International Peace Day Special: What Peace Means to Me
From the Park University Peace Journalism class:

Peace is when everyone is living together peacefully and not caring about our differences. –Samuel White

Peace means to me when people live happily with each other together. –Elias Eichhorn

Peace is not being singled out because of the color of your skin. –Tina Campbell

Seeing many differences but accepting them as if they were family is true peace. –Matthew Mazza

Peace is living in harmony with people in a society while respecting everyone’s culture and religion. –Coem Serem

Peace means that living in equitable and anyone has the ability to be great. It is in the hands of those who have power to create change. –Makyla Artis

If peace is likened to a spark, the love of peace gathered in one place is enough to light up the night. –Yi Li

Peace is when we respect and accept the differences and put first the wellness of the people instead of our own wishes. –Diego Granados

Peace means to me when everyone respects each other’s opinions, religions, and beliefs. –Jessica Goggles

Journalists reach across borders, inspire
(Kathmandu, Nepal and Parkville, MO)—It’s hard not to be impressed by those actively working to build bridges across conflict-reinforced divides.

In this case, the bridge builders are 60 Pakistani and Indian journalists who gathered in Nepal last week as part of a cross border reporting workshop sponsored by the East West Center.

It was inspiring to see these supposed enemies working together as professional journalists while developing friendships in the process. The Indians and Pakistanis are teaming up to report stories of mutual interest on the environment, agriculture, health, and business. They’ll be publishing these jointly reported stories this fall in media across South Asia and, we hope, worldwide.

Nepali journalist Kunda Dixit

The environment group, for example, is working on such fascinating stories as transgender climate change activists, single use plastics, and the impacts of air pollution on street sweepers. Journalists will collect data and conduct interviews in India and Pakistan, then put the stories together with information from both countries. It’s gratifying to see peace journalism reflected in their story topic approaches, and in their ‘voice of the voiceless’ reporting plans.

It was an honor working with the team from the East West Center and with fellow trainers Sara Shipley Hiles, Randall Smith, Steve Rice, Erin Jordan, and Laura Unger; and with South Asian journalists Dilrukshi Handunnetti and Kunda Dixit, who taught an inspiring session on peace journalism and reconciliation.

I have been inspired to continue developing projects with a cross boundary reporting theme. There is no better way to plant the seeds of peace than through this type of people-to-people contact and collaboration.

Pakistani, Indian reporters explore climate, waste disposal
(Kathmandu, Nepal)—On day four of the Cross Border Reporting workshop with Indian and Pakistani journalists, we got to venture out into the field for interviews.

Shree Saraswoti School, impacted by flooding

I tagged along with the environmental reporting group, expertly led by Sara Shipley, a professor at the University of Missouri. We visited two sites. The first, an elementary school, exemplified urban flooding, a major problem here exacerbated by climate change. The journalists interviewed a local climate activist and teacher on how urban flooding disproportionately impacts poor and marginalized communities. The second site visit was less glamorous—a waste sorting facility, or if you prefer, dump. We took a brief, malodorous tour, and interviewed a local climate reporter and several waste management officials from the city of Kathmandu about the numerous waste disposal challenges here.

Interviewing climate change expert

It will be interesting to see how these journalists apply the information they learned on the field trip to stories they’re producing about climate change in India and Pakistan.

On this same day, three other groups took field trips to other sites around Nepal including a farm and a health care center.

Next week, I’ll wrap my coverage of the conference, sponsored by the East West Center and underwritten by the U.S. Embassy-Islamabad.

 

At a waste sorting facility, Kathmandu

Nepalese PJ project explained; Story topics discussed
(Kathmandu, Nepal)-60 journalists from India and Pakistan attending a cross border reporting workshop heard a fascinating presentation today from Nepalese journalism legend Kunda Dixit about his peace journalism project, which consisted of three books and a documentary film chronicling the Nepalese civil war (1996-2006).

Kunda Dixit

The project was centered around a photo book, “A People War,” that featured most prominently the impact of the war on everyday citizens—a hallmark of peace journalism. Dixit said the book was necessary since “the media has an important role, especially when the State tries to bury the conflict.” He said “A People War,” two additional books, the film, and photo displays around the country were important tools of reconciliation, “bringing people together” while providing a catharsis for the war’s victims. The second book, “Never Again,” chronicled written statements made about the war in a guest book that traveled the country with the photo displays. The most poignant statement in this book, Dixit said, was five simple words: “After the blood comes tears.”

The afternoon session at the workshop featured female Nepalese peacemakers discussing human rights and climate change.

In the morning, I led a session that reviewed peace journalism and guided the journalists to create peace journalism-inspired story topics in four areas: agriculture, environment, business/economy, and health. Their story suggestions are below.

Tomorrow, the journalists will be headed into the field to work on their cross border reporting assignments. Stay tuned for details.

PJ STORY IDEAS—From Indian and Pakistani Journalists

Story on draught, fetching water

Water wells; residents digging own wells because of government inaction

Challenge of getting reliable health information to women and girls in rural areas

Crop rotation as tool to save resources

Single use plastics

Resolution of conflict as driver of economy in Pakistani tribal regions

How Kashmiri lives are being impacted by changes in government policy

Air pollution, and its impact on infertility, and the associated stigma

Water conservation and recycling

Feasibility of health facilities serving those on both sides of the border

How Covid has impacted small and marginalized communities

Women’s self help groups and investing/reinvesting in small businesses

Women led dairy cooperative—can it be emulated in both countries?

Stories on achievements of grassroots female leaders

Collaborations on saving river dolphins

Unsung heroes stories

How small vendors can use solar panels

Rag pickers-how they aid recycling, but are mistaken for thieves

Small women’s co-ops that manufacture hygiene products

 

Cross border workshop launches in Nepal
(Kathmandu, Nepal)—Two fascinating presentations kicked off the Cross Border Reporting Workshop this morning. The workshop brings together 60 Pakistani and Indian journalists to collaboratively study and report on issues of mutual interest.

The first keynoter, Nepalese Journalist Kanak Dixot (pictured, center), made a plea for bolstering tolerance and cooperation in the region. He said that since journalists are “gatekeepers of society…they should have an open mind so that they can open the mind of society.” Dixot’s appeal is for South Asians to develop an identity as South Asians, one that transcends a “super nationalistic mindset” and instead embraces a “shared future.”

Sri Lankan journalist Dilrukshi Handunnetti followed up with a fascinating presentation and workshop centered around issues of disinformation. She began her presentation with a very peace journalism-oriented discussion of story framing, and the tendency to tell stories in the region only through the frame, or lens, of the India-Pakistan conflict. PJ, of course, asks journalists to transcend these frames, and offer counternarratives. She said these frames are often ‘us vs. them’ presentations by media in both countries of threats to national security, of ‘them’ as the enemy or threatening our ideals. Frames centering around Kashmir are also prevalent, Handunnettis noted. She finished by giving the journalists some tools for thinking about disinformation, including focusing on actors, networks, and behaviors of those spreading information.

In the afternoon, the workshop participants met in four subject matter areas (business/econ, health, agriculture, environment) to discuss cross border, collaboratively reported stories they will be producing in the coming months.

The workshop is sponsored by the East-West Center, and underwritten by the U.S. Embassy-Islamabad.

I’ll have more from Nepal later this week.