First ever online 'taster' workshop— co-hosted by AfriNov, QPSANZ and FWCC—AWPS

In case you missed it, at the end of September, QPSANZ worked with the Friends World Committee for Consultation— Asia West Pacific Section, to co-host the first ever online ‘taster workshop’ for Turning The Tide.

The taster workshop was run by AfriNov, a Kenyan NGO with strong Quaker ties. AfriNov runs the Turning The Tide programme in Kenya, which teaches local community groups about non-violence, and then supports them to work on addressing the root causes of local injustices. This online session was a great opportunity for inter-cultural learning, as well as deepening our understanding of what non-violence can look like in action. Usually, these trainings would take at least 2 days and be in-person, so running them online in the compressed timeframe of only 3 hours was very impressive. It was also a great learning opportunity for AfriNov, who with this new online approach, may be able to share their work more widely that before. And for those of us in New Zealand, it was also a great opportunity to deepen our connections with other Quakers across the world.  

In all, the taster workshop drew nearly 40 people from at least five different countries and three continents. We were able to learn the basics of the Turning The Tide approach to non-violent problem solving, including some of the tools that used. We were also inspired by some of the stories shared of Turning The Tide being put into action in Kenya, including to try and address a dangerously polluted local water supply. If you want to hear more about Turning The Tide you can read about them here. You can also find their website here, or hear about some of their peace work preventing violence at the recent Kenyan election here.