Monthly Archives: October 2013

Developing a Culture of Peace

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There we were sitting in class and listening to two Professors, who were enriching us with Peace Research on “How to manage transition processes in ways that do not provoke violence”. As intellectual as that sounded, however, everyone was quiet and almost bored, because they could no longer take much more after five weeks of the same lectures.

At the right moment when the professor stopped talking, one of our classmates sneezed the cutest sneeze ever. It’s not like she had never sneezed before. In this particular moment in class, her sneeze welcomed. Everyone laughed as the atmosphere was lightened. This got me thinking…

If a sneeze could put a smile on people’s faces from different cultures and backgrounds, how much more could a culture of peace within our communities do? Our class was made up of people from Cameroon, Zambia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Japan, China, Holland, Canada, America, Germany, UK and several other countries – whose names are hard to pronounce. We were people with different views and perspectives, but could laugh and smile at a cute sneeze.

it dawned on me that developing a culture of peace was all about relations. How do you relate to your annoying neighbor on the bus? How do you respond to your son or daughter who tells you that a teacher or lecturer has done this or that? Will you try to understand the situation from both sides, or will you take your kid’s side or the teacher’s side?

Are we teaching our young ones to be self-centered or communal? Should we abandon our responsibilities  as parents and  leave everything to educators to teach our children how they should live? Parents too have a responsibility and a duty to their children.

If you go back to the traditional societies, you will discover that in many homes, societal knowledge was passed on to children through oral speech. myths and stories at night by the moms and grandparents had moral lessons, which were used to teach them about the way of life.  A child would be asked later for example, “Do you remember the wasp’s story? Do you remember what happened when the wasp allowed his anger to take over?” The moral lesson drawn from the story addressed the issue of anger. if you allow anger to take control of you, regrettable things can happen that could have been avoided.

Many  traditional societies had values engraved in songs, myths and riddles , which coached the people to co-existing together in peace and harmony. The lessons gave a sense of belonging and identity. For those who were able to maintain such traditions, they raised their children in ways that were different.

therefore, how can those old traditions be revived in order to help develop a culture of of peace?  Parents need to teach children to exercise peace in their daily interactions with people. to help their children attain this goal, the adults in their lives need to model the lifestyle. Children learn best through observation. What authority will you have over your children, if you do not set the example for them to follow? A culture of peace begins with you as the parent and your children will inherit it.

Education Does Not Give You Jobs

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Remember the time you were in nursery school? Which I am not sure, if I should be happy or sad that i never got such an experience.  Anyways, do you remember those moments, when you were asked what you wanted to be in the future? Even today, when you ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, they say: “Doctor”, “pilot”, “teacher”, “actor” and many more of them. Thus for those kids who can afford to have toys, they will fill up their rooms with items of their dreams. Believing that someday the dream will come true.

Hollywood today constantly reminds us that if you do not achieve the dream you had as a kid, then you are a failure. Here are some quotes that can seriously blind a person:

 “Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period. All right?”

– Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

“Well, it’s no trick to make a lot of money… if all you want to do is make a lot of money.”

– Bernstein, Citizen Kane (1941)

“There’s no such thing as too far. You understand? You push everything as far as you can. You push and you push and you push until it starts pushing back. And then you push some goddamn more.”

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– Walter Abrams, Two For The Money (2005)

These were just a few quotes on what the movies entice us to think. They make us believe that money is everything. I know you will ask me, “ISN’T it?” In High schools, we write in our journals of the life we want to have in the next six years. I want a really awesome job, so I can get a house, a car and a swimming pool in the backyard.

You are almost heading off to college and everyone is asking you what you want to study. Why you want to study it and how that will bring money into your pocket. You are in the university, and almost graduating and everyone is asking you: Have you applied for a job yet? How many responses have you gotten? Where would you like to work? Will you go back to your own country? Why don’t you want to work here?

Then you move on to do a Masters’ Degree  if that is the fastest way of finishing up so you don’t have to stop in the middle of whatever adventure you find yourself in, and you decide to do a  Masters in peace for example. Everyone continues to ask you: What kind of job will you get with that? Why Peace? Who do you want to work with? The UN?  NGOs? No one ask questions as in, Will you provide jobs for others? What is your passion? What can you do with it?

I am not saying dreams are bad, but will money be the only reason you go through education? Shouldn’t education be the ticket to making a difference in your society? When I was heading off to do Masters, everyone was asking me whether I would go back to Africa. Why don’t you want to stay in England and work there? There’s more money there. Personally, it sounded appetizing and dreamy, but that was not why I went to school and decided to go for Masters. I have more to give to my society than you think. Education should be a founding ground for people to get ideas as to what they can do to change their circumstances. It should be a ticket for you to fill a need that you see.

Dr. David Francis yesterday in our Education for Peace in African lecture, echoed the same thoughts I had been wrestling with for the last two years.  “We should not be grooming people to go out and have white collared jobs, but we should be helping them think for themselves. Education should be a guideline for people to be innovative with their lives. You have skills and knowledge; use it to provide jobs for others who have not been privileged to have your education.”

I felt like standing up in the middle of the lecture and clapping my hands. God has given us all talents, skills and knowledge. We should exercise them in ways that are not greedy, self-fulfilled, but life changing for others. Groom others into using their own skills.

All I really wanted to say is this “Schools are not the road to getting high paid jobs. They are a map for you to help change your community.”