{"id":39247,"date":"2018-08-21T12:54:25","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T16:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=39247"},"modified":"2018-08-21T14:29:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T18:29:43","slug":"trauma-healing-program-kumekucha-supports-sustainable-agents-of-resilience-and-community-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/trauma-healing-program-kumekucha-supports-sustainable-agents-of-resilience-and-community-strength\/","title":{"rendered":"Trauma healing program \u2018Kumekucha\u2019 supports \u2018sustainable agents of resilience and community strength\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Kenya a new social healing and reconciliation program called Kumekucha \u2013 Kiswahili for \u201cIt\u2019s a new dawn\u201d \u2013 is empowering local leaders to create \u201csacred space\u201d for people dealing with the country\u2019s \u201cmassive\u201d trauma, its director said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tecla Namachanja Wanjala<\/a>, a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s <\/span>Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/span><\/a>, manages Kumekucha and is board chair for the program\u2019s parent Green String Network (GSN). She earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation in 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n

A peacebuilder for nearly three decades, <\/span>Wanjala<\/span> came \u201cface to face\u201d with trauma in 1991 as a worker in a Somali refugee camp. She has served as commissioner and acting chairperson of Kenya\u2019s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and in other roles with organizations such as PeaceNet and Pact International.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLook at historic injustice and the trauma that it caused, the ethnic clashes and the trauma that it caused,\u201d Wanjala said <\/span>in a video about Kumekucha<\/span><\/a>. \u201cEverybody needs healing, everybody needs to be aware of what is trauma \u2026 in all the sectors in our country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The protracted violence faced by entire generations in Kenya has left people living in survival mode for decades, said GSN Executive Director Angi Yoder Maina. She attended EMU\u2019s <\/span>Summer Peacebuilding Institute<\/span><\/a> in 2007 and 2009, and has worked for decades in peacebuilding, including with partners in Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya, and as an advisor to the Wajir Peace University Trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>GSN\u2019s namesake green string represents the moment the cycle of violence is broken, and the organization\u2019s logo, a mandala, represents wholeness. Founded last year, the organization has developed empirically validated materials and \u201clow-resource methods\u201d which have been adapted for use in Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. It builds on local cultural practices and traditions to facilitate societal change for traumatized populations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kumekucha seeks to identify each village\u2019s \u201cMama Anisa\u201d \u2013 those individuals frequently called on to resolve local issues \u2013 and \u201csupport them in their own initiatives\u201d using Kumekucha tools such as its facilitator handbook titled <\/span>I refuse to be a victim. I am a resource for peace<\/span><\/i>, said Yoder Maina.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Program materials are adapted from the Village STAR materials, originally produced by EMU’s Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kumekucha\u2019s Kenya-specific curriculum uses watercolor paintings by Kenyan artists whose paintings depict authentic experiences within the cycle of violence including options for victims to respond with nonviolent action. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kumekucha \u201ceducates even the uneducated ones,\u201d one participant said in the video about the program. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA 60-year-old can understand it, and it can better his life,\u201d he said. \u201cThis initiative has really helped our community and is life-changing. Those lucky enough to benefit from it have better lives than before.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The education, another said, has \u201copened my eyes to the burden of over 10 years and helped reduce it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kumekucha organizers hope the program\u2019s grassroots results will eventually have national-level impact.<\/span><\/p>\n