Um euch einen Einblick in meine Arbeit und allgemein die Arbeit der Justice and Peace Commission zu geben, habe ich hier für euch den Report zu einem der Annual Trainings.

Objective:

The Justice and Peace Commission organizes yearly trainings for the fieldworkers to educate them about the Commission and their work, and train them in basic skills such as conflict management and collaboration. Until now two trainings were organized every year, one for Bui and one for Donga Mantung divisions, but this year the trainings were brought down to the deaneries as a new strategy to enhance the number of participants.

Monday, 23rd October 2017, first day:

The annual training in Kumbo deanery took place at St. Theresia’s catholic school. Registration started at 8:45 a.m. and the training at 9:30 a.m. with an opening prayer, Bible sharing and singing of the commission anthem. Sr. Vanaja welcomed everyone and asked how many members of every parish were present. At that point, one member from Kumbo parish, nine from Mbve, eight from Shisong and seven from Meluf were present, no members from Kikaikom, Tobin, Kikaikalaki, Melim and Kitiwum, but more members came in later in the day. Marcel introduced the team which was represented by Sr. Vanaja, himself, Warren and Christina and Sr. Vanaja explained the new strategy of the training and expressed her happiness about many new members. The rules were defined by the participants as following: phones should be on vibration or silent, side comments and repetitions are not allowed, the participants should be on time and listen actively and Pidgin should be used as language. Mme Chin Doris was made time keeper and thereafter, Marcel gave a short look on the program and reminded the participants to ask questions when they don’t understand something.

Marcel started the first session at 10 a.m. on Basic Seminar. He started off with a briefing on the inception of the Justice and Peace Commission and explained the principle “See, judge, act.” Moreover, he underlined the importance of Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the field of justice and peace by explaining the structure of the Commission with SCCs as a base. Marcel invited the participants to educate their own hearts first and one member added the importance of having open senses and hearts. In the short break which followed participants who came later were registered and at 10:45 a.m. Marcel continued with the concept of justice by asking the participants what justice is. Answers given were: transparency, fairness, truthfulness, equal opportunities, absence of bias and equilibrium. He explained that justice has to be seen from different perspectives, because it concerns three different aspects, namely tradition/ culture, law and God. Moreover he presented the different kinds of justice, which are: retributive justice, distributive justice, social justice and restorative justice. The participants were unanimous by pointing out restorative justice as the ideal for Justice and Peace workers, given that it focuses on healing wounds and rebuilding relationships instead of punishment.

Next, he started the concept of peace by asking the participants what peace is and answers given were: absence of war, sharing, happiness, a steady mind, approach and concern. He further explained that one must have peace with God, the universe, himself and others to constitute peace and named love as a big instrument for peace. Furthermore, he urged participants to start with building inner peace and to be good examples in order to gain trust as Justice and Peace workers. At 11:45 a.m. Mr. Vitalis from the Pastoral Center arrived and before he started his talk a short energizing song was sung by the participants.

Mr. Vitalis’ talk was based on the Pastoral Plan and the place of Justice and Peace Commission within. One of the issues was on the mandate of Commission workers and low productivity given that within the three years term most people would spend time planning and achieve very little. He further explained that an individual could belong to two commissions; one by appointment and the other by election. On the importance of the ongoing training he urged the participants retain knowledge not for themselves alone but for their parishes. His talk was interrupted by the 12 o’clock prayer. He defined the hierarchy of the church and stated in strong terms the role of the catechesis within the missions. With a prayer at 12:40 p.m. he closed his talk and feeding money for lunch break was distributed by Sr. Vanaja and Warren.

After lunch break Marcel continued at 1:45 p.m. with the second part of the Basic Seminar. He talked about the plan for the 2016-2019 period which was presented at the annual training last year and contains four objectives sponsored by Misereor. Objective One he said, focuses on land conflicts particularly the conflict between Ntumbaw and Njirong. Objective Two on domestic workers, Three on civil marriages, birth certificates and human trafficking and Four, conflicts between farmers and graziers. The current land conflict between Ntumbaw and Njirong was explained as well as how the Commission is trying to find a solution to this conflict. More light was given to Objective Two, because it summarizes the reality more evident in the participants’ parishes. As such they were divided into three groups according to parishes and asked to brainstorm on a poster which informs about domestic workers. The importance of having a copy of the written contract between the employer and employee was highlighted. About Objective Three Marcel explained the process of getting a birth certificate and pointed out how important having all basic documents (birth certificate, registration of civil marriage, death certificate) is in protecting the family. In response to a question Marcel clarified that every child has the right to know his/her biological parents, but that in the event where the father is unknown, the space should be left blank on the birth certificate. Furthermore, he stated that a divorce always has to follow legal procedures. Under farmer-grazier conflicts, Marcel advised the participants to bring the two parties together so they can find common ground and a solution to their problems.

Next, the parishes had 30 minutes to come together, think and provide answers to the following three questions:

1. What do you want to achieve as Justice and Peace worker in your parish from November 2017 to November 2018?

2. How do you want to achieve it?

3. What is your plan of activities?

Additionally, Sr. Vanaja invited them to have exchange visits, if they feel that another parish is working better to see and learn from them. The presentation of answers started at 4:15 p.m.

Shisong parish thought to bring up a calendar of activities and sensitize the community on the principles of Justice and Peace in mission stations and SCCs. Meluf wanted to educate the community on topics such as mob justice, and build commission membership. Kumbo parish planed to sensitize in SCCs and other religious groups and to meet once a month to discuss issues. Kitiwum planned to sensitize and educate especially in child trafficking and human rights abuse, to sensitize catechists and parish priests, to educate members and look on cases. Mbve parish proposed to have a talk on the rights and obligations of domestic workers and to celebrate the world human rights day through a sensitization campaign. Furthermore, they wanted to see how to intervene in farmer-grazier conflicts and bring new members through general sensitization.

Sr. Vanaja commented that some parishes didn’t understand the questions and were not precise in their plans. She had a few more requests to the parishes and gave some of them the paper back to bring up a more sustainable plan. The day ended with a prayer and singing of the anthem at 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, 24th October 2017, second day:

The second day started at 8:25 a.m. with an opening prayer, Bible sharing and singing of the commission anthem. Sr. Vanaja started the first session on Collaboration and Communication by asking what collaboration is and answers given were: working together, interacting, helping each other and joining efforts. She handed over to Warren who elaborated and illustrated the importance, intricacies and benefits of collaboration in two role-plays. Accordingly, it was learned that collaboration enhances success, aids in achieving a common goal, eases circulation of information, nurtures love, development and learning from each other, to name a few. As challenges of collaboration the participants mentioned submission difficulty, discrimination, hatred, language, selfishness, jealousy and accountability. Before Sr. Vanaja continued, Warren stated that in order to collaborate one has to understand and accept cultural and religious background or beliefs of his coworker.

Sr. Vanaja asked the participants, what they can do in order to solve the problems and enhance collaboration. Answers given were; trying to be open to everyone, love which was considered as the basis of everything, trust in others’ talents and contributions and understanding. Moreover, she added to the mentioned benefits of collaboration, less expenditure and more output. In a few minutes of silence the participants were asked to question themselves and see if they realize others’ potentials and accept their contribution in the field of justice and peace and how they support leadership in the Justice and Peace Commission. To go on with the topic communication another group exercise was led by Warren on effective communication. Through this exercise, participants were taught that to effectively communicate, one has to listen carefully and be sure of the transmission or response. Moreover, communication was described as a cycle and Sr. Vanaja pointed out that it always has to be reciprocal. She reminded the participants also to always verify information by going back to the source to ensure trust and credibility. Some four elements of communication; speaking, nonverbal, thinking and listening were explained, while Sr. Vanaja underlined the importance of effective listening when handling a case as Justice and Peace worker. Lastly, she gave two basic tips on communication: speak clearly and ask questions, when you don’t understand something.

One participant asked what to do in the event where when handling a case one gets bugged with greetings or talks from every angle and Sr. Vanaja advised that cases should be discussed in convenient and neutral locations away from any distractions. Because she had to leave for Yaoundé, Sr. Vanaja ended her presentation by thanking everyone for coming and urged all individuals to bring change through this training to the society. Because of Sr. Vanaja’s early leave, the group picture was snapped and a short break given.

At 10:20 a.m. Marcel continued with a seminar on Conflict Management. He started by asking the participants where conflicts come from and answers given were: disagreement, misunderstanding, lack of peace, hatred, jealousy, war and violence. He stated that conflicts are normal and everywhere and explained how conflicts start while reminding the participants of their duty to prevent an escalation and to bring the people to understand the situation, when they realize the early signs of a conflict. As reasons for conflicts the participants gave pride, lack of equal opportunities, poverty, discrimination, envy and injustice. Following, he explained that the human needs are an essential element because a conflict starts, when a need is not fulfilled and mentioned fear and relationship as important aspects of conflicts. He explained that every conflict comes with a Major-minor relationship which should be turned into an Equal-Equal relationship before any attempts to resolutions. With a small exercise he taught the participants that one thing can be seen in various perspectives and be understood in different ways, so they have to be very vigilant as Justice and Peace workers. Next, he described five different types of conflicts: individual conflicts, family conflicts, conflicts between tribes/ clans, regional/ national conflicts and international conflicts. He continued with the attitudes of Justice and Peace workers, for which he used animals as bad role models.

The participants had two more exercises, which taught them not to think only about their personal interests but also about others and to not use force, but dialogue in conflict management. The seminar was interrupted by the 12 o’clock prayer and a blessing by Fr. Sylvester who came for a short visit. One participant asked how to mediate in rape cases, but Marcel answered that criminal acts were not for mediation. Lastly, he talked about the responsibility as Justice and Peace worker by giving some tips, which were: separate the problem from the persons, always go to the root causes, identify the needs and interests of the parties, listen actively and gain a certain status in society. The lunch break started at 12:30 p.m. and feeding money was distributed by Sr. Lucie and Warren.

At 2 p.m. Mr. Isidore continued with his seminar on the Role of the Law. He started with a short explanation of human rights as basic and stated that the Justice and Peace work is voluntary and missionary work of the church and that only God alone can reward it. His presentation centered on the new criminal procedure code of Cameroon. The participants were asked what they think about the statement “Cameroon is a state of law,” very often made by statesmen. Because the question was more or less rhetorical, he went further to described the difficulty in the National Law, which consists of two different systems: the Civil Law and the Common Law. He pointed out the necessity of knowing both systems and understanding their differences. He then presented the criminal procedure code by explaining the steps which need to be taken when someone is arrested. Because of a question, he reminded the participants that the opinion they’re claiming should be the opinion of the church, because the Justice and Peace Commission is a mission of the church.

At 3:35 p.m. the parishes started presenting their reports. Mbve parish reported about ten activities including monthly meetings, a visit of the office and the celebration of the International Day of a Girl Child on 11th October. As difficulties it was mentioned that the Anglophone crisis affected members of the parish. Meluf reported that they had meetings at the mission level, but couldn’t continue because of the crisis. Furthermore, they had many cases, although some were still pending. They equally reported having celebrated the day of the African child and took part in the Pastoral Week Celebration. As difficulties they mentioned a plague of finances, poor attendance at meetings due to time clashes and that they had only very few commissions. As way forward they suggested to educate and sensitize in human trafficking. Unfortunately, Shisong, Kumbo and Kitiwum parish had no report to present.

Because most of the reports were not satisfactorily done, Marcel gave a short instruction on report writing. A good report should contain an introduction, the activities followed by the four project objectives, difficulties and successes, the way forward, proposals to the office and a conclusion he said. Sr. Lucie showed a very bad example of a report, which reached the office and reminded the participants to take the reports serious and to come to the office themselves instead of handing it in at the gate. To have the reports well-ordered together in future, the parishes received a book each for reports, a ruler and two pens together with the handout. Next, Mr. Joachim informed the participants about the partnership between the radio stations and the Justice and Peace Commission and announced the radio program on the training for the next day. Additionally, he announced the regular program about justice and peace, which is on Wednesdays from 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

At last, the training was evaluated. The participants praised the presentations, handouts and that the language was understandable. Furthermore, they liked the practical part and were glad that they can bring the acquired knowledge to their parishes. It was criticized that the place where the meeting took place had short benches which made sitting difficult for adults, that the time was too limited for the plenty of material and that they got no certificate in the end. One participant pointed out that the seminar was often interrupted by questions during the presentations, but many others disagreed with this criticism. The facilitation was very good for everyone. Moreover, the participants appreciated the training at the deanery level, because it encouraged some parishes. As improvement for the next training they suggested a change of environment, early and convenient programming, new topics on human rights, a reduction of the long break duration and earlier closing, more days of training and to invite people from other denominations.

Mme. Vero invited the participants for a deanery meeting on 18th November 2017 in Kikaikalaki and requested financial support in order to assist a sick member. Marcel and Mr. Isidore said some closing words, in which they invited the participants to use their knowledge and the training ended with a closing prayer and singing of the anthem at 4:35 p.m. Transportation money was distributed by Sr. Lucie and Warren.