UC Professor Plans To Build Peace Village In Indonesia

Steve Sunderland, a University of Cincinnati professor of social work, will join a 10-member delegation of American civic and religious activists as part of a two-week visit to Indonesia. The role of the delegation’s visit – a project funded by the U.S. Department of State and formed by Ohio University’s Center for International Studies – will be to promote inter-religious dialogue in Indonesia as well as better relations with the United States.

“I am part of a delegation that will work with teachers, ministers, journalists and others on interfaith conflict resolution,” Sunderland says. In addition to opening channels of communication in a region affected by decades of conflict and most recently the devastating tsunami, Sunderland will also take his expertise to the region to train educators and health professionals in grief methods.

The UC professor first organized the Peace Village in Cincinnati after the

April 2001 inner-city riots

and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The grief counselor took his social work students, cardboard and markers to sections of the community, encouraging participants to draw out their feelings of fear, anger and grief in the wake of the turbulent times in the city and the nation.

As part of the Indonesia delegation, Sunderland says that over the past year, he has met with teams of educators, journalists and ministers involved in Peace Village programs at both UC and Ohio University, using his “Posters 4 Peace” methodology to inspire conflict-management programs. On his visit to Indonesia, Sunderland says, “I plan to develop a ‘Peace Village Indonesia’ – a center for education, service and healing.”

Three Indonesian groups visited the U.S. last year when Ohio University’s Center for International Studies launched a series of exchanges between American and Indonesian religious and civic leaders.

“These exchanges promote greater understanding and mutual respect among peoples of different faiths by expanding dialogue on critical issues including religious freedom, individual rights and relations between faith communities,” says Richard Kraince, special projects manager for the Ohio University Center for International Studies. “The project provides opportunities for participants from both countries to share strategies for responding to religious extremism and intolerance in various contexts. Organizers hope the initiative will motivate serious efforts to strengthen inter-religious harmony by promoting conflict management efforts in areas affected by sectarian strife as well as building support for civic education and tolerance promotion activities more generally. A key goal is to facilitate long-term relationships so that dialogue on how to manage differences among religious groups in a pluralistic civil society can be broadened and sustained,” says Kraince.

Sunderland is the UC representative in a delegation that includes professors, graduate students and representatives of non-profit organizations involved in conflict resolution, mediation, peace and justice. The group will lead a series of public forums and will also visit various government and non-government agencies, as well as religious institutions.

In Jakarta, members of the delegation will attend a conference on higher education partnerships at the University of Indonesia. They will also implement peer-mediation trainings for previous Indonesians who have participated in the project, and for faculty and students from two universities. The group will visit an Islamic boarding school in West Java, where members will facilitate discussions on minority rights with local business leaders. In Cerebon, the group will visit a non-governmental organization that is working to foster inter-religious tolerance. Members will also meet with local religious and civic leaders to discuss the role of inter-religious dialogue in conflict management and the promotion of tolerance. The delegates will conclude their visit with a trip to Aceh Province.

Sunderland will depart Cincinnati for Indonesia on March 14 and return on March 28.

Over the past year, the UC Peace Village, led by Sunderland, organized a citywide food drive for the FreeStore Foodbank in Over-the-Rhine, an effort that involved UC and 14 area schools. The Peace Village, in partnership with the Air Force ROTC, was also involved in organizing a dinner for local disadvantaged military veterans, a Music Hall dinner to raise money for tsunami victims, and the Tsunami Relief Campaign organized by UC, Xavier and Northern Kentucky University.