In 2013 the Pan African Peace Network (PAPNET) was formed.  It was born among participants at the 10-day Training of Conflict Transformation Trainers (TCTT) that Sharon and I led in Kenya.  We had people from eight African countries, and they wanted to build on what they had learned, putting the training skills into practice.  But they also wanted to continue the relationships, working together in international partnerships, bringing together spiritual energy, Biblical perspectives, and experiential education tools to impact African contexts for peace.

Almost immediately they launched into the work with a team being sent straight from the TCTT to do a workshop in a rural flashpoint for political violence in the Rift Valley of Kenya.  Later in northern Kenya Boaz Keibarak got involved mediating between warring tribes, and he invited Philip Kakungulu from Uganda to join him in a conflict transformation training initiative with those tribes.  Lance Muteyo from Zimbabwe became the coordinator for PAPNET.  He invited Boaz to help him train chiefs and traditional leaders on peace-building in a volatile region of southern Zimbabwe.  Then Philip and Lance trained together in the Lord's Resistance Army areas of northern Uganda, especially working among war orphans and the staff ministering to the orphans.

PAPNET grew when Lance and I led another TCTT in Nigeria, this time drawing participants from ten countries.  One was Anthony Fabrice Kettemalet, a dynamic young Christian activist from Central African Republic.  Fabrice took his new peacemaking tools and quickly made such a huge impact in C.A.R. that the U.S. embassy noticed.  Fabrice was hosted on a U.S. tour visiting places like the Jimmy Carter Center in Georgia and the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.  Meanwhile back in C.A.R. Fabrice working with Muslim leaders to develop joint Christian/Muslim public prayer vigils for peace and conflict transformation training throughout the country.

Lance Muteyo will be joining me and International Ministries at the American Baptist Churches' Mission Summit.  If you go to Portland for the Summit, be sure to catch us at the IM exhibit and at the IM Luncheon on Saturday.

Also, you can view a musical slideshow about the work of PAPNET on my website:  Click here.

By the way, you can support the work of PAPNET through an IM project, the Global Peacemakers Mentoring Project--you can give on-line or send a check to IM noted for that project to help keep this work going as we seek to make an impact with the peace of Christ in various conflict zones in Africa and beyond.

Thank you for your prayers, financial support, encouragement, and partnership!

Peace,

Dan