As our Accountability work grows, our global experience expands as well. After a recent trip to South Africa we felt inspired to share a story about people proactively effecting change.

The Center for Peaceful Accountability is dedicated to using Accountability to support Peace efforts around the world. In February of this year Mark Samuel and Sophie Chiche participated in the Symposium on Peace and Restorative Justice in Colombia. The symposium was inspiring not only in the ways that Mark and Sophie were able to see the profound connections between Accountability and Peace, but also in the relationships that evolved from the trip. The meeting in Columbia culminated with an offer from South Africa's esteemed Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to enlist his government's aid in Colombia's peace process, by inviting government and rebel leaders from around the world to visit and to tour South Africa for talks on peace and restorative justice. Sophie traveled to South Africa in May to spend time with a group of international philanthropists and government officials who work together to improve the conditions in their own parts of the world.

Click here to share in a slideshow of images from South Africa.

This is Sophie's Story
I returned from my visit to South Africa filled with hope and inspiration for the future, as the Center for Peaceful Accountability becomes an active part of the Restorative Peace Movement. What had felt overwhelming and at times intimidating to me now felt comfortable as I observed first hand the power that comes from a willingness to engage in conversations about AIDS, poverty and Apartheid. The purpose of these dialogues was to affect change as the conversations were always interwoven with ideas about peace, restorative justice and Accountability.

Our group was there to observe, learn and to explore what South Africa has done in the past ten years. We heard the successes and the challenges in areas of education, restorative Justice, community development, environmental preservation, and black economic empowerment. On a more personal level, I had an opportunity to pause and assess where I am in accomplishing my childhood dream to make this world a better place, one day at a time. I also had a chance to reevaluate my relationship to Accountability and what that word has meant for me the past ten years. I learned that one is not a victim of his circumstances. One has the choice of what he does with his thoughts and the meaning he gives them. One is free to choose to forgive, grow and blossom no matter what "happens" to him.

"It does not matter what has been done to us.
What matters is what we do with what has been done to us."
-Sartre

Here are some of the highlights from my travels of things that particularly moved me...

Khaylitsha
Our journey started in Cape Town where we visited South Africa's fastest growing township, Khaylitsha, established in the 1980's. Although facing severe challenges, Khaylitsha is the home of a vibrant community with community leaders, entrepreneurs and residents all deeply committed to affecting change through innovative projects to improve the quality of life for the people of this region.

Men on the Side of the Road (MSR)
MSR stands for Men on the Side of the Road. It is estimated that 25,000-50,000 South African men gather every day on the side of the roads in Cape Town. They are there waiting for work which rarely comes. MSR is built on the idea that sustainable change will occur for the these men only after this population comes together as an organized group that recognizes and utilizes its own strengths. MSR helps to empower this group through education on their human and labor rights and to inform them on where they can borrow tools to develop skills that make them more viable candidates in the job market.

Mothers and Mothers to Be - An HIV Clinic.
Mothers and Mothers to Be is a clinic dedicated to helping mothers with HIV. The mission of this group is to educate and to assist mothers in not transmitting the virus to their own children. We witnessed a support group lead by Monica, a mother with HIV, who courageously and passionately shared with us how "being sick" (she signed quotation marks in the air) had brought such good things in her life and how she felt more alive today than she ever had felt before she was diagnosed.

One of the clinic's projects is a bead-making enterprise that helps these women to build their independence through financial gain, in order that they can break free from their ties to abusive families and partners. We were asked not to take pictures here, as a lot of the women have not come forward to their families about their diagnosis. Lisa asked me to take one of her, as she is proud to have told the people around her, and proud of how she has grown from her commitment to making a better life for herself despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Focus on Sustainable Development
Founded in 1999, The Sustainability Institute is an international living and learning center built on the principles of a healthy and self-sustaining eco system. The Institute has a school for young children and also houses visiting artists, activists and scholars. In a country whose government sanctioned inequality for so long, The Sustainability Institute provides a place for people to explore the ideas of a more equitable society.

Restorative Justice
After our thought provoking and often-emotional stay in Cape Town we flew to Johannesburg where the focus shifted to Restorative Justice. We visited the Constitutional Court, which is built on one the former prison sites during Apartheid. This particular prison's notoriety comes from the fact that both Nelson Mandela and Gandhi were detained there. Justice Albie Sachs, who leads the court today, toured us through this historic monument. He passionately shared with us the meaning and history behind this unique and powerful architectural symbol of South Africa's turbulent past and it's extraordinary transition to democracy.

The courthouse entrance is designed to symbolize an old tree, with a modern light fixture representing the leaves and the pillars that support the building representing the trunks. This is a visual reminder of South Africa's tribal tradition of justice in which ceremonies were held under the oldest tree in the surrounding land.

One of the most memorable symbols for me was inside the courtroom itself, where cow skins are elegantly placed in front of each judge's table to remind us that although all cows are cows, some are white, some are black and white, and some are mostly black...reminiscent of the diverse population in South Africa

Behind the judges seats there is a wall built from the very bricks that imprisoned Nelson Mandela in his jail cell. The doors on either side of this wall have been crafted from the iron of the doors that confined the prisoners. Each door is beautifully handcrafted in a different pattern as a celebration and symbol of diversity. Transparent spaces of glass encompass the entire room, focusing our thoughts toward the need for a transparent judicial process. The power of this architectural statement is profound. It is another example of how South Africa has built from it's own destructive past to create something beautiful from which to grow, to learn, and to forgive.

There are translators for 13 of the languages that are spoken in South Africa. Once again this was a reminder of the multiethnicity of this country.

Justice Sachs, who is also a poet, tells us about one of the most brutal times in the history of this country, in a way that somehow we all feel inspired and hopeful. He manages to make us laugh from his tender humor and cry for his poignant recollection of a blue dress made from a local artist to honor a woman who was killed and left on the side of the road at the time of Apartheid. When her body was found a tiny piece of blue trash covered her private parts. The artist, inspired by this story, went on a journey throughout South Africa collecting tiny pieces of blue plastic. She made a dress to symbolically cover all of her body; the dress is a summer dress to represent, growth, life, healing.

This journey to South Africa is the proof that Peace is a process that takes multiple steps. Paramount to this process is the willingness, strength, courage and hope to continue to take the next step...and the next one.

I left South Africa feeling blessed for all that I was able to see, from everyone that I met, from the stories that I heard and the ways that I felt inspired to make change in all areas of my life.

At The Center for Peaceful Accountability we continue to explore ways to contribute to World Peace efforts.

It takes all of us to make it move forward.

Every time we make the choice to:
• Stay centered instead of reacting
• Take what comes at us with compassion instead of taking it personally
• Take care of one's Self and one another...

"We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions and pass them on." -Richard P. Feynman

Click here to share in a slideshow of images from South Africa.

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