Schools and soldiers are targets of Pacific peace program

Riven by civil strife since the 1987 coup, Fiji’s major divisions are between the Methodist dominated Fijian majority and a Hindu Indian minority. 

An ecumenical agency funded by Australian Churches through the Christmas Bowl appeal has been acting as an agent of reconciliation, and running programs for young people and members of the military.

Director of the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA) in Fiji Aisake Casimira visited Australia in November ahead of the Annual Christmas Bowl Appeal, to report to Australian churches on ECREA’s activities.

In 2004, ECREA received for its work, a grant of $50,000 from Christian World Service, the international aid and development arm of the National Council of Churches in Australia.

Working with young people, ECREA has been engaged in school-based practical workshops on inter-racial conflict management and conflict resolution. 

Another aspect of ECREA’s work has been the debriefing of Fijian military personnel involved in peacekeeping missions in the Middle East and the Pacific.

Some thirty middle ranking officers participated in the most recent workshop on Trauma Healing and Awareness at the Vatuwaqa Officers Training School in April 2005.

Aisake Casimira told a gathering in Brisbane that peacekeepers often faced traumatic and violent events in the course of their duties and needed debriefing upon return.

Such programs also gave ECREA access to the military, some of whom have been part of the problem rather than part of the solution, on the issue of inter-racial reconciliation in Fiji.

Last year, the Christian World Service distributed nearly $4 million in aid and development funds to ecumenical agencies and partner churches around the world.

This was an increase of nearly half a million dollars above the previous year.

To read more about the work of ECREA go to: http://www.ecrea.org.fj/.

To find out more about the annual Christmas Bowl Appeal go to: http://www.ncca.org.au/cws

Photo : Aisake Casimira, Director of the Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy in Fiji