Dan Buttry and Wilson Gathungu
We welcome Wilson Gathungu, one of our peace warriors from Kenya. Many of us have known Wilson over the years and sometimes co-facilitated with him in peace and conflict transformation trainings. He’s done amazing work on the ground in some of Kenya’s flash points.
In June 2021, I got an opportunity to attend Fayya Integrated Development Organization’s annual General meeting with the goal of learning management skills of big NGO. Thanks to LivingLove International for sponsoring this study trip. It was a great learning experience for me and I am putting it into practice.
At that time the Russian/Ukraine war had escalated and as I watched the damage caused by that war in Ukraine from my hotel room on TV in Addis Ababa, I put the pen on the paper and expressed my shock and disbelief in an essay titled “GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT”.
The highlight of my essay was this: “Under the watch of UN, EU, AU, and NATO, a sovereign nation is being decimated. What guarantees that another super power will not wake up and conquer its neighbor over a small dispute or agreement”.
It is barely two years and my fears are confirmed. The Israel/Gaza war is as horrifying as the Russian/Ukraine war. Our humanity is in question. Our capacity to solve conflict is in question as well.
First let’s look at what it means to be human. In this context, human beings are people who feel their own pain as well as the pain of others. If you can only feel your own pain, it means you are alive. But if you can feel the pain of others as well as yours, it means you are human.
As a peacemaker and a trainer in peace-building and conflict transformation, I am at loss of words to express the pain and agony the people of Ukraine and Gaza are going through especially children and women. How can we teach people to be human so that they can feel the pain of their perceived enemies?
After every war there are casualties. But no war has ever been won by killing everyone and no war will ever be won by killing anyone. In every war, dialogue comes at the tail end when humanity dawns to the combatants. Why don’t we start with dialogue instead trying to settle our grievances with war?
I closed my write-up on Russian/Ukraine war with an opinion that, “All nations should be perceived guilty and capable of unleashing terror and therefore no nation should be trusted with a nuclear weapons or any other weapon of mass destruction.” My opinion has not changed!
The logic here is very simple. In war there is always a big brother complex of mightier than thou, stronger than thou. So if disarmament is carried out indiscriminately, no country would ever attack another country. The bodies mandated with such responsibilities must be beyond suspicion and must be very humane.
Everyone must be perceived guilty Until Proven Innocent.
Now we Know
Amani Milele…. Peace Forever!
Wilson T. Gathungu is the Executive Director of Peace, Reconciliation and Rehabilitation Initiative (PRARI) based in Kenya. He was the recipient of the Peace and Justice Award at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in the Kansas City area of the U.S., where he received his Master of Divinity. He is also a musician and song-writer with many songs about peace as well as Christian worship songs. Click here to hear one of Wilson’s worship songs.
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