By Rebekah Chevalier, Canada

WACC honorary life member Cees Hamelink first became interested in communication when he was eight years old.

Hamelink, who was awarded the membership 10 October at Congress, is an internationally recognized expert on mass communications and communication rights. In an interview, Hamelink shared his experience of growing up in a mainly Roman Catholic village in The Netherlands, where he attended a Protestant school. There was daily fighting between Protestant and Roman Catholic children.

Cape Town: Marcelo Rezende Guimarães est un moine bénédictin qui fait la formation des professeurs sur l'éducation pour la paix au Brésil.

Johnathan Ben Efrat is a documentary film director who co-founded Video48, an Israeli documentary production collective, in 1999. Video48 primarily seeks to highlight the struggles of the working class, primarily amongst Arab populations in Israel and the West Bank. The have produced several 50 minute features, and some shorter documentaries, since their inception.

WACC has been a key funder for Video48, providing them with a camera and the equipment necessary to equip an editing studio, and funding their latest film, Six Floors to Hell.

Cape Town:  Carlos Eduardo Corado, Audiovisuales de la Univ. Centro América (AUCA), El Salvador

Cape Town: Diana Ferrus was one of the “Clouds of Witnesses” honoured at WACC’s peace congress. Ferrus uses the art of poetry to express herself in a way that touches the emotions more deeply than dialogue can.

Cape Town: Congress 2008 of the World Association of Christian Communicators (WACC) will go in the history of some African journalists as a source of knowledge which they had not previously known.

The journalists drawn from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and Malawi report that they have benefitted a lot from a 'Peace Reporting Workshop' run by veteran journalists Stephen Brown and Peter Kenny from the Geneva-based Ecumenical News International (ENI).

Cape Town: At the last meeting of the WACC 2008 Congress, I met a radio producer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I asked her if she could share some audio excerpts for my website on stories for peace building. She said unfortunately, no. Her organization did not have the equipment or budget for producing audio files.

Cape Town: Hola, que tal? soy Ana Montoya, de Colombia. Estoy feliz de estar aqui y de participar. trabajo con radios comunitarias indigenas, especialmente en zonas de conflicto; y tambien con emisoras escolares en sectores populares.

Cape Town: Today Congress participants had the chance to visit the former prison that Nelson Mandela, along with other political prisoners, were held in on Robben Island. The island itself has exudes a sense of power – the power of darkness which enslaved both whites and blacks in the bondage to apartheid, and the power of truth and justice to prevail over hatred.

Cambodia: There are many ways to communicate together and with the world, but the thing is to communicate in the right way. Misinformation is miscommunication. Today, World Association for Christian Communities (WACC) is gathering the secular communicators to explore global experience with the world.

A delegate from Ecuador addresses a question to Joanne Sandler, Deputy Executive Director – Program, UNIFEM.

Cape Town: “We are free today because you supported us. Our victory is your victory. Our freedom in many ways is your freedom."

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

World Association of Christian Communication opened its 2008 Congress today with dancing, drumming, and celebration. 300 delegates from over 70 countries gathered to hear stories, share experiences, and deepen their communication skills and knowledge throughout the five-day event.

India Folk media like theatre, fair and festivals, folk songs and folk dances are deeply rooted in the socio cultural mores of the society. Through observation and interviews , the attitude of a person can be presented but through folk songs the real motives and spontaneous expression of the people can be shaped.

I conducted a study in a remote village of India, to present portrayal of women by collecting and analyzing folk songs with special reference to sex discrimination patterns within the family. Interviews with women showed a clear picture of women in contrast to men.

Argentina: Media creates our reality, which today is filled with all kinds of conflicts; human, technological, etc. Being a Christian social communicator in the face of such a large media sphere is not easy, and is even harder when one is young.

The World Christian Student Federation (WSCF) is aware of this, and this is why we encourage alternative means of communication. "Communicating peace is communication for change." One of the most important challenges for Christians is to encourage and train communities on this path.

For five days, global communicators, academics, politicians, peace advocates among others, will attend WACC’s Congress to exchange ideas about communication and peace. How can we nurture, grow and share peace? What does Communicating Peace mean? For me, it's pointless to preach about Peace when it's absent from our hearts.

African journalists will obviously anticipate fruitful exchanges and wonderful memories from the Congress. Certainly, they will leave the Congress fully convinced, this world can be changed. It only needs a strong social conscience.
 

Even as we talk peace, the Congress will be time for reunion for some people and connecting with new colleagues. Catching up! For others, it will be the first time to meet, to lay foundation for building viable communities, in the spirit of peace. It will be a Congress full of memories, sun blasted memories that we will carry in our hearts and minds for along time!.

Munyaradzi Makoni is a Zimbabwean journalist now based in South Africa.

India: Today, we are living in an age of tension, conflict, information explosion and much else besides. Information these days is being managed, packaged and then communicated. As a consequence, it dwindles into disinformation and misinformation. Rarely does it qualify as information fr peace.

Mahatama Gandhi’s message regarding peace was simple, though difficult to drive home his point. Once someone asked Gandhi,” what is the way to peace?” He quickly answered “Peace is the Way”. What Gandhi meant was that a peace is the end; the means must also be peaceful.

Men have to learn that violence breeds violence. That is why, Gandhi in his own time and we in contemporary times have to learn the lesson that terror, violence, bloodshed or means like that can never bring us a jot nearer to peace. We welcome the theme of WACC 2008 Congress. i.e. “communication is Peace” and hope it will communicate the message of peace to the whole world.

Santosh Kumar Tripathi

Nigeria: Journalists For Christ (JFC), the organization for Christian journalists and allied professionals in Nigeria, organized a seminar ahead of WACC's global Congress to draw attention to the issues slated for the Congress which will be held in Cape Town South Africa, 6-10 October.

Speaking at the International Press Centre (IPC) in Lagos where the pre-WACC Congress seminar was held, Saturday 20 September, Ogba-Ikeja, National coordinator of JFC and Lekan Otufodunrin, Editor of the Sunday Nation newspaper, briefed participating journalists about the global body, its aims and objectives and the need for membership drive in Nigeria.

Kenya: Media does not always play a role in promoting or keeping peace. In Kenya, for example, the media came under sharp criticism early this year over its coverage of the post-election violence in the country, and has been blamed for fueling the crisis. It was blamed for taking sides, reneging on objectivity, conflict management and peace reporting. For the first time, the media stood in the dock, accused together with political protagonists behind the conflict, which left 1000 people dead and 300 000 others internally displaced.

Undoubtedly, media influences society. In the Kenyan scenario, the media should have played a more constructive role in accurately informing Kenyans about what was happening, including the alleged messes within the electoral commission during vote counting and tallying, and the announcement of presidential results.

As a young journalist working in Africa, I think that the media can be used more constructively for bringing lasting recovery and peace to post-conflict areas. The theme of WACC’s 2008 Congress “Communication is Peace: Building Viable Communities,” is therefore timely and valuable.

Redemtor Atieno, a Kenyan Journalist currently based in Uganda.

Honolulu, Hawaii: Organizing WACC’s Congress in South Africa will certainly have a big impact on the ongoing efforts to bring peace not only in Northern Uganda but also in other parts of the world. I am hopeful that the Congress will raise greater awareness and understanding among fellow journalists and social workers in different conflict-affected zones on the right ways of "communicating peace".

The challenge is to communicate "peace", and not news per se. Media and the journalists in the conflict-hit zones face the biggest challenge of prioritizing mission journalism for peace at the cost of cheap popularity and immediate commercial returns. I hope the Congress caters to this need and sends a strong message to the world how we can communicate peace.

Kamal Raj Sigdel, APLP Fellow, Nepal East West Center, 1601 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA Phone: (808) 944-7841.
Kamal is the Sub-Editor of The Kathmandu Post and Coordinator of Subaltern Forum, Nepal.

Switzerland: With the phenomenal growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs), young people find themselves overwhelmed by information. As a Christian organization committed to working with students worldwide, we (The World Student Christian Federation) find the need to make them aware of the huge potential provided by ICTs in our societies and the opportunities available for them to speak on behalf of their communities, especially on peace-building issues.

I am sure WACC's Congress will be a turning point for many Christian communicators, as they will learn alot from the great speakers and participants who will attend it. We are proud to send a journalist from Lesotho on behalf of WSCF and we hope this event will promote wide and solid networks between different organisations so we can all work together in a world where Communications and other Human Rights are continuously under threat.

Andrés López, Communications Intern, World Student Christian Federation, Geneva, Switzerland

Uganda: Church media have a special role in advocating for peace in Northern Uganda where war by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has lasted for over 20 years. Thousands of children abducted by the guerillas were forced into miserable lives as child soldiers and sexual slaves. Many are missing parents either because they were abducted or killed.

Church media should empower the war victims to tell their stories, traumas and experiences. Through churches, the media are able to reach far and wide where other journalists cannot reach. They are able to get into the spiritual depth of the conflict. I thank WACC for organising the Congress in Africa and I hope journalists will become more empowered to actively advocate for peace in the region.

Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe is the Director of St. Monica Girls Tailoring Centre in Northern Uganda, a rescue centre for girls and children. She was awarded CNN’s heroes award 2007

Togo: Le Togo est entré depuis quelque temps dans un processus de réconciliation nationale après une période de conflits et de graves et massives violences à caractère sociopolitique. Pour un aboutissement effectif de ce processus, les populations ont besoin d’une bonne et vraie communication, une communication pacifique et non violente. Car parfois les médias versent dans le sensationnel et le parti pris, et les conséquences sont désastreuses. A cet effet, ceux qui sont appelés à communiquer doivent être imprégnés de la volonté de bâtir une société de paix dans laquelle les intérêts particuliers n’empiètent pas sur l’intérêt général pour une paix sociale durable.

Le thème du congrès de la WACC : "La communication c’est la paix : bâtir des communautés durables" permettra aux journalistes et communicateurs de partager des expériences qui feront d’eux des artisans de la paix en Afrique et partout ailleurs dans le monde où des communautés sont déchirées par des violences de toutes sortes. Car ce n’est que par la promotion de la paix que nous pourrions construire des communautés durables.

KPALLA Matomklawè, Chef Section Mass Média,
Eglise Evangélique Presbytérienne du Togo

Canada: When misunderstandings exist, or are even entrenched, true communication becomes increasingly difficult, yet increasingly important if peace is to be achieved. It is therefore critical to ensure that our communications for peace foster true understanding.

Audiovisual messages offer powerful ways to increase this understanding. The theme of WACC’s 2008 Congress is “Communication is Peace: Building Viable Communities.” If communication is peace, then information and communication technologies (ICTs) are valuable tools that enable communication.

In an effort to enable greater communications for peace, I have made my own small contribution, which was inspired by the Rwandan events. I just launched a multimedia storytelling website called www.cryrwanda.com. I invite you to share your own stories about peacebuilding there, from any region -- we all can learn from each other. Please visit the site again in the future to view what others have contributed.

Read full article...
Carole St. Laurent, ICT Consultant, fluidIT solutions

USA: One of the important revelations of the tragic events related to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is how little the average citizen in the United States knew about Islam and the Muslims. Often, gaps created by lack of knowledge are readily filled by prejudices and assumptions, and the willingness to succumb to the fear of the unknown. Throughout history powerful groups in society exploit such ignorance to polarize communities and perpetuate violence and war. True knowledge is liberative; mutual understanding is at the heart of building communities that live in peace with justice.

The listening and learning process that goes on in communication and the way such communication impacts and transforms the affective and relational dimensions of life in community are central to building viable communities for peace. It is significant that WACC’s Congress 2008 in Cape Town has chosen ‘Communication is Peace: Building Viable Communities’ as the theme of its gathering. Read full article...

Rev. Dr. S. Wesley Ariarajah, Professor of Theology, at Drew University, School of Theology, Madison, N.J., U.S.A

Guatemala: Life in Guatemala has already taught me that there is no magic formula for peace. Peace building is hard work that often bears little fruit for generations. In Cape Town I expect to learn what has worked for colleagues in other parts of the world and how they have been able to incorporate the media into their peacebuilding strategies. I look forward to attending the Congress because my work as a Christian communicator and my involvement in Guatemalan civil society are inextricably tied to the need to find viable solutions to the complex web of violence that ensnares us. My colleagues in Africa are well equipped to guide our reflections. Read full article...

Dennis Smith, former president of WACC-Latin America, the coordinator for Communication Training and Publications with theCentral American Evangelical Center for Pastoral Studies (Cedepca), in Guatemala City.