Peru

Three weeks after I was in Maranhão the same international network for the well-being of children and youth hosted the First World Congress on Restorative Juvenile Justice in Lima, Peru. I was invited to present at the event, which featured over 1000 participants from 62 countries. Together with several colleagues from Brazil - including Judges Egberto Penido and Eduardo Melo, and Monica Mumme, who made keynote adresses - our projects were highlighted as examples of the vigorous spread of the restorative ethos.

It was nourishing and enlightening to meet up with folks such as Ted Wachtel, from the IIRP, and Lode Walgrave and Ivo Aertsen, from Leuven University. Their support, company and experience is increasingly valuable to me. 

It was also the first time in over 2 years that a large number of the fast growing Brazilian RJ community were together in one place - and despite the international nature of the event, I spoke more Portuguese than Spanish or English while there. (Though this maybe in part because I don't speak Spanish). 

The wealth of development in RJ during this decade is one of the most hopeful signs of a sea change in human society that I'm aware of. Projects of every size and from a vast array of cultural perspectives are in expansion, and creating concrete examples of an ancient / new view of conflict, crime and healing.

At the same time the presiding tendency within most in this movement is to seek to preserve many of the aspects of less restorative approaches, which can promote a view of those involved in conflict as fixed in static roles with predefined experiences and wants.

I find sharing the possibilities that Restorative Circles opens up in such a context both challenging and very meaningful. I'm aware of how little I know, and how few opportunities I've had to connect with those working in other countries. At the same time I am so excited by the innovations RC can offer in the field of restorative practices and to the development of needs-based (rather than label- or role-based) systemic change. 

I felt very satisfied at being a small voice for such an approach at such a large event. The feedback the organisers received was enough to initiate dialogue on how to bring RCs to Peru in the near future.

An interview I did for the University that hosted us is available, in Spanish, online. In the future I will think twice before doing whatever a photographer asks.

Rio

Bangu

Over the course of a few days back home, 3 meetings occured which have stayed with me.

Firstly, straight off the plane from the North, I presented RC to a group of about 60 inmates at the Bangu prison complex. This is an adult prison, and home to many of the drug gang leaders whose actions have so influenced the city in the last few decades. (For an excellent overview of this situation in English, click here)

The meeting was fast paced and serious. What was this idea? How could I imagine this would ever work? How can you suggest correctional officers and judges suffer in the current system? If I'm a drug dealer, who have I harmed?

The inmates had only a brief respite from life in a rat-infested cell with 55 others. Many chose to step outside and wait in the yard. As I spoke the group that stayed moved closer, and before we left there was consensus: we want this here.

I hope to begin Facilitator Practice modules for inmates, and offering support as they set up their system for internal prison conflicts, in the New Year.

OAB

Two days later, at the other extreme of the social divide, I presented the work to an audience of lawyers and others at the Lawyer's Association. The reception was intense and positive, in part as we all pondered the immense changes Rio will be going through with the Olympics coming in 7 years.

Presenting at the Lawyer's Association, one of the most powerful professional bodies in the country, has a particular resonance for me, as their interest in the RJ projects has frequently been marked by challenges to our practice. The institutionalization of restorative practices heralds big changes for them. Those who invited me already sense the profound change in values and a renewal of the basic tenets of advocacy that this work can support.

I was surprised and encouraged by the response. This week the group that invited me was re-elected for another two year term of office at the head of the organisation in Rio (as were those who initiated this relationship, in Rio Grande do Sul), and plans are already being made for ongoing partnership into 2010.

Schools

Following the conference I wrote about last month, a meeting was held at the Central Court building, with teachers and school administrators from Rio and surrounding municipalities, to explore the possibilities of developing RC projects in schools.

Educational change consultant Monica Mumme, who has partnered with us in many of the São Paulo state projects, was the host and much was said about the challenges teachers face from colleagues, parents and students.

Flavia Fassi had done much of the ground work to get me into Bangu, and it was she that came downstairs and empathically walked me off to buy a pair of trousers when I was declined admittance to the court building due to my shorts. More importantly, she gave me time and support to remember that I want to practice what I preach, before I entered the meeting and opened my mouth.

I'm hopeful that things will keep moving forward. A formal project in Rio would give me the chance to actually live in the same city as an RC project, something I haven't experienced for over 5 years now. I'll keep you all posted.

I am back home after several intense weeks on the road. Here are a series of brief updates on what's been happening over the last 5 weeks. The brevity of what's below, and the things left out for now, is not an indication of how significant this time has been. If anything, it shows how full life has been for Martina, Becky, Gail and I...    I feel such gratitude for all that's occurred.

Maranhão

In October the first Facilitator Practice modules took place in Maranhão, in the North of Brazil. One of the financially poorest states in the country Maranhão has a rich local culture and local and international groups are taking significant steps to create social networks of support where violence and vengeance have become the norm. Terre des Hommes are sponsoring the first RC projects, bringing together the criminal and youth justice systems, local community leaders and schools to create new possibilities for conscious peace making.

This was also the first RC Facilitator Practice in Portuguese to be professionally filmed, allowing us to start work on producing training materials that will later be accessible online or on video. The willingness of all those who partner with us by donating financially made this filming possible. Please email us at contact@restorativecircles.org if you'd like to co-create the conditions for editing and distributing this vital material.

My memories of Maranhão - together with the taste of Bacuri and Jussara, the bright blue church, huge tides and chameleons - are summed up by the persistent humanness of those community members and police with whom I connected, at ever deeper levels of shared values, as each day passed...

...by hearing how the relatives of victims wait outside the state's only youth prison, so they can exact revenge when teenage inmates are released...

...and by the words Cleide shared: "Where I live, the police and the priests don't come. When there's conflict, what can we do? This work will be really useful".