The first two Peace Circles in Sri Lanka took place in the Northern Province in the first two weeks of September 2016. What synchronicity that while half of the IfL (IofC for Life) group was meeting with surrendered militants in the Garo Hills of North East India, other IfL members were meeting with some war-affected women in Northern Sri Lanka – both groups recovering from the consequences of violence.

In the first week of September, the ‘Initiatives of Change for Life’ team had come to Tura, the first time for most of the team.

Mahatma Gandhi fought for the freedom of the nation on the basis of moral and spiritual power. What we now need is freedom from hatred, greed, extremism, violence and poverty. This could be regarded as our second freedom struggle to create a society with moral and spiritual power.

Around half of the 80 young people, representing six North Eastern states, who attended a dialogue in Siloam, Meghalaya, declared their resolve to dissolve hates, resentments, grudges and bitterness that tormented their lives - by apologizing!

The announcement of the ‘2nd National Symposium on Excellence in Training’ held recently in New Delhi stated: “Citizen-centric governance epitomizes governance which is friendly and gives utmost priority to the interests of the people governed…. Well designed, focused and planned training can bring attitudinal change in the government functionaries and inculcate sensitivity towards citizens, motivation to increase performance and efficiency in public service delivery.”

The ELL for families was attended by 33 participants including three children, nine youth and the rest being parents of various ages. There were two large extended families and a few nuclear families present.

“The role of course directors is like that of the thread in a garland – it invisibly holds all the sessions and facilitators together”, concluded the 22 present and future course directors at the end of the first ever Course Directors’ Workshop.

‘Sense of responsibility is lacking, our failure in not helping them to build on this’, said Er. Petehetuo Miasalhou, principal of National Tool Room & Training Centre (NTTC) in an interaction with the IfL (Initiatives of Change for Life) team before the start of the ‘Nagaland-I-Care’ programme on 12 May. The IfL team, in collaboration with Pathfinders, were invited by the NTTC to conduct a one day programme with the students who are in their fourth and sixth semesters of their diploma course.

Asia Plateau and Initiatives of Change are a gift to the mankind. Giving hope to the hopeless, love to the broken, healing to the hurt, courage to the leaders, strength to the weak, creating positive impact on whoever comes about. Inspiring individuals to be the change and become change-makers to make their lives, surroundings, nation and the world a better place for all.

Stephania Menezes reports on a two-day programme in Nagaland for approximately 30 young people, facilitated by a team from Initiatives of Change for Life.