How can people keep their sanity intact and still live in the same village or attend the same church with others who have burned down their houses and/or tortured and murdered their friends and relatives? This is a tragic dilemma for many who live in Zimbabwe.
Professors Frank Rogers and Andy Dreitcer teach peace and reconciliation classes at Claremont School of Theology, and have done significant work with abuse survivors as well as perpetrators. They have been invited to Zimbabwe to lead a workshop for village leaders, pastors, and government officials on Nov. 3-5, to teach them how to facilitate healing and reconciliation processes in their villages and churches, even in the midst of ongoing violence.
The professors were invited as a part of the recently-formed Zimbabwe government's Ministry for Healing and Reconciliation. While this ministry's creation may have been a sham for some at the top political levels, many of its members are genuine, and it has tapped into a huge ache for peace and reconciliation in the land.
Claremont Ph.D. student and Zimbabwean religious leader, Mazvita Machinga, has close connections to several Ministry members. After taking Rogers and Dreitcer's classes on reconciliation and healing, she recommended that the professors be invited to give an intensive workshop on reconciliation techniques, because local leaders often have no idea how to even begin to address the hurt. Machinga, the professors, and colleague Marc Yaconelli are now in Zimbabwe. They will be blogging about their experiences at www.cst.edu (click on 'CST in Zimbabwe'), as well as taking photos, and will available for interviews upon their return.
Brief Background on Zimbabwe: Since his takeover in 1990, President Robert Mugabe's economic mismanagement, land confiscations, massacres, and human rights abuses have led to hyperinflation, widespread unemployment, poverty, and famines. The once-
prosperous country is now an economic basket case, with life expectancy at 37 for men, and 34 for women.* In March 2008, Zimbabwe held a presidential election. In spite of massive voter fraud and abuse, candidate Morgan Tsvangirai did so well that Mugabe
agreed to a power-sharing arrangement, with Tsvangirai as Prime Minister. This has not stopped Mugabe and his militias from continuing to intimidate the Prime Minister and assaulting his supporters. However, small hopeful steps toward a better future are beginning to be made.
Claremont School of Theology is an ecumenical and inter-religious graduate school located in Southern California among the prestigious Claremont Colleges. The School recently embarked upon the Claremont University Project to transition into a multi-religious university to educate religious professionals, scholars and leaders from all religious backgrounds for service to society and the world.
SHORT BIOS
MAZVITA MARGARET MACHINGA Director of the Pastoral Care and Counseling Services Centre of Mutare, Zimbabwe, and Claremont School of Theology Ph.D. student Mrs. Machinga is the founder and director of the Pastoral Care and Counseling Services Centre of Mutare, Zimbabwe. She has many years of experience in adult and childhood education. She has helped rehabilitate over 1,000 children and families in
crisis, and has extensive experience in crisis counseling. She also organizes workshops on pastoral skills for ecumenical clergy.
Education: Cambridge Advanced Level Certificate, Mutare Girls High; B.A. equivalent, Mutare Teachers College; currently working on Ph.D. at Claremont School of Theology.
FRANK ROGERS Muriel Bernice Roberts Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Narrative Pedagogy Dr. Rogers' research and teaching focus is on spiritual formation that is contemplative, creative, and socially liberative. A trained spiritual director and experienced retreat leader, he has written on the interconnection between spirituality
and religious education. He has also explored the role of the narrative arts (storytelling, drama, creative writing, and autobiography) in the spiritual formation of youth and abused and marginalized children.
Education: B.A., Anderson College; M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary; Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary Recent Publications: please see www.cst.edu/academic_resources/_faculty.Rogers.php
ANDREW DREITCER Director of Spiritual Formation, Associate Professor of Spirituality; Associate Professor of Religion, History of Christianity, Claremont Graduate University Dr. Dreitcer has been a Presbyterian pastor, seminary instructor, director of seminary programs in spiritual formation and spiritual direction, retreat leader, and spiritual director. His teaching interests include the role of scripture in spiritual life,
congregational spiritual formation, and the place of spiritual formation in theological studies. Dr. Dreitcer's spiritual life was significantly shaped by a year spent in the French community of Taizé. Currently, his research and teaching interests lie in the areas of discernment and spiritual formation and in the relationship between contemplative/spiritual practices, spiritual formation (including engaged compassion),
and the discoveries of neuroscience. Education: B.A., Wabash College; M.Div., Yale Divinity School; Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union
Recent Publications: please see: www.cst.edu/academic_resources/_faculty.Dreitcer.php
MARK YACONELLI Consultant for Claremont's Spiritual Formation Program Mr. Yaconelli is a popular author, speaker and consultant with extensive experience in contemplative and pastoral training, youth and young adult ministries, spiritual formation, and reconciliation and peace workshops. Education: B.A., Willamette University; M.A., Graduate Theological Union Recent Publications: Wonder, Fear, and Longing: A Book of Prayers, Zondervan, 2009; Downtime: Helping Teenagers Pray, Zondervan, 2008; Growing Sous: Experiments in Contemplative Youth Ministry, Zondervan, 2007.