From starting off the morning with Jill’s meditation session which gave us the much needed energy for the day ahead to having to reflect on and come up with a six word story to describe what brought me here and finally the crocodile story- which was our first true experience with peace building and the struggles in the form of compromise and negotiations- and the various values and core issues that come up along with it was a wonderful way to kickstart and help us get into the peace-building groove.
For me, the most hard hitting and personally moving part of the day was when we watched Parzania and the post movie discussions that followed, which were very insightful of the riots and equally moving because of the personal story that was a part of the narrative. Being from India and not having been as exposed to the brutal and daunting realities of a different part of the country was definitely something that was very eye-opening for me.
Another informative and engaging session filled with learning was Mr. Sanjay’s session on the process and importance of understanding the role trauma recovery plays in peace building. The cross cutting model and getting a better and more detailed insight into neuroanatomy helped inspired me to do more research on how the working of the brain affects trauma and how various factors like social support, information accessible, genes, nature and self care affect the ability of the brain to develop under such circumstances.
Finally, todays lecture on by Professor Kent on ODA (Official Development Assistance) touch on many important issues about how communities are affected or secluded in the process by giving us a perspective/lens in the form of understanding participatory action research , power dynamics , random control trials and giving us the example of how to evaluate whether or not racism has been eradicated is something that has no concrete answer.
