rmed conflicts, while devastating and painful, often carry a paradox: the potential for profound transformation. The suffering they bring can catalyze individuals to become powerful advocates for peace. This journey is neither easy nor straightforward, but for many local peacebuilders who have endured conflict trauma, it becomes a path of healing, resilience, and deep commitment to prevent others from experiencing similar pain.
When my town in Mindanao was engulfed in conflict during the March 2000 all–out war and the August 2008 armed conflict, the trauma, pain, loss, and displacement are burdens that have endured long after the conflict. Peace is not merely a goal but a continuous journey, shaped by collective efforts to make a difference—bridging divides, fostering dialogue, and creating spaces for understanding and mutual respect.
Here’s how conflict trauma can turn an individual into a peace advocate:
Trauma awareness and understanding
Trauma stems from experiences that overwhelm an individual’s ability to cope, affecting mental, emotional, and physical health. In peacebuilding, recognizing trauma is crucial. It influences people's ability to engage with peace programs and can trigger retraumatization if not addressed sensitively. This awareness enables peacebuilders to create safe environments where individuals can participate meaningfully and heal.
Resilience and strength
Surviving conflict–related trauma and bereavement requires immense resilience and strength. These qualities, forged through overcoming hardship, are invaluable in peace advocacy. Resilient individuals handle challenges and setbacks effectively, inspiring others and providing a foundation for sustained advocacy.
Advocacy through personal narratives
Personal stories of trauma and survival are powerful tools in peace advocacy. They humanize the abstract concepts of war and conflict, making them relatable. By sharing their experiences, survivors raise awareness, educate others, and galvanize support for peace initiatives, highlighting the human cost of conflict and the urgent need for solutions.
Nurturing empathy and understanding
Conflict survivors often develop a heightened sense of empathy. Having experienced pain and loss, they can relate deeply to the suffering of others. This empathy is central to their peace advocacy, allowing them to connect with and support other victims and engage effectively with diverse communities, fostering dialogue and understanding.
Safety and resilient–healing practices
Addressing trauma within peacebuilding programs is vital for creating safe and healing environments. Integrating practices like Indigenous and traditional remedies, counseling, art therapies, and mindfulness techniques can support healing. Safe spaces where individuals feel secure sharing their experiences without fear of judgment or retraumatization are crucial for effective healing–centered practices and peacebuilding.
Facilitating community engagement
Engaging communities in healing processes is essential for building collective resilience. Practices such as dialogue circles, storytelling, and traditional healing methods facilitate open conversations, address collective pain, and promote mutual understanding.
Overcoming pain and finding purpose
The journey from trauma to advocacy often involves transforming pain into purpose. This transformation helps individuals find meaning in their suffering, channeling their trauma into positive action. This process aids in personal healing and contributes to the greater good, sustaining long–term peace advocacy efforts.
Recognizing justice and commitment
Conflict trauma often awakens a strong sense of justice. Witnessing or enduring injustice instills a fervent desire to address these wrongs. This commitment drives individuals to work towards creating systems and structures that prevent the recurrence of conflict and ensure human rights protection.
Motivating others and inspiring change
Those who turn their conflict trauma into peace advocacy become symbols of hope and resilience. Their stories motivate others who have experienced similar traumas to pursue their paths of healing and advocacy. Their impact can inspire a grassroots movement for peace and global movement for local peacebuilders, where many voices unite to demand change and contribute to a more peaceful world.
When acknowledged and addressed with care, conflict trauma can transform individuals into peacebuilders. Through trauma awareness, resilience, personal narratives, empathy, safety, community engagement, purpose, justice, and motivation, peacebuilders can foster environments that support healing and resilience. This transformative journey not only helps individuals overcome their trauma but also empowers them to contribute to peacebuilding efforts, fostering a cycle of healing and peace for future generations.
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Conflict trauma can turn individuals into peace advocates
Photo by Ahmed Akacha via Pexels.
September 19, 2024
Local peacebuilders who have endured conflict trauma can take a path of healing, resilience, and deep commitment to prevent others from experiencing similar pain, writes Jamila–Aisha P. Sanguila.
A
rmed conflicts, while devastating and painful, often carry a paradox: the potential for profound transformation. The suffering they bring can catalyze individuals to become powerful advocates for peace. This journey is neither easy nor straightforward, but for many local peacebuilders who have endured conflict trauma, it becomes a path of healing, resilience, and deep commitment to prevent others from experiencing similar pain.
When my town in Mindanao was engulfed in conflict during the March 2000 all–out war and the August 2008 armed conflict, the trauma, pain, loss, and displacement are burdens that have endured long after the conflict. Peace is not merely a goal but a continuous journey, shaped by collective efforts to make a difference—bridging divides, fostering dialogue, and creating spaces for understanding and mutual respect.
Here’s how conflict trauma can turn an individual into a peace advocate:
Trauma awareness and understanding
Trauma stems from experiences that overwhelm an individual’s ability to cope, affecting mental, emotional, and physical health. In peacebuilding, recognizing trauma is crucial. It influences people's ability to engage with peace programs and can trigger retraumatization if not addressed sensitively. This awareness enables peacebuilders to create safe environments where individuals can participate meaningfully and heal.
Resilience and strength
Surviving conflict–related trauma and bereavement requires immense resilience and strength. These qualities, forged through overcoming hardship, are invaluable in peace advocacy. Resilient individuals handle challenges and setbacks effectively, inspiring others and providing a foundation for sustained advocacy.
Advocacy through personal narratives
Personal stories of trauma and survival are powerful tools in peace advocacy. They humanize the abstract concepts of war and conflict, making them relatable. By sharing their experiences, survivors raise awareness, educate others, and galvanize support for peace initiatives, highlighting the human cost of conflict and the urgent need for solutions.
Nurturing empathy and understanding
Conflict survivors often develop a heightened sense of empathy. Having experienced pain and loss, they can relate deeply to the suffering of others. This empathy is central to their peace advocacy, allowing them to connect with and support other victims and engage effectively with diverse communities, fostering dialogue and understanding.
Safety and resilient–healing practices
Addressing trauma within peacebuilding programs is vital for creating safe and healing environments. Integrating practices like Indigenous and traditional remedies, counseling, art therapies, and mindfulness techniques can support healing. Safe spaces where individuals feel secure sharing their experiences without fear of judgment or retraumatization are crucial for effective healing–centered practices and peacebuilding.
Facilitating community engagement
Engaging communities in healing processes is essential for building collective resilience. Practices such as dialogue circles, storytelling, and traditional healing methods facilitate open conversations, address collective pain, and promote mutual understanding.
Overcoming pain and finding purpose
The journey from trauma to advocacy often involves transforming pain into purpose. This transformation helps individuals find meaning in their suffering, channeling their trauma into positive action. This process aids in personal healing and contributes to the greater good, sustaining long–term peace advocacy efforts.
Recognizing justice and commitment
Conflict trauma often awakens a strong sense of justice. Witnessing or enduring injustice instills a fervent desire to address these wrongs. This commitment drives individuals to work towards creating systems and structures that prevent the recurrence of conflict and ensure human rights protection.
Motivating others and inspiring change
Those who turn their conflict trauma into peace advocacy become symbols of hope and resilience. Their stories motivate others who have experienced similar traumas to pursue their paths of healing and advocacy. Their impact can inspire a grassroots movement for peace and global movement for local peacebuilders, where many voices unite to demand change and contribute to a more peaceful world.
When acknowledged and addressed with care, conflict trauma can transform individuals into peacebuilders. Through trauma awareness, resilience, personal narratives, empathy, safety, community engagement, purpose, justice, and motivation, peacebuilders can foster environments that support healing and resilience. This transformative journey not only helps individuals overcome their trauma but also empowers them to contribute to peacebuilding efforts, fostering a cycle of healing and peace for future generations.
