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"The DVD was inspiring and very practical. I loved the sense it gave me of wanting to be there, wanting to be part of this amazing, sometimes difficult peace journey." Dr. Wannette J.Tuinstra Editor in Chief GOLDENROOM: Online Journal for Cross Cultural Relations Lancashire, UNITED KINGDOM |
| "All the sessions were well organized with beautiful ideas for re-union of human beings of diverse faiths...One Humanity...One spirit...one Globe." Rana Ehtisham Rabbani Peace and Humanity Forum Pakistan Lahore, PAKISTAN |
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"We showed this useful tool in our class of students from diverse countries including Bulgaria, Serbia, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, USA, and Colombia. This wonderful resource has numerous practical lessons to transform communities. The simple approach can be replicated to suit different contexts and teach students of peace studies like us. I will carry DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA back to my home country of Kenya for use in my projects." Barmoyah "William" Kiptoo Chebett Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies University of Notre Dame South Bend, IN USA |
| Read reflections of PhD Peacebuilding scholars from Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and DR Congo, submitted by: Diaku Dianzenza Kunsikila PhD Peacebuilding Programme Faculty of Management Sciences Durban University of Technology Durban. SOUTH AFRICA |
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"You wont believe it! This is a huge, massive answer to prayer in Kenya. We've been struggling with this project -- film for historical dialogue and accountability -- wanting it to generate dialogue amongst people and bring about healing. You've literally provided us with the working tools of how to get this project going." Elizabeth M. Dena Brilliance of Hope Trust Mombasa, KENYA |
| "Our two copies of DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA have been passed on from hand to hand, group to group through the Wanganui community including schools, churches and other groups including the local Muslim community, who participates in our International Day of Peace events." Gita Brooke Peace Through Unity Wanganui, NEW ZEALAND |
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"The DVD is amazingly powerful, with the various religious and ethnic backgrounds of the participants, and the common denominators of humanity that bind them. In Kenya, we are polarized along ethnic lines, and lately slayings have increased xenophobia against our own Kenyan people. From your film we learnt many practical lessons that we now include in our peace building projects." Chryspin Afifu Programmes Director - Center For Partnership and Civic Engagement (CEPACET) Nairobi, KENYA |
| "The Nigeria documentary is so very beautiful! I love when a gentleman said: 'In this conference, we leave our degrees and titles outside the door. We come in as equals.' WOW. What a great opening." Ms. Dania Rari Pratiwi Jakarta, INDONESIA |
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"What a fantastic 65 magical minutes for teachers across the country!" Craig Wiesner Co-Founder - Reach and Teach San Mateo, CA USA |
| "The DVD is really inspiring and motivating...to re-unite people of different faiths in Nigeria and elsewhere to once again be their brothers' keepers. This we will continue to do until the blinded eyes are opened and hands are shaking again." Usman Inuwa Director - Forward in Action for Conservation of Indigenous Species & Leadership (FACIS) Bauchi State, NIGERIA |
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"I just finished it and will admit that I choked up several times. Aside from the incredible content, it is so professional... for the greater good of Nigeria and the planet." Michael Lightweaver Founder - Institute For Global Leadership Barnardsville, NC USA |
| "Oh my God, this is excellent. The cover design is so rich and beautiful as is the content. I cannot just sleep. I have cried several times this night as I watched the documentary." Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba Director - New Era Educational and Charitable Support Foundation Jos, Plateau State, NIGERIA |
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"I just got through viewing this amazing video, with tears in my eyes. What a beautiful gift to the world! Thank you so much for what you did in Nigeria and for distributing this record of it...a peek at the path to peace." Michael Abkin, Ph.D. Board of Directors - National Peace Academy Co-President - Global Alliance for Ministries & Infrastructures for Peace San Mateo, CA USA |
| "Simply awesome. My heart and mind are filled with images from your film." Richard C. Close Founder - "I am Africa. This is my story..." New Milford, CT USA |
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"Miraculous results by attending to deep abiding human universals." Winslow Myers Author - LIVING BEYOND WAR: A Citizen's Guide Bristol, ME USA |
| "To foster international cooperation and understanding, I was very impressed by the techniques you have developed to get people to discover their common humanity." Kathleen Hanselmann Chief Librarian - Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Monterey, CA USA |
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"Our profound gratitude. We find it suitable for quite a number of our courses. We will provide the DVD to our Course Directors and researchers." Auguster A. F. Armah, and Leo Hirschmann - Colonel, GERMAN ARMY Director of Training - Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) Teshie, Accra, GHANA |
| "This is a powerful documentary. It shows how dialogue connects people with diverse backgrounds, and facilitates mutual understanding of their respective cultural, religious backgrounds, and provides opportunity for healing and reconciliation and a blue print for a community to be built." Timothy Gachanga Lecturer in Peace Studies Tangaza College, Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) Lang'ata-Nairobi, KENYA |
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"The film is indeed great!! It resonates so well with the approach of Interfaith Encounter Association." Yehuda Stolov Director - Interfaith Encounter Association Jerusalem, ISRAEL |
| "The film is inspiring. . .in perfect accord with the founding principles of the Marshall Center for Security Studies." Rosemary Nelson Research Library - George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GERMANY |
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"We can use African examples to highlight home grown initiatives for peace. I am so proud of these brothers and sisters who have chosen to overcome the 'norm', brave the stereotypes, and light the path for peace in our beloved continent." Karambu Ringera Founder & President - International Peace Initiatives Meru, KENYA |
| "It is an invaluable teaching tool for those developing programs to foster communication between adversarial groups within a society." Jonathan Fluck Executive Director - New York Peace Film Festival New York, NY USA |
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"Good, practical, refreshing." Adekunle Tinuoye Instructor, Dispute Resolution Micheal Imoudu National Institute For Labour Studies Ilorin, NIGERIA |
| "It is great! What an achievement!" Paul McKenna Scarboro Missions Interfaith Toronto, ON CANADA |
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"This feels both light and powerful. I followed the track, the music, the dialogue. I wrote down some of these activities for my own workshops. And I liked the masks so very much. This all brings me to my own inner being, my humanity and my desire to share and to start to do something, to be able to change something. " Dr.Gitta Zimmermann First Call for Children: Nonviolent Communication and Restorative Circles Prien, GERMANY |
| "We are so pleased with both the continuity of substance and quality of film making. I will be using the excercises and showing an excerpt of the film for both the Iraqi summer students and a Dialogue and Social Justice course next semester." Jacquelyn Pogue Director - The Dialogue Forum Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA USA |
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"I hope these DVDs will help us move toward improving peace and understanding here in Nigeria. We are planning to use them as part of our Train-the-Trainer workshop next week and then provide copies to each of our American Corners for Nigerians across the nation." Suzanne Miller Public Affairs Officer Embassy of the United States Abuja, NIGERIA |
| "This DVD should be watched by all Kenyans. The part about blood donation and blood grouping showed me we are one, because blood can be shared. And it is just the right time for us Kenyans, with tribal and Muslim-Christian conflicts extending even into Somalia." Agapetus Mathew Wamalwa Nairobi, KENYA |
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"I was profoundly impressed watching the youthful leaders interact during a carefully composed series of activities that emphasized communication and dialogue. The effectiveness of these techniques was obvious, as the proud, articulate Nigerians resolved to overcome their differences in the interest of equality and the good of their nation, indeed, of all humanity." Yosef Gotlieb, Ph.D. Educator, Author RISE: A novel of contemporary Israel Mevesseret Tzion, ISRAEL |
| "Thank you a thousand times over!" Griffith Walker The Carter Center Atlanta, GA USA |
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"The film is a whole treasury...a mighty instrument to help the people of the nations emerge from danger. It's medicine for our "Human Relationship Deficiency Virus - HRV," to help our community, authorities, youth, families...for great changing. Spread it as far as possible." Virginia and Elesse Bafandjo Commune de Lemba, Kinshasa, DR CONGO Photos |
| "The DVD needs to be watched and re-watched. I liked the total listening style of communication and. . .all the good examples of sharing fear, feelings, and solutions in a safe space." Jahan Zeb Art, Peace, and Education Exchange and The Hamilton Dialogue Group Ottawa, CANADA |
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"These are very strong young people with a will to sit together, listen to each other, understand each other. I'm impressed by the openness and new ways of talking to "the other". . .the mask painting and expressing the inner personalities of the participants." Angelina Vladikova BRIDGES - Eastern European Forum for Dialogue a Communication Circle of United Religions Initiative Sofia, BULGARIA |
| "The Christian and Muslim participants experienced profound bonding and empathy for one another and in the future can serve as harbingers of peace within their respective communities." Mehlaqa Samdani Karuna Peacebuilding Center Longmeadow, MA USA |
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"DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA has inspired me in my work within schools in Together for Humanity." Donna Jacobs Sife Educator - Together for Humanity St. Ives, NSW AUSTRALIA |
| "Under30 believes that young people can play fundamental roles in peace and reconciliation in countries like Nigeria. This story is a telling example of how youth can help heal the wounds and create an authentic community. We just posted about your documentary to our website and social media channels, so many worldwide will get a chance to see your example and get inspired." Csilla Szabo Director - Under30 Youth Development Agency Brussels, BELGIUM |
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"Your film is startling and reveals the swift impact of the program on participants. I could feel the spirit of those young women and men -- uncaged to take flight." Okoro Benedict Chinedum Director - Centre for Advancement of Democracy Owerri, Ebonyi State, NIGERIA |
| "They were indeed courageous to set out on the path together. . .and with 200 people! This video inspires us how a group of people can use safe space to change from the inside out...tackling bedeviling problems they live with. I loved the many voices who saw light in the shining dark of Africa, speaking of hope and joy, bringing their new abilities to their homeland - Nigeria. The human spirit is indeed indomitable." Sally Mahé Director of Regional Development United Religions Initiative San Francisco, CA USA |
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"DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA touched me with the strategies to involve youth in an open dialogue. The speaker said: 'Let's forget our titles at the door and come here as equals.' A Nigerian participant said “Youth are leaders of today and tomorrow.” I will integrate the lessons of healing in our youth leadership development programs here in Eastern DR Congo." Christian Cito Director - Bukavu Youth Action Center (BYAC) Bukavu, DR CONGO |
| "Such a beautiful story of what is possible when you commit to relationship, when you listen, when you understand that an enemy is someone whose story you don't know." Kristin Walter Co-Founder - Feel Good World San Francisco, CA USA |
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"This is a very effective method for producing civilian peacemakers/keepers from amongst the population. Consider operating these kinds of dialogues in multiple locations across the country and graduating many classes from them." Eli Levine Educator - Sound Community Services Norwich, CT USA |
| "We in Kenya are professionally indebted to you for your DVD which we have code named "Refusing to Be Enemies." The wonderful camera team and commentating made it possible to intelligently follow the trust-building human experiences. This Nigerian film will guide us practitioners to learn how go about creating a process in our Kenyan context." Kisuke Ndiku Active Non-Violence Initiatives Kenya Nairobi, KENYA |
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"We find a lot of similarities with respect to our culture of intra- and inter-faith conflicts. I contacted other organization who are interested in watching and using this film." Ali Gohar Founder - Just Peace Initiatives (JPI) Peshawar, PAKISTAN |
| "My country, Zambia, is predominantly Christian. A lot of people focus only on negative they hear about Islam. They have no idea of all the good in Islam. One participant in the film said: "Christianity preaches peace. Islam preaches peace." The documentary shows how to know the 'other,' and I am touched and filled with hope for Nigeria, and more positive that peace can prevail in that region." Charles Bwembya Radio Show Host - In the Morning with Charles Chattahoochee, FL USA |
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"It is great from beginning to end and a true eye opener. There were many things that affected me: the subject itself - inter-religious dialogue. The hand outlining and MASKS(!!!) were VERY meaningful, and the participants' feedbacks were SO POWERFUL! " Larisa Permyakova Associate Professor Diplomatic Academy - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Moscow, RUSSIA |
| "The DVD contents are so captivating, and my professional colleagues all commend your amazing work. I will integrate adapted parts of your video into my Training Sessions on Workplace Conflict Transformation." Ms. Dayo Oluyemi-Kusa Conflict Transformation Consultant Abuja, NIGERIA |
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"Dialogue in Nigeria is deep and encouraging. Thank you." Ivo Emmanuel Arrey Founder and Director - African Centre for Community and Development Limbe, CAMEROON |
| "These Nigerians listening to another person is so powerful. In most life situations we demand to be heard rather than to hear others. I have revived my need to honor fellow human beings despite their beliefs. I show the film to others who are inspired that change starts with individuals, then family, then the surrounding community, then the nation and then the world. LET'S CONTINUE TO LIGHT THE LIGHT OF HOPE." Mrs. Rhoda Ngirazi Conflict Transformation Consultant Masvingo, ZIMBABWE |
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"Our communities in Uganda who watch the DVD are gaining confidence that all things are possible. Now we wish to travel with the film to far-away feuding, suffering communities and show this powerful film so they can see for themselves how to create peace." Peter Obbo Coordinator - Uganda Integrated Community Based Projects Kampala, UGANDA |
| "Preparing for this summer's Adult Delegation dialogue sessions at Seeds of Peace, we watched DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA. It was inspiring to observe your creative ideas for nurturing relationship-building and listening- for-learning in Jos." Tarek Farouk Maassarani Conflict Transformation Consultant Assistant Professor American University Trainer - Seeds of Peace International Camp Maine, USA |
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"Thank you! This courageous, inspirational work is now posted on our new Web site." Robert Papini Administrator - International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) London, UNITED KINGDOM |
| "A Nigerian colonel in residence was quite keen to have a DVD of DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA. Other copies are reserved for folks around the UN who deal with interfaith issues." Dr. Robert Zuber Director - Global Action to Prevent War Civilian Protection - United Nations Emergency Service New York, NY USA |
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"Thank you! This courageous, inspirational work is now posted on our new Web site." Robert Papini Administrator - International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) London, UNITED KINGDOM |
| "A Nigerian colonel in residence was quite keen to have a DVD of DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA. Other copies are reserved for folks around the UN who deal with interfaith issues." Dr. Robert Zuber Director - Global Action to Prevent War Civilian Protection - United Nations Emergency Service New York, NY USA |
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"I love the film and salute your vision. This is exactly the kind of content we'd like to feature on Urban Victory Network." Michael Eastman President - Urban Victory Network Long Beach, CA USA |
| "I was impressed by a high cultural level of the Nigerian people. It was beautiful to see that suddenly, like magic, people from different religious/background and tribes were all EQUAL. We now aim to start an inter-religious Scout troop here in Italy." Dr. Giovanni Balotelli Brescia, ITALY |
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"This heart warming video is reflective of a necessary local initiative of interfaith dialogue that needs much wider practice and a real global footprint. Interfaith dialogue at the global level is a critical facet to world peace building to transcend the hatred and violence derived from ignorance about 'the other.'" Vincent Littrell Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force AFPAK Hands Officer HQ USAF |
| "I would like to organize an evening in Milano then Berlin for journalists, humanitarian organizations, and charities." Prof. Davide Bellomo Advisor - Peace Operations Training Institute (POTI) Padua, ITALY |
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"I watched it over and over again with full enthusiasm and sense of belonging. It is true, well articulated, educating, and really worthwhile watching. How I wish I had met you earlier and participated firsthand. You advocate peaceful coexistence among humans with a very simple logic that any average IQ can comprehend with ease." Kabir Umar Rabiu Lieutenant Commander - Nigerian Navy Ship OBULA Warri, Delta State NIGERIA |
| "This DVD should go viral beginning in our schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, Buddhist temples, community centers and prisons. This framework can be used for gangs and divisive political groups. The masks, the overlapping hands, and the '1 hand, 2 hands' dance are a must for school children and adults in every country." Lynn Skynear Former Air Operations Specialist (USAF) UPI Wartime Journalist (Vietnam) Washington, DC USA |
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"DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA is a great learning tool I highly recommend for military audiences. Combat-hardened military students of Complex Networks are shown finer points of designing and facilitating dialogues. They discover that dialogues, especially in large groups, don't "just happen." They need to be nurtured. The film shows skilled designs and facilitation required to create a safe space where interaction begins. You show careful sequencing of activities to enable trusting relationships to grow step-by-step. And this Nigerian case beautifully demonstrates sensitivity to cultural context. You included African traditions of music, dance, and many art forms. Charged with rebuilding communities and re-establishing peace, officers have come to appreciate the power of dialogue in moving people into more productive ways of interacting." Nancy Roberts, Ph.D. Professor - U.S. Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA USA |
READ more about DIALOGUE IN NIGERIA at http://traubman.igc.org/vidnigeria.htm .
VIEW the 65-minute film right now, streaming online at http://www.archive.org/details/DialogueInNigeria-2012Documentary65Mins .