An Olive Branch Grows

This morning I was reading the latest edition of Sojourners magazine that came in my mail. The editions contains an article entitled, "An Olive Branch Grows in Africa", which interviews George Kit, a coordinator for the Nairobi Peace Initiative - Africa, who has been working on a listening project to reconcile Kenyans divided by ethnic and political differences, particularly poignant after recent outbreak of violence spurred by their presidential election. NPI's "listening project" entails go out to those people of both sides of political divide and listening to their stories, "to hear what sence they made of the particular violence that as going on." At times this has meant reporting plans of violence NPI has become privy to and stopping the violence before it even takes place.

The project has started to go beyond just listening and now the organization is utilizing a number of (pyschological) tools and exercises to help people analyze their own actions, their own contribution to violence, based on their stereotypes. Some of the exercises seek to mirror the terms and ways we can destroy each other and the pain and destruction that brings. Kit gives the example of an exercise in which they ask people to create painings. In the next step, they select which paintings look alike and form a group out of those paintings. Participants were to prepare a better picture of out of the compilation of paintings and finally, make a presentation of their work. People always get engaged in working together and have put together some wonderful pictures. They don't anticipate the next step...to destroy the paintings. If they don't do it on their own with coaxing then, the instructors will begin doing it for them. Participants become incredulous at the ease with which the instrustors destroy the pieces as if the paintings didn't take any effort to complete.

The exercise is to be viewed as a symbol of life, that people have built their story over a long period of time, and during crisis lives with great aspirations have been torn apart as if that life didn't matter. The kind of reaction and the kind of sharing that comes out of that exercise - that experience - begins to draw people out, creating an envirnonment of healing and reconciliation in which people speak frankly and honestly about the pain they have experienced when people don't take seriously the life they have worked hard to create.

The story of this exercise reminded me of an "excerise", or event, I underwent with similar results. It was at the Hyde Park Art Center several months ago. Every 3rd Friday of the month the Center holds a "Cocktails and Clay" evening wherein they open up their ceramics studio for folks to get dirty, make a creation, and have a few drinks. I went with my neighbor Christina and we encountered a few surprises throughout the evening. For one, the $15 is a suggested donation and doesn't include drinks. Their drinks are served in 8 oz. plastic cups and are $5-10 - a complete rip off. $25 later you walk into the ceramics studio. I, for one, was quite excited. I had been years since I'd found myself at the wheel creating a pot or bowl or pitcher.... Guess what? No wheels...we were simply given a large ball of clay and some water. The kind of thing your art teacher gave you and then, instructed you to create a pinch pot with. I was sorely disappointed...and so was Christina, who takes weekly ceramics classes and is quite skilled on the wheel.

The surprises continued. Pinch-pots weren't exactly the item of the evening; instead, crowns! We were to create crowns of any variety. Examples of the instructors creative crowns sat in the middle of the table. Crowns?!! Not exactly what I'd planned on. Nonetheless, I created the wickedest crown. I was quite proud of myself, particularly for somebody who hadn't dabbled in ceramics for years. I was so proud of myself I had convinced myself to sign up for their next ceramics class. Surely I'd be the best in the class (right?!)!

An hour later our session came to a close with the final surprise...to destroy the crown and place all the clay back in the ball. No!!! They weren't going to fire them. We couldn't come back in a week to pick them up. The $15 suggested donation was to keep the lights in the building on and pay the janitor to keep the place clean and pay the mortgage....

My point is not to knock the Art Center. I thought their antics were pretty clever. We hadn't asked if we would be able to bring home the final project. I could relate to the increduality that the participants of the NPI-Africa exercise felt. The lesson remains true....it's easy to feel self-pity for the plans and notions of ours that others may flippantly come by and destroy, but we don't often reflect on the plans of others we, too, are capable of flippantly destroying, making fun of, or failing to encourage.