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Building Peace Right Now in South Sudan

This training has to be done for all the teachers in South Sudan. - South Sudanese Teacher with 35 years experience

Play for Peace Trainers Swati and Agyat are in the city of Yei, South Sudan, training teachers, students and PLAN International staff.  In 2011, South Sudan became the newest nation recognized after decades of civil war and Yei is a city struggling to create peace between local residents, post-war returned refugees and immigrants from neighboring Uganda and DRC. How did PLAN in South Sudan hear about Play for Peace? In 2002, Play for Peace was in Gujarat, India after communal violence killed or injured over 4,000 people.  Swati and Agyat led these efforts and met Javed who was able to see and experience the impact of Play for Peace. Now in Juba with PLAN International, Javed introduced the idea of Play for Peace to his staff and the idea for the training was born. Thanks to the support of PLAN International, Swati and Agyat are in South Sudan for over two weeks. Here are reflections from Swati and Agyat's first few days in the field:
In 2003 while visiting Play for Peace (programs) in Jo'Berg (Johannesburg, South Africa) with Vishwas we learned a game called Jugu Ja. Since then it has become one of the most popular (activities in India). It traveled back with us to Africa and now ... people are using it to call each other, and even as some people go out instead of saying "bye bye," they are saying Ajguja! The Power of Play for Peace is universal! Day 3 of the training and it is time to become less and less important (smile). Today was "practice" time so that the list of games that (they are learning) is threatening to cross 50 by the time we leave. Some participants who were speaking less, or were still little bit circumspect in our observation, turned active and started taking initiative. We are all set for the practical session tomorrow when we go the school and participants conduct a play session with children!
- Blog and photos compiled from daily journal by Swati and Agyat on Facebook. 10978560_10153170675231349_974240469820753203_n IMG_1779 10968500_10153172892456349_1003283862772500168_n 10945570_10153170692026349_4032679874536102978_n 10686883_10153170803576349_1184379031880127011_n 10615542_10153170676416349_6747932332128535708_n 10428521_10153170675221349_8229807518017765261_n 12786_10153170781781349_8690013459022181431_n