Young adults learn exercises to strengthen their emotional control and to create a dream for their future and a plan to achieve that dreams.
Our team was invited by the US Agency for International Development to work in nine towns in three counties in eastern Liberia, to help communities traumatized by the violence of the civil conflict and its aftermath, with land conflicts, weakened community institutions, high drug use and a broken economy heavily dependent on foreign aid.
Our partners are Kennesaw State University, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Liberia’s National Commission for Peace, Justice and Caritas, US non-profit who specialties include measuring community trust and identity in postconflict settings (TRENDS Global) and the University of Liberia’s Kofi Annan Institute for Conflict Transformation.
Our program (Hope for a Better Future) is trying out and studying approaches to community led trauma healing and resilience building. Our focus is on young adults (18-35). We want to understand how to engage youth as partners for sustainable, trauma-informed development in Liberia. We’re trying four different projects. The first project, Safe Spaces, began in late 2022. Here is how we introduce the trainings:
“The Safe Spaces project offers you and your community a path to take more control of your life and help improve life with your family, clan, tribe, faith community and your local community. You will learn exercises in emotional control and in building a dream for your future. The Safe Space team supports you to take what you have learned into your community. With these skills and by collaborating with others in your community, you will be able to improve your community by finding ‘local solutions to local problems.’ This might mean you:
Make your community safer.
Find ways to make sure everyone in your community has enough clean water, food, shelter, basic medical care and connections to others in the community, so no one is alone.
Help families to be stronger and stop physical, sexual and verbal abuse.
Emotional Control
If you learn and practice the exercises in this manual, you will gain more control over your emotions. You will:
• Be more aware and mindful of your surroundings, the people around you and what is happening inside your own body.
• Be calmer and more focused.
• Be more hopeful and have more courage.
• Be happier.
Dreams
By practicing the exercises in this manual, it will be easier for you to create a dream for your life. You will learn how to:
• Have many dreams.
• Choose the most important dream for yourself and for your group.
• Make a plan to achieve your dream and your dream for your group.
• Reach out to people who can help you reach your dream.
• Understand your group and its biggest challenges.
On their own, participants began sharing and regularly practicing the exercises with their friends, family, faith community, classmates, colleagues and neighbors.
Here is what these young people, and some of their parents, are saying about how the exercises have benefited them:
The Five Senses Exercise
"I used my five senses to save our house from huge losses when I heard the sound of the thieves and started shouting for rescue."
“The Five Senses Exercise helped me to take notice of what was happening in my environment and saved me from being killed by a criminal.”
The Right Now Exercise
“Practicing the Right Now Exercise daily has helped my mother to release joint pains from hard farm work.”
The Good Memory Exercise
"I always feel calm whenever I practice the Good Memory Exercise while I am angry.”
“I used the Good Memory Exercise to calm and settle a dispute that lasted for two years between my parents."
“Prior to my coming to this training, my best friend and I had a fight. During the third day of the Good Memory exercise, I walked to her and apologize to her. Knowing the kind of person I am, she was shock and expressed how surprised she was seeing me apologizing when she should be the one doing it because she wronged me.”
“The Good Memory Exercise has made me forgive my uncle who raped me and also to testify in court so he can be free.”
“I’ve been battling with negative thoughts. Those thoughts changed my mood and I start reacting and speaking to my family members inappropriately and getting angry very quickly. One of the exercises that has helped me greatly and changed the way I’ve been behaving is the Good Memory exercise. It has helped me to stay positive and calm; now I’ve been able to apologize to all of those that I hurt doing the process of me battling negativity. The fun part is, my mother was the one reminding me about the training and how I should continue practicing the exercises because it has helped her too.”
“This training has helped me when it comes to forgiveness. I had issues with one of my closest friends and we both didn’t think that we would ever be friends again. Recently, I sat down and thought about all of the good things that we had done when we were still best friends and I decided that I was ready to settle the dispute. I had no idea how but I knew that I was going to speak to her about it. Luckily for me on October 8, 2023, I went at the pool and I met her there. I walked up to her and spoke to her. She was so shocked and she said she didn’t expect me to ever talk to her again. We both expressed our grievances and we were able to reconcile.”
The Courage Exercise
"I have not been sleeping in my house alone since the death of my mother but the Courage Exercise has helped me to have less stress and fears. I can now sleep alone without any fear!”
“A dream is a vision you create in your mind of a preferred future.” - Joshua Bobby Kiljely, a Pentacostal preacher and member of our team.
The Dream Exercise
“The Dream Exercise is helping me, because I can now plan my activities. The training has helped me to know that when I don't plan my dreams they cannot be achieved.”
"I couldn't figure out how to achieve my dream until I came here. Of all the exercises the Dream exercise is my favorite! It helps me shape my future and I'm also teaching my younger sister how to do the same."
"I have been out of school last academic year due to financial support, but after attending the Dream Exercise session of the Safe Spaces training, I am in school currently, know how to set my priorities and strategies to achieve my dream."
"I never used to like voting but the Dream Exercise and the House Metaphor motivated me this election to stand in line for seven hours without complaining until I completed the voting process.”
The House Metaphor
“The House Metaphor is helping me to understand problems my his community and I am now involved with solving problems in my community.”
“The Safe Spaces training program has given me so much hope when I thought all was lost for me. I have decided to go back to the University of Liberia to continue my studies.”
“The Safe Spaces training has taught me a great deal how to control my emotions and walk away from violent acts and behaviors that I was once involved with.”
Parents and community leaders report:
A few of the parents of our participants thanked us saying that "... the training sessions have greatly contributed to the behavioral change in our children's live, we will encourage other parents to send their children for the training….
"Thank you people for changing my son from the streets with bad behavior and bad friends to good behavior and he is always home these days just because of the training he attended.”
“I am so happy about this program, my daughter has changed greatly in behavior.”
“Because of the training, her daughter has forgiven her childhood friend of many years!”
A community leader commended us for the training sessions and stated that "...due to the training, our community youths are actively engaged in community development and security issues... especially those whom we have sent to participate in the training..."
