What if you were separated from your family by war and were able to make just one 3-minute phone call? Who would you call? What would you say? Civil war has been raging in South Sudan for three years. There’s brutal fighting between President Kiir’s troops and forces opposing him, and it is civilians who have suffered the most. Millions have fled their homes, and many families have been separated. The International Committee of the Red Cross is working to re-connect families from South Sudan, but precious phone calls can only be for three minutes. Nyiakubo was calling her brother whom she thought had been killed in the fighting. She hadn’t heard from him since 2013. During the call she started to cry. “I am crying because I thought that my brother had been killed, but now I hear his voice. I’m so happy,” she said. Wan was calling his wife. He hadn’t spoken to her since March 2014. He wanted to know how she was and to encourage her to be patient. “In time,” he told her, “we will be together again.” Chieu was calling her husband who was studying in Addis Ababa. They hadn’t been able to speak since April 2015. She had news for him: she was pregnant! But she wanted him to know she was fine and that he must continue with his education.” Phone calls are just one of the ways the International Committee of the Red Cross is trying to improve the lives of civilian caught in war. Over 112,000 phone calls have been made, 7,700 messages hand-delivered and over 700 people have been reunited with their families.
Can Iraq Reconcile?: Lessons from a Rooftop Classroom
In a crowded Baghdad neighborhood, one Iraqi teacher is providing free education for families fleeing conflict.
Qussay Kamel is teaching free lessons for families who have fled ISIS-controlled areas. Public schools won’t take students who have relocated to the district, to discourage resettlement.
More than 25 students now attend and because classes have no indoor space, Mr Kamel teaches on rooftops.
“”It’s the only thing I can offer, to help children, the children of poor families, the children of war victims, the children of immigrants, and fleeing families who cannot afford a private teacher for their own children,” Mr Kamel told Peace News.
“Or those whose parents have had basically no education at all – their parents cannot help them with mathematics or English,” he said.
Despite Qussay being Shi’ite, in an increasingly sectarian country, he doesn’t discriminate, and most of his students are Sunni.
“He is helping us with reading, comprehension, writing, and even manners – how to behave in the presence of others. He always reminds us that we are just like his own children,” Retaj, a student, said.
“He is teaching us mathematics – in a mathematics examination I got 82 of 100. My family are grateful to him,” said Aysha, another student.
“He is doing his best. He helped us avoid the extra cost of private teachers – as a family who has fled we cannot afford this. Also, he pays attention to the children as if they were his own,” said Amal, a mother of one of the students.
Islands of Peace created by local mediators in Syrian War
Taking sides in the Syrian conflict can get you killed. But not taking sides is just as dangerous. Peace-builders all over the country face accusations of betrayal from all sides, but they haven’t given up.
143 peace actors on the ground in Syria were interviewed for a report by research institute Swisspeace, and for security reasons, they had to stay anonymous. “We noticed that in that the Syrian context, as in many other contexts of armed conflicts, the focus is very quickly on armed actors, and atrocities and violence, and we wanted to change that a little bit and say ‘hey, while there is of course active violence and it’s really terrible what’s going on in Syria, there are also a lot of actors who through their everyday activities they contribute to very small island of stability, and peace,” said Dr Sara Hellmüller, from Swisspeace. Peace-builders face immense barriers, including the militarization for the conflict, and the polarization of society. One respondent said: “after months of incidents, the society of Damascus has become divided between objectors and supporters [to the regime], traitors and collaborators, and even families have divided among each other.” “Everyone, especially at the beginning of the conflict, everyone was quickly asked to really take sides and whoever didn’t, they were under threat of both or of different sides, because they were accused by different sides of being with the other side,” said Dr Hellmüller. One of the hardest tasks of local peace builders is negotiating the release of prisoners, to diffuse a climate of fear. “For instance in Daraa, where a respondent was involved in the exchange of detainees, between the government and an opposition group, and the negotiations lasted for weeks and weeks, and sometimes they nearly failed,” said Dr Hellmüller. “He told us that it was on the brink of a deadlock and at one point they really wanted to stop everything, and then an elders intervened and then everything changed and they could eventually facilitate the deal. The negotiations ended with the release of ten detainees form Da’ara and three form Damascus, so there there was a concrete success,” she said. These peace-builders aren’t able to change the face of the whole conflict, but they do make a difference. “I was quite impressed by the fact that even if agreements are not kept for a long time, there are a lot of negotiations and mediations, and conflict resolution ongoing at the local level, and different individuals mediate truces or mediate exchanges of detainees, be it with different opposition groups or with the government, and even if they just hold for 3 weeks or 4 weeks the people really say ‘At least this gives the people who live in this small village, or in this small region, it gives them a breather from violence and the ongoing hostilities.’ In the report we call it these ‘islands of peace’, and they are islands in the geographical sense, in the sense that it’s not all over Syria, but also in a temporary sense that sometimes they don’t last for long, but at least it’s a temporary island that they create,” said Dr Hellmüller.
Yemen War No Match For Clever Teens
An award-winning film called Yemeniettes has proven that violent wars, poverty and gender constraints are no match for a determined teenager. The documentary follows the true story of a team of girls in Yemen, who use ingenuity and entrepreneurship to secure an education in an increasingly difficult country to survive in. Against the backdrop of conflict between Al-Qaeda and Yemen’s Houthi population, these girls were struggling to get ahead in their education, specifically when constant power-outages stopped them from being able to do their homework. Three determined girls came up with a clever way of overcoming their disadvantage – by starting a company that produces solar-powered lamps. Their story is captured by Layalina Productions – an organisation that aims bridge the divide between the Arab world and the United States. Layalina president and executive producer Leon Shahabian said he was honored to be a part of the story. “Yemeniettes is the story of three amazing teenage girls, from Yemen – the worst country to be a woman in, according to reputable polls,” Mr Shahabian explained. “They are 16-year-old and 17-year-old entrepreneurs from one of the worst public schools in Sa’ana, the capital. So, what do you do when you’re a woman in the worst country to be a woman in, when you don’t have a lot of opportunities for a good education, when your home – your country – is a failed state, when everything is stacked against you – between Al Qaeda, and the Houthis, and foreign intervention, and drone attacks by the West? You start a company,” he said. “That’s what these girls have done – they are saying ‘Ok, this is the hand we have been dealt, we are going to see if we can make things better. We are going to create jobs for us, for our friends, for our communities. We are going to bring money back to Yemen and it’s going to be a great line of business – we are going to harness the power of the sun, not to prove that we can do it, but because there’s not a lot of electricity and when the power is out we can’t study at night. We are not going to wait for the government to figure out how to provide enough power, we are not going to wait for the government to get us a job after we graduate, we are going to take care of things on our own.’”
Peace Village in South Sudan Provides Local Solution
One man’s amazing work in South Sudan has been recognised in a celebration. Former Bishop Paride Taban has been instrumental in establishing the Kuron Peace Village and reconciling local groups over cattle-stealing issues.
– This video contains footage by Simon Bingo from The Niles.
