Presentation by Rev. Dr. Patrick Devine, Shalom-SCCRR International Chairman
Dear friends,
A very gracious welcome and appreciation to each of you.
On behalf of my colleagues at the Shalom Centre for Conflict Resolution & Reconciliation (SCCRR) who are on the frontline in Africa, my prayers and solidarity are with you all as we continue on the road of life together. Thank God for the blessings that we have all received to be able to do something significant with our lives while we can; a monumental part of a life well lived! I am sure that you will agree that we are all so interconnected. The challenge is to look outside our comfort zones and to empower those on the periphery. I thank you for supporting us in Eastern Africa from afar throughout the years. You are a tremendous important part of our work and your solidarity makes the peacebuilding and school/educational development projects possible.
Shalom is centred on transforming the underlying causes of conflict and crippling poverty, and not just the symptoms alone. Whether it be in the semi- arid desert plains or the urban slums where people scrape an existence to survive, Shalom is constantly there in their midst. Frequently, the dangers are harrowing when dealing with inter-ethnic conflict, religious ideological extremism, and widespread domestic violence against women and children. To give you a flavour of our work in 2024 alone:
4 Peace Agreements were achieved between previously conflicting ethnic communities through SCCRR conflict transformation, peacebuilding and school/educational development interventions.
- Molo and Kuresoi. A peace agreement was signed between several ethnic communities (Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Kisii, Luhya, Luo and Kamba), immediately impacting approximately 137,000 people and 415,000 indirectly.
- Muhoroni/Tinderet (Kisumu-Luo and Nandi). A peace agreement was signed between Luo and Nandi ethnic communities, immediately impacting approximately 104,000 people and 280,000 indirectly.
- Lokitonyala/Loreng’kipi (Turkana and Pokot). A peace agreement was signed between the Turkana and Pokot ethnic communities along the border of Turkana and West Pokot Counties, immediately impacting approximately 44,000 people directly and 180,000 indirectly.
- Tuum/Parkati, (Samburu and Turkana). A peace agreement was signed between the Turkana and Samburu ethnic communities, immediately impacting approximately 26,200 people directly and 73,000 indirectly.
61 School/Educational Development Project Interventions, benefiting 15,477 students in 56 institutions
- 3,047 Influential Opinion Shapers trained with Conflict Transformation Skills-Peacebuilding Techniques, transforming Inter-Tribal Conflict and Religious Ideological Extremism (Terrorism);
- 4,812 Women from Urban Informal Settlements (Slums) trained with Conflict Transformation skills and Peace Building techniques addressing Violence against Women and Children & supported with Holistic Livelihood Resilience Capacity.
Since our foundation 15 years ago, our achievements have included:
- 732 school/educational development projects providing classrooms, solar-lightning, desks, books, sanitary etc.
- 222,563 pupils have benefited from our projects.
- 36 Health-Centers, were enhanced with structures, expanded and updated with equipment.
- 34,024 influential opinion shapers empowered, through 860 conflict transformation and peacebuilding trainings, to be the architects of conflict resolution and reconciliation in 36 conflict environments experiencing killing, maiming and displacement. A reduction of inter-ethnic based violent conflicts by an average of 67% achieved in Shalom project areas.
- Pragmatic interventions were strengthened To Stop Human and Organ Trafficking, and tens of thousands of people were enabled to rise towards self-sufficiency.
Life for entire communities inhabiting vast terrains have been transformed; YOU and the SHALOM team of men and women have made this possible. Your donation will go 100% to our work in Africa, with 96 pence in every pound going directly into the projects implemented by Shalom on the ground.
Having received the exceptional honor of Accreditation to the United Nations we are continuing with advocacy, locally and internationally. Sometime ago, Fergal Keane, BBC African Editor, writing about Shalom in the Irish Independent said: “Kenya needs them in its slums and beleaguered western villages… what they do here matters to all of Africa…”, and International Development Consultant, Dr Mike Williams, reviewing Shalom’s methodology and organisational strategy stated: “Shalom’s contextually driven, rigorous but adaptable and forward-looking methodology represents a model approach towards peace-building in highly complex situations, such as those that pertain in Northern Kenya. The approach, with its emphasis on community leadership, stakeholder participation, high technical competency, logic models, results frameworks, stories of change and advocacy linkages also reflects current best practice within both the peacebuilding and development sectors.”
We need to keep the theory and practice in sync. Like your businesses, ‘theory without practice is empty and practice without theory is blind’. Your support and your presence with us is never taken for granted; we honour you with the people in Africa who put their sweat and tears into bringing about lasting peace, digging the school and medical building foundations, mixing the concrete, carrying the equipment on their heads and shoulders in hot semi-arid terrains and slum areas. This is not a mission for the faint-hearted!
Your concern, your care and your willingness to go the extra mile with Shalom-SCCRR in Africa is monumental in the eyes of God and humankind. Shalom(www.shalomconflictcenter.org), thanks everyone participating in this charity day for enabling us to do the work entrusted to us for some of the most abandoned peoples and places on this planet. I am sure you will all join me in expressing our utmost appreciation too, to the UK, London organizing committee of Andy Rogers, Brendan and Bernadette Morahan, Martin Reilly, Austin Duignan. Seamus Carr, Seamus McGinley, Gerry Keany and Andy Hastie.
Personally, I am delighted beyond words to be here again today with you. Be always assured too, of my assistance to you and your families on the road of life ahead.
I remain in solidarity with you. God Bless.
Sincerely, Fr. Patrick Devine, PhD, Shalom-SCCRR International Chairman
