by Claire Evans
“Sometimes the walls are so tall we can’t destroy them; we have to convert ourselves into bridges,” explained Ricardo Esquivia of the Colombian Mennonite Church. “It is not enough to identify all the layers of injustice that have made the wall and to make them disappear; we have to find a way to heal and make sure that the walls are not rebuilt in the same way.”
Esquivia joined other keynote speakers Judy DaSilva, Clan Mother in the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation (Grassy Narrows, ON), and Jim Loney, CPT Reservist held captive for four months in Iraq, in addressing the 160 participants gathered for Christian Peacemaker Congress IX September 20-23, in Toronto, Ontario.
Daily worship and two dozen workshops offered multiple tools as participants identified walls, confessed complicity in building them, reflected on strategies for dismantling them, and constructed a symbolic path of peace from their rubble.