Mags GarganMags Gargan meets an Irish missionary at the forefront of peace work in Kenya
The Irish are very familiar with the importance of peace and reconciliation work in bringing communities together. So it is no surprise to find that the man at the forefront of positive peace efforts in Kenya, and other neighbouring areas of Africa, is an Irish missionary priest.
Fr Patrick Devine, from Co. Roscommon, joined the Society of African Missions (SMA) in 1988 and has spent over 25 years working in East Africa surrounded by poverty, conflict and social injustice.
Following the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007-2008, during which 1,250 were killed, thousands injured and up to 500,000 displaced, Fr Patrick was spurred into founding the Shalom Centre for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation to address the root causes of ethnic violence, rather than just dealing with the symptoms.
“From observing the work of our missionaries, I found we were very good at dealing with the symptoms of conflict such as poverty and underdevelopment, but there seemed to be a gap in our competency to deal with the root causes of conflict,” Fr Patrick says.
He was joined by two Kenyan friends, Dr Robert Mudida and Rosaline Serem MBA, and the team was boosted in 2010 by Fr Oliver Noonan, an SMA priest from Cork, and other qualified Kenya personnel in the field of peace studies and development.
Working initially in the Turkana, Marsabit and Wajir districts in Kenya – an area three times the size of Ireland – they took on the challenge of a region seriously affected by generations of violence among pastoralist ethnic groups. This was caused by issues such as the scarcity of grazing, water, cultural differences, state neglect, contested use of territory and the proliferation of small arms.
From his experience of supporting refugees from the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s, Fr Patrick saw that it was impossible for social and religious values like justice, truth, peace and mercy to take root where people were being continually displaced and living under threat of violence. “With the tension that comes with conflict – violence, killing, maiming – people couldn’t live normal lives or experience true peace,” he says.
“Shalom is a Hebrew word that means peace with justice and harmony,” Fr Patrick says. “It isn’t just about the absence of violence, it is a holistic and integrated approach.
“And bear in mind that the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is oriented to reconciliation – with God, with one another and of course with internal peace with oneself.”
The Shalom Centre is inclusive of all faiths and by using a unique approach of training communities in conflict transformation and, peace-building techniques, the centre focuses on planting the seeds for long-term peace.
Finance
The work is financed by many groups, including the Society of African Missions, Misean Cara, Electric Aid and Apostolic Work groups throughout Ireland. With this assistance, Shalom is training people in conflict transformation, many of them coming from the groups involved in the conflict, as well as government officials.
Following detailed research into the particular conflict, Shalom brings together leaders and opinion shapers from both sides of the dispute – such as chiefs, elders, religious leaders, women’s leaders, youth leaders and warriors – and teaches them the skills to assess the problem and the tools required to address it.
“You cannot impose peace on people,” Fr Patrick says. “Peace has to come from the grass roots, from the people themselves. We empower them and enable them to use analytical skills to find what’s causing their conflict with their neighbours, and to help them with peace-building techniques. That’s why we really engaged ourselves in empirical research, of the highest academic rigour, of what the root causes of these conflicts are.”
Carrying out this research is no easy task. The research methods have to be translated into the local dialect and into non-academic concepts that people at a grassroots level can understand. It also involves inserting research assistants into conflict environments to collect data when violence can erupt at any time.
However, seeing the fruits of their work makes it all worthwhile. “It’s fantastic to see the transformation that can happen,” Fr Patrick says. “At a personal level you can see spiritual and psychological transformation, even emotional transformation in people, when they suddenly see that they can be the architects of their own future.
“Of course, nobody can do it alone. There are many actors involved and, because we live in a state system, there’s governance. A lot of countries in Africa are made up of multi-ethnic societies, so you have components at the ethnic level, state level, regional level and at an international level, because there’s a huge amount of pressure coming from outside. But I do enjoy the work, there’s no doubt about that. It’s been very life-giving.”
Last year, the Shalom Centre ran workshops over 46 weeks. It is providing five courses on peace-building in universities and colleges in Nairobi. The centre is also helping to construct inter-ethnic schools, bringing children and parents from opposing groups to study together. In addition, the organisation is aiming to provide solar power lighting and water to 178 schools in impoverished and arid environments.
Fr Patrick says inter-ethnic education is key to his work. “When you bring the children together, the parents enter into the process and then the political leaders have to take an account of what’s happening.
“That’s a very simple development out of the whole process but I think education is critical going forward.”
Last October, Fr Patrick was presented with the 2013 International Caring Award in Washington, DC. Inspired by the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the award recognises people who try to make a difference to the world and set an example for others. The 2012 recipient was the Dalai Lama.
In March this year, IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority of Development) – which represents eight nations of Africa – awarded Fr Patrick for his peace and development work in Africa.
The Shalom Centre is now registered as a charity in Ireland and has entered into partnership with the Edward M Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention in Maynooth. Fr Patrick says it is very important to recognise “the great heritage that Irish people have contributed to peace and development in Africa.
“What Shalom is about is to bring this to a new level of specialisation – enabling people to be the architects of their own future, because when you own your own future, then it will endure,” he says.
For more information on the Shalom Centre for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation see www.shalomconflictcentre.org. To donate, write to the SMA Fathers, attn: SCCRR, Blackrock Rd, Cork city.