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2014 NARPI Summer Training

It takes courage! These are the memorable words with
which Professor Liu Cheng of Nanjing University, the host
of the 2014 NARPI Summer Peacebuilding Training,
greeted a large circle of new faces on the morning of August
9, 2014, referring to his hosting role and to the work of
peacebuilding. Because of Liu Chengs dedicated effort, this
years NARPI Training could be held at Nanjing University,
one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China.

From August 8 to 21, the fourth annual NARPI Summer
Peacebuilding Training brought together 52 participants
from different parts of Northeast Asia, as well as Canada
and the Philippines. Eight facilitators worked together to
lead six courses: Conflict and Peace Framework, Theory
and Practice of Peace Education, and Restorative Approach
to Historical Conflict in the first week; and Arts and Stories
for Peacebuilding: Presenting Our Histories Justly,
Psychosocial Trauma: Awareness and Response, and
Peacebuilding Skills: Transformative Mediation in the
second week. Two local hosts and two admin staff were
joined by eight volunteers doing language support, admin
assistance, shopping, photography, and course
documentation. With guest speakers, visitors and family
members included, NARPI brought a total of 86 people
together.
This year, several former NARPI participants joined again,
but most of the participants were new to NARPI. Some
learned about peacebuilding for the first time and others
appreciated the opportunity to reflect and share about
their many years of experience in the field. On a feedback
form, an anonymous participant shared, I enjoyed
getting to know peace builders and broadening my mind.
I realized how much I dont know
about peace. And Emily Wang
commented, NARPI helps me to
reflect on my field work of
peacebuilding. The sharing and
growing that happens through
courses and relationships during the
summer peacebuilding training
contributes to the building of
NARPIs vision for active non-
violence, mutual cooperation, and
lasting peace in Northeast Asia. As
Executive Director Jae Young Lee
shared, When you build a house,
you start from the bottom. Likewise,
sustainable peacebuilding starts
with the people.
NARPI participants and hosts gather for a picture in front of the John Rabe House Museum
during the three-day field trip
Nanjing University students brainstorm with their group about new
concepts in Conflict and Peace Framework
2014 Newsletter
www.narpi.net
admin@narpi.net 82.70.8817.8690

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Each new hosting location brings in new people and
organizations with diverse gifts to offer one another. This
years host Professor Liu Cheng joined NARPI as a
participant last year in Korea. In a relatively short time he
got all the necessary approvals, hosted NARPI Executive
Director Jae Young Lee and Steering Committee Chair
Kyoko Okumoto for a preparation visit, and recruited
Nanjing University students to join NARPI. PhD student
Bai Shuang (Bella) volunteered as the main communica-
tion channel with the admin team in planning local
logistics and the field trip; after the training began, she
tirelessly served participants and the admin team in many
details of organizing and communications. Other Nanjing
University students helped as class assistants and also as
guides for fellow participants during the field trip and the
free afternoons for sight-seeing.
Nanjing has a rich history as the capital of China during six
dynasties and also a painful history from the massacre of
hundreds of thousands of people in 1937. During the three-
day field trip, NARPI participants visited the Nanjing
Museum and the Presidential Palace as an introduction to
local history and culture. Then, NARPI participants
learned about the Nanjing Massacre, hearing from a survi-
vor and visiting the Nanjing Massacre Museum. A visit to
the John Rabe House added the perspective of people who
worked to help and protect citizens of Nanjing during the
massacre. On the last day of the field trip, NARPI visited a
nursing home and the main office of the Amity Foundation,
an NGO founded in 1985, with active programs in develop-
ment, health, education, disaster relief, and social welfare
in several locations across China today.
When Xia Shu Qin visited NARPI, she shared her story of
the terror she experienced during the Nanjing Massacre.
She told about the day that Japanese soldiers broke into
her home and raped and killed seven of her family mem-
bers. Not long afterwards, she also emphasized the kind-
ness that she has experienced from Japanese people as she
has travelled to tell her story. Her message, similar to other
survivors of atrocities, was not for revenge, but for people
to work together to prevent similar atrocities from happen-
ing again. Two evening sessions gave participants space for
processing and debriefing. In the first, participants and
facilitators worked in small groups to create questions to
take along to the Nanjing Massacre Museum, such as: How
Nanjing massacre survivor Xia Shu Qin shares her story while Ma Rui
(left), Liu Cheng, He Lan, and all NARPI participants listen closely
Restorative Approach to Historical Conflict engages in a dialogue
representing Justice ,Truth, Mercy and Peace
One small group models their interpretation of the meaning of
NARPI at the Week 2 Opening Ceremony
Another group illustrates how NARPI is like a family

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can we face the tragedy and violence beyond national iden-
tity? How can we move forward but at the same time look
back to our past? After the Museum visit, participants re-
flected on their questions again, with new and deeper un-
derstanding.
Participants shared that an important part of the courses
was the opportunity to learn from each other. In the
course Arts and Stories for Peacebuilding, I learned
through many activities and peace processes. Our class-
mates thoughts and opinions were so awesome to me I
learned a lot from them, explained Ryu Hye Sun (Angela).
Tsering Yonten shared that the Peace Education course
has been a wonderful opportunity for all of the participants
to have a basic understanding of peace education and to
learn from each other. He added that the way the course
was facilitated somehow inspired our potential on the sub-
ject, and that NARPI was a really good chance to observe
some different methods of training others.
NARPIs co-facilitator teams use a variety of activities to
help participants understand new concepts of peacebuild-
ing and put them into practice. Tsoggerel (Sogee) Enk-
hbayar shared what she liked about the Transformative
Mediation course: The mediation role plays were great. I
liked when we really got into character and dealt with the
situation as if it was our own real issue. After learning
about restorative justice in Restorative Approach to His-
torical Conflict, Dolgorjav Munkhbayar said Now I want to
practice more and more. In the evenings, participants led
discussions, showed movies, emceed culture and talent
nights, taught each other dances, and shared traditional
clothing from their cultures. And when people needed a
break, they enjoyed swimming, ping pong and badminton
together. Lyozo Teruoka, a returning participant, led a dis-
cussion on stereotypes. Akiko Ishihara and Emily Wang
showed movies and gave presentations about victims of
mercury pollution in Minamata, Japan and about naval
base construction and historical oppression in Jeju Island,
Korea. Rui Ma (Robert), a participant from 2013, invited
Peking Opera and Traditional Orchestra groups from the
Nanjing YMCA to join NARPIs culture and talent nights.
The culture and talent nights were full of song and dance,
including an unforgettable opening dance performance by
Nanjing University students in the second week.
At the closing ceremony, Liu Cheng reflected that If you
share food, you end up with less. If you share knowledge or
peace, then there is more. As NARPI participants, facilita-
tors, volunteers, visitors, and staff shared their experiences
with one another, friendships and understanding spread
across cultural and political divides, creating, in Nakada
Naoyukis words, a precious community.
NARPI is grateful for the involvement of partners who
share wisdom, recruit new participants, and give financial
assistance. This year NARPI received new funding from the
Robert Bosch Stiftung, a German foundation with a new
focus area in peace and conflict resolution. Individual and
Arts and Stories for Peacebuilding performs a song for the Culture
and Talent Night
Peacebuilding Skills: Transformative Mediation poses for a group
photo. What animals do you see?

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organizational donations came from several new sources
this year, as well, in addition to support from long-time
partners Mennonite Central Committee, Global Partner-
ship for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), and
Mennonite Mission Network.
As participants return home to their communities, families,
classes and jobs, they have opportunities to share what
they learned. Several participants expressed a renewed
academic interest in peace studies. Others made plans to
collaborate together in peacebuilding activities. Teachers
made plans to incorporate peace education in their classes.
Zhang Hongyan (Anne), a middle school vice principal in
Sichuan Province, China, has already presented about what
she learned at NARPI to her fellow teachers.
Mongolian participants and NARPI Steering Committee
member Oyuna Damdinsuren have begun preparations to
host NARPI in Mongolia next year.

Check out our website (www.narpi.net) and Facebook
page (https://www.facebook.com/narpipeace).
Spread the word about NARPI! If you want to do a pres-
entation about NARPI in your community, please let us
know at admin@narpi.net, and we can send you some re-
sources.
Talk to your school, work, social and religious communi-
ties about donating to NARPI. Consider raising support for
people from your school, workplace, or community to par-
ticipate in the NARPI Summer Training; and then provide
opportunities through which they can share what they
learned afterwards. If you are interested in donating,
please contact the admin team at admin@narpi.net.
NARPI is looking for someone to join the admin office
in Korea this winter, as Kaias term will end in December.
The main responsibilities are writing grant applications
and reports, managing the budget, updating the website,
and assisting with summer training preparations and
meetings. For someone with an interest in peacebuilding
and Northeast Asia, this position provides a good opportu-
nity to experience Korea and learn about NARPIs partners
in peacebuilding.
Stay Involved with NARPI
NARPI 2015
NARPIs 2015 Summer Peacebuilding Training will be
hosted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Look for applica-
tions on the NARPI website by March 31, 2015. Travel
preparations to Mongolia need to be arranged at least a
month in advance, so the application period will be
earlier next year than it has been in the past.