Winning story for People Building Peace 2.0

The 25 Winners

A Women's Grassroots Peace Movement in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Published: Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:27:00 +0000

Consult conventional history of the brutal communal conflict that lasted from 1998-2007 in Poso, on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, and prospects for a lasting peace in the region are pretty grim. It was part political battle, part religious crusade between Christians and Muslims, part scramble for natural resources, and part grab by investors for influence in the region, all steeped in an intricately tied community with a small enough population and a long enough history to make tensions run deep.

But Lian Gogali, a native of Poso, is determined to rework this record of history to reflect the real story of the survivors of the conflict – one that is vastly different from the one that outsiders looking to use Poso for their own purposes have shaped. Reporters, politicians, and religious leaders fanned the flames of religious reprisals by calling to arms Muslims and Christians to avenge the deaths of their loved ones and to train for combat to protect their homes and their villages. But Poso residents tell of courageous demonstrations of friendship – Muslim women sending their Christian friends headscarves to wear during village raids, women from both sides teaching each other their religious language to cover their identity during genocidal sweeps.

In addition to her personal ties to the region, Lian has dedicated a lifetime of research on how to end the conflict there. She lived in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp for over a year where she conducted research for her Master's thesis on women and children's perspective on conflict. One woman asked her "After you write your research, then what will you do for us?" Statements like these proved to her that it was with the women that she belonged. She learned that only when these women's stories were brought into the local and national dialogue on the conflict could it be permanently put to rest. She decided that working through large international development organizations or applying theories learned through her research were not anywhere near as effective as simply sitting with the women, listening to their stories, and creating an environment where they could generate their own ideas to restore their community. The key to a seemingly impossible peace in the region would be recreating the history to reflect the experience of those actually involved in the conflict –who, when removed from outside influence, just wanted peace on their land and for their children.

Therefore, Lian moved back home and opened her porch to the women of Poso, creating Institute Mosintuwu (Mosintuwu means togetherness), a place where post-conflict victims, former combatants and women of any religion can come together as friends, first and foremost. The result has been multifaceted –part healing and new reflections on the conflict, part social and civic training, and part peace building. So far, Institute Mosintuwu has trained over 100 women in eight different villages. Trainings range from interfaith peace education, domestic violence prevention and intervention, household economic analysis, women and politics, and public speaking. In one village where school children had recently been decapitated because of religious vengeance, field visits by Muslim women to a church and Christian women to a mosque helped demystify each other's faith. After the trip, one Christian woman said "I thought that Muslims were evil, but now I see that there is no difference between us." These simple, cost effective activities are key to ending the cycle of distrust and violence in Poso.

But the vision for Institute Mosintuwu doesn't stop there. Lian hopes that eventually the women of Poso will connect with other women around the world in conflict areas to brainstorm about ways to help their communities achieve lasting peace and elevate women's voices in the household and political arena. This is a slow, organic process. Every day women show up on Lian's front porch to find solutions to their problems, to participate in trainings, or just to talk. The peace process multiplies when women are taking what they learn at Institute Mosintuwu back to their families. These women's strength is a force to reckon with. They have already convinced Lian, who as a single mother is somewhat ostracized from her community, and who suffered for two years from a motorcycle injury that left her entire calf-bone exposed (and subsequently gave her tuberculosis) –to move back to Poso, raise her daughter, and work tirelessly on one leg and a pair of handmade crutches to get their community, and herself, back on two feet. With the guidance of Institute Mosintuwu and Lian, the women of Poso have chosen to set the course of peace, reconciliation, and gender rights themselves, for Indonesia, and hopefully, the whole world.

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