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Conflict Transformation Workshop Alumni
Reflections
Envisioning Futures:
Dialogue and Conflict
Transformation (2005)
Uttamam!
Excellent forum that helped me lighten myself of a heavy baggage
of preconceived and unfounded biases. As prescribed in the ancient
Vedic dictum, that tells us to 'Walk together, talk together,
to know each others thinking' the workshop gave me the opportunity
to walk, think and laugh alongside my 'enemy', to look at an individual
as a human being first and to respect that truth irrespective
of what labels are circumstantially attached to him or her. In
the present world-scenario we could definitely do with many more
such efforts!
I
am of the firm belief that if such interactions were frequently
arranged across the border and in both Kashmir(s), the existing
wide gulf of hatred and mistrust between India and Pakistan would
be bridged easily. Bringing minds and hearts together would soon
silence the roaring guns.
-
Seema
Sridhar
(New Delhi, India)
The
CT workshop was a remarkable experience and I would consider
it a milestone in my personal journey of humanizing and understanding
the ‘other’. It was an eye opener in how to unlearn and relearn.
It provided the ideal platform to interact, learn, grow and
of course make wonderful friends from across the border.
Dialogic
Engagement (2004)
WISCOMP
is an ideal forum to bring together a wide spectrum of people.
It enables the participants the space to interact freely,
dispel misperceptions, re-humanize each other and imagine and
create new peaces.
Anupama
Sekhar
(Chennai, India)
For me, the Conflict Transformation Workshop 2004 created a unique
meeting space to engage with fellow youth from across the border
and connect with them at a deeper, human level.
Transcending
Conflict (2003)
I will always consider
myself lucky to have participated in the CT Workshop 2003, where
I met some of the finest people in South Asia. The workshop opened
my mind to many new ways of looking at conflict and how to deal
with it. It also gave me many friends for life, with whom I have
never stopped interacting since then, and with whom I continue
to share ideas and possibilities for bridging our distances and
creating an exciting future for our region.
The conflict transformation
workshop made me see conflict in a dimension that I did not
know existed. Being from a conflict zone had made me think
that living in a conflict is all that can be to a conflict but
the workshop exposed me to a different world of conflict – one
were we can try to resolve it.
The workshop saw
moments of clashes and confusion – as most of us confronted
'truths' /'lies' deeply internalized, doled out and projected
in our imagining the "other". Hesitantly and rather
cautiously we took little steps – rethinking our shared pasts
and reflecting on our often politically violent present. The
end of the workshop was actually a beginning for most of us
– long distance dialogues across nationalities and borders persisted
and flourished since 2002, small but significant steps to feel
regionally ‘connected’. The curriculum was near perfect, with
an excellent combination of lectures and experiential learning.
Rehumanizing
the Other (2001)
WISCOMP
and its alumni give me hope in the knowledge that we as a group
can work towards a better future. The kind of friendships forged
here make you believe--assuredly--that borders are irrelevant.
The workshop was
an extremely enlightening experience which was my first ever
exposure to “the other”. It was informative -new ideas
were introduced, made us re-think concepts & very enjoyable-
I made new friends..… and fell in love with Delhi!
I learnt peace-building
strategies applicable not only in the macro picture of conflict
between nations but also at a micro level for finding commonalities
at an interpersonal level. Personally, I found these measures
extremely effective in my professional interaction with people
from varied backgrounds as I had learnt at the workshop that there
exists common ground between any two individuals–waiting to be
discovered.
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