A Quest for Peace

North Malaita still bears the scars from social unrest that took place in the Solomon Islands between 1998 and 2003. Monipa Billy took a huge risk and fought for peace. Here’s her story, as told to ADRA ’s Lee Richard.

I work with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) as a community-based conflict resolution and peace-building volunteer.
But my work in peace building began with a personal experience.

Recently, a conflict between two North Malaitan communities turned into a vicious fight that ended in one man’s tragic death. I wanted to help nurture forgiveness, reconciliation and peace between the two groups affected by the killing. While I live there I am not origi nally from North Malaita, so stepping in was at the risk of being ignored and condemned as an outsider.

First I talked with those responsible for the murder and discovered that the root cause of the problem was a land dispute.

After talking with them, they agreed to talk to the deceased man’s community.
I then went to the deceased man’s family and tribe to negotiate with them. I talked about the negative effects of killing in retaliation, stressing that a wrong can only be made right by doing what is right. After our conversation, they agreed to work toward peace and reconciliation.

With willingness to solve this issue from both sides, the chiefs, village elders and other local leaders planned a peace and reconciliation ceremony. The ceremony was witnessed by all community members, as well as the local authorities.
It was a happy moment of reunion.

Food was shared by both parties and compensation was paid, as was agreed in the reconciliation process. Justice for both families had been done and the relationship between the two communities began to heal.

ADRA acknowledges the complexities of reconciliation and is implementing activities to address them. ADRA provides training for peace-building volunteers on issues such as anger, justice, conflict resolution and forgiveness.

The training workshops, designed for those who work at the village level, also include audiovisual material and casestudy analysis of other communities that are working toward the same goals, such as Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) and Rwanda. In addition to these activities, ADRA is also addressing community health needs and opportunities to enhance livelihoods, such as agriculture, literacy and small business training.
Building peace and encouraging reconciliation is not a simple process, but it is worthwhile. Although it takes time, ADRA’s efforts for peace are generating new hope.