By Ted Woodley

After returning from witnessing a YAP Ambon workshop in action, I described my experience as a “revelation.” I believe YAP really works.

Imagine how you would feel if the person sitting next to you has previously attacked you, or sexually assaulted your sister, or slashed your daughter’s face or torched your house. On the other hand, how would you feel if you were the attacker, and are now sitting beside the person or a relative of the person you had assaulted?

For some participants in UnitingWorld’s Young Ambassadors for Peace (YAP) peace building workshops, this is the reality.Whilst not every participant has been directly subjected to such trauma, all have been involved in some way with a long-standing conflict with neighbouring communities and have been severely affected by ongoing violence and tensions.

When I first heard of Joy and the success of YAP, I must say it all seemed a little too good to be true. I wondered how it was possible for warring communities that have been in deadly conflict for generations, could come together and, after just one week, leave as friends and peacemakers.

So when I was invited to attend a YAP workshop in Ambon, Indonesia, in December 2009, I willingly accepted the opportunity to see these transformations with my own eyes.

Sixty representatives from six neighbouring communities attended.The process was very emotional at times, especially when participants confronted their past, deeply regretting the devastating impact of their actions on others.

Two particular highlights were the “burning of prejudices” and the closing ceremony. During the burning of prejudices, participants write down their conflict and their anxieties and then one by one, burning them as the participants surround a single fire. At the closing ceremony, participants publically commit to change their lives and become peacemakers. These moments are filled with many tears and hugs.

Describing my trip to Ambon as a revelation is perhaps an understatement. This single YAP workshop has changed lives for good. Former enemies returned to their communities as peacemakers. Local YAP staff and volunteers do an amazing job in following up participants, plugging them into a broader network and provide resources to help them to continue on after the high of the workshop.

There’s no single part of a YAP workshop alone that creates peace, but over just a number of days, huge transformations are possible. I believe YAP works because it looks at conflict in a practical, impartial way, finding a way to leave the past in the why YAP works past, and maps a forward plan. Through opening up to the group, forgetting past prejudices, mapping the conflict, and developing an action plan. The results in united communities with strong bonds of trust that continue to strengthen with time.

The testimonies from the participants themselves were evidence enough. One participant said, “A precious lesson is that I’ve got to change my life.” Another admitted that “for a long time in my life, I acted like a human machine. I would always rise up and fight a problem. But now everything has changed.” Having been a bit of a “doubting Thomas” I can now say that YAP works – remarkably so. There’s no doubt that YAP programs transform lives and enable communities to break free from the conflict cycle-trap.

Ted Woodley is a member of the National Committee of the Relief and Development Unit of UnitingWorld.