Since the early 1930’s, or even earlier, Initiatives of Change has used film to communicate peoples’ change of heart – from recording house parties in Oxford colleges, to Hollywood-style feature films, to documentaries and much else.
A few years ago, the idea occurred of bringing together a few documentary films on peacemakers in a short course that would enable the participants to watch the films, then reflect on the steps that the peacemakers took, and their qualities. However, it proved difficult to gather enough people in one place to make it worthwhile. In March 2019, just as Zoom was taking off, COVID lock-down arrived, and I suddenly realised that people would have time on their hands, and there was an opportunity to be seized!
Five years ago, on 20th April, under the heading ‘Qualities and Strategies of Peacemakers’ (QSP), the first pilot of a five-module course took place, Monday to Friday, two hours each evening – and 14 people turned up. It was very encouraging. After 55 courses, a total of 656 participants have taken part, of whom 350 received a Certificate of Completion for attending all five modules. Over 2500 individual films have been viewed.
The first film in the series is ‘The Man Who Built Peace’ about Frank Buchman the founder of IofC, which creates the context for all the others. This is followed by ‘For the Love of Tomorrow’, in which four individuals work together to help a French politician to give up her hatred for the Germans after WW2 and become an outstanding reconciler.
The next is ‘The Imam and the Pastor’, which is set in the context of religious violence in northern Nigeria in the early 1990’s, and shows how they reconcile with each other and subsequently bring reconciliation to their own and another city. In the sequel, ‘An African Answer’, we see the same imam and pastor mediating between villagers of different ethnicities after a devastating outbreak of violence in Kenya in 2008.
The cause of the last film, ‘Beyond Forgiving’, was a revenge shooting in South Africa in the period between the end of Apartheid and multiparty elections. The white mother of a young woman who was killed in the incident, several years later decided that she needed to meet the person who ordered the shooting. The film chronicles the development of the relationship between the black commander and the mother, which ends in them setting up a foundation in the daughter’s name.
The most satisfying moment is when we receive participants’ evaluations. One such was from Dr Ntombizakhe Moyo-Nyoni, Lecturer in Peace and Security Studies Department at the Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. She wrote, The course taught me the use of personal examples whenever I have to address issues. It gave me the ideas of making a deliberate effort to bring key people and more people in the processes of building peace. Almost all the peace builders had a keen interest in developing their inner state with God, which would then become their source of strength, and this is an encouragement to me to work on peace in my inner state.
And the most poetic was from Ebtsam Abdullah Hizam Al-Jadri, a PhD candidate at Jena University in Germany. She wrote: ‘I believe these films form an integrated series, like a string of pearls, collectively embodying the qualities of a peacemaker and illustrating how the reconciliation process unfolds in conflict and post-conflict communities.
One very rewarding discovery recently was when we learned that the winners of the Inaugural Commonwealth Peace Prize, Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye (pictured above), had been nominated by Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts who had taken part in the course.
I cannot finish without paying tribute to Dr Omnia Marzouk, who joined me as a facilitator a few weeks after it started. And Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye, who joined more recently, facilitating the two modules on the Imam and the Pastor. Also, to Trudy Lister and Samantha Ward from the IofC UK Comms who posted the notices, collected the registrations, sent out the notices with the links each morning, and harvested the evaluations. And finally, to those without whom there would be no films: the late David Channer, Dr Alan Channer, Dr Imad Karam and Howard Grace. To attend the last two online courses for 2025 follow the link to the events page
HERE.Peter Riddell is the IofC UK programme manager for Qualities and Strategies of Peacemakers.
Qualities and Strategies of Peacemakers (QSP) is an online course of five short modules, each based on a film about outstanding peacemakers. The films chosen provide tangible examples of reconciliation efforts undertaken in the aftermath of conflict, offering a diverse range of scenarios. From resolving tensions on an international scale and navigating inter-religious disputes to addressing complex inter-ethnic dynamics and the challenges arising from post-colonial legacies, these films encapsulate a myriad of contexts.
