Creators of Peace Circles in Kapturo village, Baringo County Kenya
'End of Thinking Capacity' is the name that has been given to Kapturo village in North Baringo County- Kenya. This area was the venue of a three-day Creators of Peace Circle that took place from the 6-8 July 2016. The Peace Circle brought together a group of twenty women; ten from the Pokot and ten from the Tugen communities. This was necessitated by the fact that the area is at the border of the Tugen and Pokot communities that have a history of not seeing eye to eye. Besides the twenty women, three men also attended the Peace Circle training. This training was part of the ongoing Baringo Peace Project that was launched in October of 2015, as part of the Creators of Peace (CoP)-Kenya’s effort in bringing sustainable peace in this volatile County.
The name 'End of Thinking Capacity' (E.T.C.) for this area is derived from its nature of being so undeveloped to the extent that there is no tarred road in the vicinity. In Swahili, it’s usually referred to as “Mwisho wa Lami” (end of the tarmac road), but the residents in Kapturo decided to make a positive joke out of it and hence, E.T.C. ‘You know sometimes challenges can be too much until one becomes creative in making jokes out of hardships to ease the stress; you know, one doesn’t need to always take life that seriously. After all, we do not exist to solve all of the world’s problems.’ This was said by Hannah who was the CoP host as she giggled explaining to the team the origin of the E.T.C. name.
The prejudice and negative stereotyping between the two communities; Tugen and Pokot was witnessed live by the CoP team during the first day of the Peace Circle training. The host runs a pre-school A four-year old Tugen boy, who was around and was enjoying his food. When he saw Pokot women arriving, recognizing them by their traditional attire of unique beads around the neck, he couldn't contain himself. He shouted, ‘Chukueni chakula zenu, mimi naenda nyumbani. Hao watu wabaya wamekuja’ (take your food because I want to go home. The ‘bad’ people have come). The boy screamed and handed back the lunch to the teacher! It took the teacher, who is a missionary from the Kikuyu community, patience and effort to calm down the boy and assure him that ‘those people’ are good and that they wouldn’t hurt him. But even with that effort, the boy was gulping up his food in a hurry, anxious to run home.
The conflict around cattle rustling in this part of Baringo, was actually cultivated and even fueled as part of the culture whereby the women from the Pokot community always held ‘Savana’, a traditional celebration of their sons who raided cattle from the neighboring communities. The culture has evolved to be banditry and full of violence. But there is hope… and mothers have a role to change the mentality of children like the young Tugen with an affirmative message ‘those people are good people!’
The Peace Circle training started on a high note with the participants giving their expectations. In the beginning, an elder from the Pokot side attended because he was curious as to what their women were going to be ‘taught’. After he was satisfied that it was the right training, other women were allowed to come on their own.
Session after session understanding and the urge to know more grew. One could tell from their faces and levels of participation. ‘I never knew that I am supposed to apologize to my kids if I wrong them. I assumed, since I am their parent, I don’t owe them any apology whatsoever. From now on I am going to change that attitude.’ This was said by a participant during reflection time. Another one added, ‘I have so many issues that I have carried from my past and they always haunt me. I think they are the reason I am stuck in the same place. From today I am letting my heart heal, so that I can forgive myself and let go. Thank you for teaching me that there is a reason that God put our eyes in the front and not the back of our heads. To forget the past and focus on the future!’
The area senior assistant chief said that it was a blessing to have CoP in the area. It was the first kind of Peace training that focused inwards, “…unlike the other organizations that just deal with things shallowly, and still leave us with our inner issues.” For him Creators of Peace Circles went deeper. He requested more times for the Peace Circles training.
The participants together committed to first making peace within themselves individually, then to the community through churches, public meetings and schools. They also promised to keep their network strong by visiting each other, reminding themselves of the lessons and encouraging each other, since ‘peace is a process’.
Facilitators: Esthermarrie Inzekellah and Rose Njeri. Report: Esthermarrie Inzekellah