Listening: the best way to build peace

When dialogue is mentioned, most people associate it with talking.  Not so for the participants of The East-West Dialogue for Peacemaking, an event held this past June in Amman, Jordan.  Thirty participants from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, the United States, and Canada came away associating effective dialogue with good listening. The art of good listening, they learned, is key to effective dialogue and peacemaking.

During the 4-day conference, participants, both Muslims and Christians, spent intensive time together informally and in sessions developing relationships and learning from the rich and diverse experiences of each other. 

“When we build friendship we are one step closer to peace,” says Mouhammad Aref El Hassan, from Lebanon who was also at the conference in 2009. “…There are a lot of people out there that want to understand and to be understood.”

One of those people was Sara Anderson who attends Kitchener Mennonite Brethren Church and who recently completed her first year in the Global Studies program at Wilfred Laurier University focusing on Peace and Conflict in the Middle East and Muslim Studies.  She was interested in this Dialogue as a way of putting into action some of the lessons she learned in the classroom, and as a way to learn more about what it means to be a Christian in the world.  “I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the culture and customs in the Middle East and how I, as a Christian, am to live in a multi-faith world.”

Sara Anderson (far right) speaking with three participants from the Middle East

The goal of the event, sponsored by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) and Mennonite Central Committee, is to encourage greater understanding across cultural, national, and religious boundaries by building bridges and connections between young adults.  MECC and MCC hope that participants will integrate what they learn into their day-to-day lives and encourage tolerance and understanding in their home communities.

“One of my goals,” said Sara “was to break down stereotypes of Middle Easterners. The activities and the conversations we had helped me to do this.  Something that I will cherish forever is the meeting of new people and the learning and growing that we all did together.”

The first day was devoted to providing basic tools to develop listening skills.  This included learning to differentiate between facts, feelings, and values being expressed in conversation as well as learning about three levels of engagement that people often fall into when they are listening.  “This type of dialogue is valuable because it not only asks us to reach out to the 'other', but it also provides us with a deeper understanding of ourselves.”

Sara believes that this type of experience helps peace-building in two unique ways.  “Firstly, it demonstrates hope – If 30 of us cared enough to come to this conference, participate sincerely in the activities and work at building relationships, I have great hopes for what we can accomplish.  Secondly, this conference gave us an opportunity to form connections and build bridges between ourselves and the 'other'. 

“Making personal one-on-one connections, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to start building peace.”


[This article was originally published by MCC Ontario 7/7/2010 here]