cattle-rustling in Kenya.
Several teams were forged, each of which formulated strategic action plans to consolidate peace and trust in their localities.
The workshop was reported in the national newspaper The Standard on 28 November, in an article entitled ‘Imam and pastor read from the same script in serving reconciliation.’
Photos by Alan Channer