The podiums in the conference rooms at Follow Jesus 25 cannot be moved. Oscar Siwali, founder and director of Southern African Development and Reconstruction Agency (SADRA), said that he likes to move the podium to the middle of the room “as a sign of us being together in the journey of learning and as the place Jesus would be – in the midst of the challenges society faces today.” He said it is also a reminder for church leaders to refresh their mandate in their communities to get back to doing what Jesus has called us to do.
SADRA background
SADRA is a registered non-governmental organization based in Somerset West, Western Cape Province. Since 2013, SADRA has been dedicated to fostering peace and resolving conflicts through non-violent means.
Sibonokuhle Ncube, Mission Network Co-Regional Director for Africa and Europe, introduced Siwali and described SADRA’s work as broad-based:
- Conflict transformation and mediation certified training programs for community leaders, religious leaders, educators, and youth. Since its inception, it has trained over 4,000 mediators.
- A peaceful schools initiative working students, educators and administrators to address bullying and gang violence while building peaceful school environments.
- Collaborating with local government, traditional leaders, religious institutions, and civil society organizations to strengthen community leadership and promote non-violence. The organization has a contract with courts in Cape Town to provide mediation for family and divorce disputes.
- Creating peaceful environments for elections, working with the South African Independent Electoral Commission and the Southern African Development Community Panel of Eminent People.
- Camps for youth from divided communities, fostering relationships and reducing violence especially among gangs.
Seminar
The seminar focused on SADRA’s mediation work in a societal context which Ncube described as “post-apartheid, fraught still with racism and lots of crime.”
Building peace in our world is the most important task of our time and the most difficult and will require more discipline, sacrifice, planning, thought, cooperation and heroism than war ever demanded.
Oscar Siwali
Siwali said that although his country is not at war, the number of deaths due to violence often surpasses the countries that are at war. Since Christianity is the dominant religion in South Africa, SADRA emphasizes building the capacity of religious leaders and to “move beyond silence, to stay the prophetic voice in the church, to speak boldly and compassionately.”
He then recounted several stories about SADRA-trained pastors stepping into conflict in villages and families to mediate and achieve peaceful reconciliation.
SADRA issues certified mediation training identification cards to their graduates so they can show them to police officers and elected officials, allowing them to collaborate with judges and attorneys in resolving family conflicts in the courts and to resolve tensions between protestors and police. These successful relationships between pastors and officials resulted in the community officials calling upon pastors for to collaborate. Recently, Siwali and 60 mediators met with the Department of Justice and other officials to discuss national issues.
