This year NARPI held it’s training in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. For many of us landing

in Chinggis Khaan International Airport, the only image we had of the vast country was of its rolling fields of green, endless blue skies and its

horses. For the next two weeks, we were to experience the ceaseless warmth and kindness of our Mongolian host, Oyunsuren Damdinsuren,

the hosting team, Baasankhuu Ganbaatar, Saruul Gan-Erdene, Asem Meyramkhan, and Battogtokh Javzandolgor, the participants and many others who welcomed us. We tasted the cheeses, curds, horse milk, and the overflowing

mounds of meat of the local cuisine, entered the comfy ger of a nomadic family, and learnt about the history, culture, and current issues of Mongolia. All whilst being part of a people-based peacebuilding movement that is still a new field of practice and academia in Mongolia.

NARPI Courses Every year NARPI offers six peacebuilding courses during a span of two weeks. This

year the first week courses were: Conflict and Peace Framework, Theory and Practice of Peace Education, and Peacebuilding and

Sustainable Development. The second week courses were: Restorative Justice: A New Lens for Justice, Applied Theatre in

Peacebuilding, and Conflict Transformation in Organizations. We would like to introduce you to the three new courses that were offered this year.

2015 NARPI SUMMER PEACEBUILDING TRAINING

Peace and Sustainable Development Facilitator: Wendy Kroeker Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development

looked at peacebuilding frameworks and conflict sensitivity programming models in a participatory and connective environment. This allowed the

participants to, as one noted, “receive very practical methods and skills” that deepened the participant’s ability to apply conflict sensitive goals, peace and conflict impact monitoring, and

resilience-based development to the field. “The course was helpful in knowing our own situations and approaches to solving and dealing

with conflict and problems” noted Gail Okumoto.

The class with the help of “a very energetic facilitator” (Munkhtuya Davaajav) looked at case studies, carried out creative workshops, and heard from guest lecturers.

By the end of the course, participants came up with their own action plan to incorporate what they had learnt into their development goals.

Applied Theatre in Peacebuilding Facilitators: Babu Ayindo and Kyoko Okumoto

“This course gave me new findings, new discoveries, and useful ideas”, said Junko Hattori a third time NARPI repeater. “I want to apply this knowledge and these methods in my work and life”, said

another participant, Sunghyun Jo, a peace worker in Korea. The Applied Theatre in Peacebuilding is a course based on the conviction that all humans posses “essential theatre”. Every

person has the capacity to create, imagine, and transform self and society. In addition to the philosophical and theoretical frameworks

of arts-based approaches in peacebuilding, the participants explored real life stories of conflict through

applied theatre methods; learnt strategies to co-create visual and performance arts in their communities, and enhanced facilitation skills of arts-based approaches in

peacebuilding.

Conflict Transformation in Organizations Facilitators: Hong Soek Kim and Kathy Matsui In this course participants explored organizational development, leadership and conflict transformation

studies as a way to develop a healthy culture in organization. Peipei Deng an NGO worker from Beijing, China shared, “I got lots of perspectives to analyze

organizations and many tools and methods to transcend conflicts that occur in organizations.” Another participant shared, “I really liked the useful approaches to solve conflict in

organizations.” Participants learned about

analyzing conflict in organizations, leadership styles, life cycles of organizations and conflict transformation system designs.

The course also explored real conflict situations at working places as case studies and consulted between class members to

learn from the wisdom of other participants.

Visit to Nomadic Family Surrounded by the lush summer green and blue sky of the Mongolian countryside, NARPI participants

were welcomed into the simple gerht of Uugnaa (Ууганаа) and her two children, Lkha-Ujin (Лха-Үжин) and Temuulen (Тэмүүлэн). The simple

white gerht, when entered, flooded our eyes with a warm flourish of the red wooden framing, intricate tapestries and

colorful quilts. Uugnaa served us fresh horse milk, a beverage often brought out in celebratory occasions, and homemade kurds and cheese. Her children shyly hid behind

her as they peered into the faces of their guests who were squished together inside their home. Outside, the cows grazed lazily around the gerht and the horses stood dutifully

awaiting orders. Time seemed to slow down as we adjusted

Uugnaa, Lkha-Ujin, and Temuulen, left to right

Handmade cheese, curds, and butter

Field Trip

to the pace of nomadic life. Our time with the family allowed only a snippet view of their life, but there was something comforting and reminiscent

about it.

Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum There is a little-known museum in

the middle of Ulaanbaatar. The Victims of Political Persecution Memorial Museum was formerly owned by Prime Minister Genden.

P.Genden, though initially backed by Stalin, was captured by the Soviet Union for his out spoken retaliation against liquidating

institutional Buddhism, and his increasing nationalism. He was executed on Nov 26, 1937, on Mongolia's Independence Day.

Genden's daughter initiated the idea of making the house into a museum. At the museum, we learnt about the political victims of the Stalinist repression (1937-1952). During the repression many of the intellectuals, the nationalists, the wealthy, and

especially those practicing Buddhist Monasticism were targeted for being anti-Soviet. It is said that 22-33,000 Mongolians were killed under Soviet and Stalinist influence. After

visiting the museum one participant questioned, “How can humans be so cruel?” Also, many of the Mongolian

participants admitted that they had never taken the time to think about their history despite their knowledge of what had

happened. The time spent at this museum was a truly meaningful time as all of the participants, both Mongolian and

non-Mongolian, reflected on the history of Mongolia and of Northeast Asia.

Participants also had the

chance to try horseback

riding surrounded by the

beautiful mountains.

Skulls of the victims that were massacred during the

Stalinist Purge

Mongolian Culture Night During our time together in Mongolia the kindness and hospitality of our hosts and the local participants was overwhelming. The Mongolian

Culture Night was the epitome of this. Many of the participants along with their

friends and family came together to perform Mongolian dances and songs, showing off

their elaborate traditional attire and beautiful culture. We even got a taste of Mongolia as we

were served horse milk and curds.

Gandan Monastery The land where Ulaanabaatar is located was a nomadic monastic center in the 1700s. During the field trip we visited the Gandan

Monastery, established in the early 1800s. The monastery was the only functioning monastery during the Stalinist Repressions and it continues to function even now. The

monastery situated within the busy city of Ulaanbaatar maintains a calm that sways to the tempo of the Buddhist chants. In

the temples and monasteries could be heard the chants of the monks in robes of deep red. In the main temple stood a magnificent statue of Avalokiteśvara, the tallest indoor statue in the world. Visitors walked

in circles around the statue as they spun the golden prayer wheels. It is hard to believe that during the Repressions, the Buddhist clergy was one of the main targeted groups – 15,000 lamas were killed and most of the monasteries

were destroyed. Yet as we quietly walked around the monastery we could see the resilience of the Buddhist faith.

It has been 70 years since the end of World War II. Each nation remembers their past

with mixed sentiments of victory, defeat, liberation, and mourning. This year NARPI started its peacebuilding training at the height of this period. Flowers were placed and candles of peace were lit throughout Northeast Asia as people remembered their loss, and hoped for a peaceful

future. For five years now NARPI has brought participants from throughout the region with a vision of peace. NARPI has acted as a “safe space” where participants of different backgrounds

and nationalities can truthfully share, listen, and learn from each other and be trained and empowered as peacebuilders. Together they experience peace. However peace, though sought after by all, is often forgotten, overshadowed by the political reality that surrounds us.

As the training came to a close all those that participated in NARPI readied themselves to return home. By the end of the training, tensions between North and South Korea had peaked again. Prime Minister Abe of Japan continued to push the National Security Legislation.

Relations between Northeast Asian countries seemed only to have degenerated. Accelerated by the bitterness and politics that come with the remembrance of war. Where had the light of all those candles gone? But this is the context in which the participants were returning to. Be that

as it may, participants returned with a light of conviction, vitalized by the knowledge of the human capacity that they experienced at NARPI. Peace is the way.

Check out our website (www.narpi.net) and our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/narpipeace)

Spread the word about NARPI! If you want to do a presentation about NARPI in

your community, please let us know at admin@narpi.net, and we can send you some resources.

Talk to your school, work, social and religious communities about donating to NARPI.

Consider raising support for people from your school, workplace, or community to participate 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.

STAY INVOLVED WITH NARPI

70 Years

NARPI is looking for a new full time admin staff

We are looking for a new fulltime admin staff for the NARPI Korea office, starting in the spring of 2016.

We are looking for someone who is driven to try new things with NARPI and is self-motivated. 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 opportunity to experience Korea and learn about NARPI’s partners in peacebuilding.

NARPI could not have happened if it was not for your support and encouragement!

It is through your kindness and hopes for peace that NARPI’s work can continue year after year. We would like to express our thanks to the following supporters for their financial support, and

also to the many nameless supporters who have made NARPI’s work possible.

~Thank You~

We need your support! Please support us through your donations. Donations can be received at the NARPI bank account.

Bank Name: Woori Bank

1-203, Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea Account Name:

NARPI 848-3 Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Phone: 82-2-554-9615 Account number: 1081-600-503235

SWIFT Code: HVBKKRSEXXX

Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Mission Network, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict

(GPPAC), United Board for Higher Christian Education, Mennonite Church in Hokkaido, Nonviolent Peace Force Japan,

Transcend Japan, Heiwa Senkyo Center, Honancho Mennonite Church, University Mennonite Church, Tom and Sharon

Spicher, John and Virginia Spicher, Jim and Carol Spicher, Nojima Daisuke, Fujita Akifumi, Akiko Ishihara, Yoriko Matsuno,

Ryozo Teruoka, Kazuyuki Sasaki, Tachibana Shizuo, Asakawa Kazuya, Gail Okuma, Kathy Rowell, Francis Daehoon Lee, Liu

Yi, Steve Leeper, Mongolian NARPI Alumni Group, School of International Relations and Public Administration, National

University of Mongolia, Freshwater Resources and Nature Conservation Center.