"Got home Sunday evening; it was a long way (a total of more than 24 hours of flight time!). But then well and good; my wife and daughter picked me up at the airport.
the whole IEPC went well in terms of sharing and listening to the different experiences of churches and organizations in terms of peacebuilding work. These came out during the plenaries as well as the reasoning workshops. Documenting all the learning that came out in the workshops and even in the buzz groups duing plenaries is a big challenge. The IEPC could certainly have done more in this regard.
But of course in the context of the Decade to Overcome Violence, we still have a very long collective journey ahead of us. Using the TIDES as a model to look at the situation of the different churches and their myriad of initiatives, a lot of work still needs to be done. This was very evident, for example, when the IEPC statement was being discussed.
The DPC (the tools, the models) provided me with a very good framework to analyze the different initiatives as presented in the different workshops and plenaries that I participated in. For me, this shows the practical usefullness of the work that we do (the DPC)--from the micro to the macro level.
As for the DPC workshop, we didn't have the number that we expected before the IEPC started. Coming from a participant-perspective, I myself would have chosen to go to different workshops rather than stay on the same workshop stretched out in 4 days. And of course, the presence of the two "Germans" would have helped a lot in terms of promoting the workshop.
Of particular interest for me as well was the participation of a good number of people from EDAN (Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network). I attended most of their workshops. Using the FEARS, the disability sector in general are regarded as the "losers". Their struggle for inclusion within the ecumenical world, which they say formally started in Harare, still has a long way to go as well.
All in all it was a very good experience. It was great working with Iulia. We both had fun preparing for and facilitating the workshops. As well as a lot of reflections and insights shared in between sessions and plenaries.
Am very thankful, blessed, and honored to have participated in the IEPC. I say it was well all the effort and all."
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