The Ghana SELL Resource Team was out for the first SELL workshop since the
establishment of the SELL Resource Room. The programme was held in Bunkpurugu
community (in the East Mamprusi district of Northern Ghana) from the 19th - 21st February
February, 2016. It was a workshop on the peace building unit of the SELL Programme with
the Catholic Youth of the Bunkpurugu Parish with Fr. Leo and Vincent as facilitators. The
programme which was originally scheduled to take place in the Bunkpurugu township had to
be moved to Nakpanduri, a nearby town due to a conflict that erupted at the time we got to
the community. This conflict, we were told, is a chieftaincy dispute between two families
Jafouks and Jamongs whose ancestry trace to the same parents but have been divided over
who is the rightful heir. This most recent outbreak of violence between the above mentioned
families started in October, 2014 (although the area has been a conflict zone since the year
1985, mainly with inter-tribal tensions). Consequently, there have been eight consecutive
outbursts of conflict since October 2014 leading to the burning of over 400 houses and other
properties belonging to the two families and at least 12 people are known to have died during
the recent outbursts. We were told that over 200 people have fled the community into Togo
and over 200 hundred in neighbouring communities.
Although these challenges affected the turnout of the workshop, the programme was still held
with 22 participants in attendance. Some of the sessions explored during the workshop were
anger management, using the analysis tree (a tool for conflict analysis), memories and
possibilities that can assist healing and sexuality. In all, participants were encourage to look at
the impact of violence and conflict on their individual lives and their communities at large
and then ‘think and choose’ to be at peace with themselves and to be peaceful in all life
situations. Many of the participants expressed their satisfaction and requested for more of
such workshops in their communities. Below are some comments from the evaluation:
“The analysis tree has given me an insight on how to deal with my personal and family
issues, it has been a great addition to my learnings”.
“I have learnt various ways of managing my anger and healing myself from the hurt people
have caused me through sharing in small group work with other people during this SELL
workshop”.
establishment of the SELL Resource Room. The programme was held in Bunkpurugu
community (in the East Mamprusi district of Northern Ghana) from the 19th - 21st February
February, 2016. It was a workshop on the peace building unit of the SELL Programme with
the Catholic Youth of the Bunkpurugu Parish with Fr. Leo and Vincent as facilitators. The
programme which was originally scheduled to take place in the Bunkpurugu township had to
be moved to Nakpanduri, a nearby town due to a conflict that erupted at the time we got to
the community. This conflict, we were told, is a chieftaincy dispute between two families
Jafouks and Jamongs whose ancestry trace to the same parents but have been divided over
who is the rightful heir. This most recent outbreak of violence between the above mentioned
families started in October, 2014 (although the area has been a conflict zone since the year
1985, mainly with inter-tribal tensions). Consequently, there have been eight consecutive
outbursts of conflict since October 2014 leading to the burning of over 400 houses and other
properties belonging to the two families and at least 12 people are known to have died during
the recent outbursts. We were told that over 200 people have fled the community into Togo
and over 200 hundred in neighbouring communities.
Although these challenges affected the turnout of the workshop, the programme was still held
with 22 participants in attendance. Some of the sessions explored during the workshop were
anger management, using the analysis tree (a tool for conflict analysis), memories and
possibilities that can assist healing and sexuality. In all, participants were encourage to look at
the impact of violence and conflict on their individual lives and their communities at large
and then ‘think and choose’ to be at peace with themselves and to be peaceful in all life
situations. Many of the participants expressed their satisfaction and requested for more of
such workshops in their communities. Below are some comments from the evaluation:
“The analysis tree has given me an insight on how to deal with my personal and family
issues, it has been a great addition to my learnings”.
“I have learnt various ways of managing my anger and healing myself from the hurt people
have caused me through sharing in small group work with other people during this SELL
workshop”.
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