Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU: Over 50 religious and civic leaders from across western Jamaica participated in a mediation workshop on the weekend aimed at instructing them in conflict management.
The programme is an initiative of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montego Bay and according to Sister Rose Chang, a nun with the diocese who is the driving force behind the programme, it is important at this time since the nation is experiencing a cycle of crime, violence and conflict.
The workshop was held at Mount Alvernia High School in Montego Bay.
"It is absolutely vital that leaders grasp and be convinced of what conflict is, what it is doing to us as a society and how we must address it in a peaceful way," Sister Chang told The Gleaner. "Our society is being torn apart by violence and conflict and the change must begin with our leaders."
EXPERIENCE
Participants in the workshop got the opportunity to listen to Marilyn Nash, director of the Justice and Peace Centre in Flankers, St. James, who spoke of her experience with conflict situations in the community and how mediation has solved many of them.
"Mediation really can work," said Miss Nash, who is also president of the Flankers Citizens' Association.
Sister Rose Chang said the workshop's participants are given a different approach to justice.
"When people are involved in conflicts, they are hurting," she stated. "So we are trying to teach them a different approach to justice. It is not only punishment but bringing the other person to an awareness of the wrong committed and having them take the responsibilities and be accountable for their actions."
She said such an approach allows hurt to be healed in a more holistic manner.
The next step in the programme is the training of mediators across the region.
Sister Rose Chang is convinced that mediation can turn the nation's tide of violence.
"All we need is a small change to have people acting differently and thinking differently and this is going to spread over all society," she said.
