2004:  Amman, Jordan

            What has been so rich about this Retreat is the care and concern
            with which people have treated each other.  I had an amazing                                         experience at the Dead Sea, where it was difficult for me to walk
            down all of those stairs [because of a broken leg].

            Muhammad was with me and Hyun Kyung was with me, and                                         Muhammad said to me out of nowhere, “Don’t be overcome by fear,”                             and he picked me up and carried me down 100 stairs … Alimamy
            carried me back up.  He told me that in his tradition, you stay with                                 the weakest member of the community.  This was true Christian -
            Muslim dialogue in action.  This was interfaith cooperation.
                                                                                             Dr. Monica Maher
                                                                                                            Union Theological Seminary

From May 3rd to May 5th, 2004 Tanenbaum Program convened the recipients of the Peacemakers in Action award for the first time in the program’s six-year history.  Hosted by HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, the Retreat gave the participants the opportunity to explore religious peacemaking and enhance their skills as peacemakers through a series of training modules, interactive sessions, and dinners in Amman, Jordan. 

Fourteen of the 18 Peacemakers in Action attended, coming from four continents, 15 countries and 12 armed conflicts.  They were joined by experts in theology, the media, the United Nations, and organization-building including:

• Nejib Friji, Chief, UN Information Centre-Beirut
  
• Aasma Khan, Esq., Human Rights Activist and Lawyer
  
• Matt Rees, Jerusalem Bureau Chief, TIME magazine
  
• Neil Quilliam, Program Officer, United Nations University
  
• R. Scott Appleby, Director, Kroc Institute for Peace Studies
  
• Chung Hyun Kyung, Associate Professor of Ecumenical Studies, Union Theological Seminary
  
• Dr. Monica Maher, Fulbright New Century Scholar, Union Theological Seminary
  
• Jeremy Routledge, Director of the Quaker Peace Center in South Africa
  
• H.E. Mr. Jose Amorim Dias, Ambassador of East Timor to the European Union

Our Peacemakers had the opportunity to become better peace advocates through sharing their stories during training sessions including:

• Themes and Techniques in Religious Peacemaking
  
• Identifying Texts, Stories, and Symbols That Inspire Religious Peacemaking
  
• How to Work With the United Nations in Conflict Areas and in Resolving Conflicts
  
• The Press and Your Peacemaking
  
• Building a Tanenbaum Center Peacemakers in Action Network
  
• Religious Peacemaking: Implications, Impact, and Distinctiveness

The Peacemakers were challenged by each other as well as the speakers and facilitators.  Sakena Yacoobi, who founded the Afghan Institute of Learning, encouraged her fellow Peacemakers to continue living out peace:

            One time, [the leadership of the Afghan Institute of Learning was]
            driving through the country, and boys, aged 16-18 stopped us and
            said, 'You’re providing education to girls, but what about us?  We only
            have  these guns.  We just kill, but we can’t do anything.'  They asked
            me if  they could learn.  I told them to come to the Center, even though
            it wasdangerous.  Our funders say just to fund women and girls, but I
            told the boys to come to our center.  And it was dangerous for us, but
            we gave them our literacy program and peace training. 

            Two years later, the boys behave and dress well.  It is important to live
            what you believe; other people will come to you.  I believe in the power
            of inner peace.

In the end, people left inspired and equipped to be better peacemakers.  In a world
that values governmental settlements and paper documents, these Peacemakers were prepared to do the work to transform paper peace into real peace on the ground.

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