COVER STORY
THE Aiyugam Reconciliation Ministries (ARM) was launched on June 9, 2023, at the Summer Institute of Linguistics to advocate for peace and stability in Aiyura Valley in Eastern Highlands (EHP).
Founder and chairman Brian Waso said his organisation had an ethos to emphasise more on the thriving operations between the ministry and communities in the province.
Waso said that the formation of the ministry was due to his personal desire to see peace and stability in the communities of EHP that had been affected by ongoing tribal fights mainly caused by land disputes and sorcery related issues, where there is outnumbered of police personnel.
He said only God’s word would bring lasting peace and happiness into people’s hearts and break every chain of strongholds like bitterness, anger, hatred, fear and jealousy when they’re in conflict., and that’s purpose the ministry helped different communities through intervention of numerous tribal fights by way of mediation and reconciliation through organising ceasefire agreements between warring tribes and villages.
He said that the ministry provided food supply relief to displaced villagers and worked in partnership with churches, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations to develop rehabilitation projects.
Mind the Gap PNG president Andrew Kwimberi said that he supported ARM and called for peace among the violence that was ongoing in the province.
“It takes years for the development, but like a strike of a match things can be destroyed for an instant. Without peace there can be little to no progress and without progress you cannot succeed and prosper in your life, as a family and community.
“Peace provides long term security for communities to grow, prosper and flourish.
“So make peace building in your communities as your number one priority endeavour or project and be prepared to invest in it,” Kwimberi said.
About Arm
In 2014, Brian Waso fasted and prayed seeking God to reveal to him any spiritual gift he might have and God revealed to him the work of reconciliation.
To prove his spiritual gift, he organised his community in 2017 to reconcile and live in peace and to find meanings in life. The community reconciled with each other and as a result two families who have accused each other of sorcery have reconciled and are now living in peace.
The programme was supported by the Eirenas family of the Summer Institute of Linguistic in Ukarumpa, Aiyura.
In 2018, he advised his village leaders in Okapa to conduct a reconciliation programme to find answers to problems the village was facing. Two clans in the village fought for almost five years and parties involved in brokering peace tried in vain because the warring clans could not listen. A moving reconciliation programme was conducted in December and as a result both parties are now freely moving around.
Brian continues to enhanced himself with skills by involved in various trainings and programmes run by the Summer Institute of Linguistics and that has helped developed his approach on how to solve problems.
In 2020, he led a team of untrained with the help of Mind the Gap PNG Inc, and missionaries, peace was restored in the Onamuna community conflict.
The ethnic conflict in Onamuna causes a lot of damages to life and properties and that pushes Brian to work tirelessly in ensuring peace is restored and that was eventuated with the signing of cease fire and eventually peace agreement on Aug 30, 2020.
Arm was also involved in brokering peace within two families involved in fights in Anamunampa village.
Brian then advised his church leaders to supply the relief item to the Norikori people after being settled from their return from Markham. It has been from their conflict with the Noraenda ethnic group. Eventually, the ministry was formally incorporated with the IPA on Nov 22, 2021.
The equipping workshops supported by Arm were Trauma Healing, Culture Meets Scripture, Biblical Generosity Rule of Law and Participatory Method in Engaging Community.
There are plans to set up similar groups in other districts of EHP and other provinces of the Highlands to provide various training to equip and empower them to serve as peacemakers and builders of rule of law and other various training projects in their communities.
Below are the ARM’s courses or programmes hosted and supported by Arm:
TRAUMA healing;
CULTURE meets scriptures;
RULE of law;
COMMUNITY conflict management resolution; and,
PARTICIPATORY method in engaging community.
Other vulnerable law and order problem specialties include:
CEASE-FIRE peace process signing;
PROVIDING food relief;
COMMUNITY ownership awareness;
CONFLICT intervention, mediation and reconciliation; and,
REHABILITATION projects.
Recent work of Arm
Arm recently organised a first-aid training at the CIC Training Support Center on Feb 24 this year. Members of the surrounding community were invited to attend so that they could take these skills back to their areas.
Because it was the first training of its kind in the area in recent memory, facilitators were uncertain of what sort of reception it would receive in the community. However, the day of the training about 20 participants from the Aiyura valley attended and it was a big success. The half-day training was designed with the goal in mind to equip community members with life-saving skills to respond to emergencies that would be common in their communities.
Training began with assessing the safety of an emergency scene and ways to determine if people at the scene required first aid assistance. From there the training moved into covering the basics of how to protect a patient during transfer to a high level of care.
This included how to position people until they could be transferred, how to protect potential fractures or dislocations, and how to construct a stretcher from common household materials. After that, related topics were explored such as how to stop bleeding, first aid for burns, snake bites, and wounds.
With all of these skills students were shown through demonstration how to complete the skills and then given time to break into groups to practice the skills and receive feedback from the facilitators on how best to perform the skills.
This also gave students a chance to ask questions and try different methods and approaches that best suited their particular circumstances to accomplish the first aid skills being demonstrated.
Overall, by the end of the class, students expressed a feeling that they were more confident in ways to safely provide first aid that would protect people in their community when they needed to be transferred to a higher level of care.
They explained that these first aid skills are of high value, especially for communities far from higher level medical care.
Miss Reed, a facilitator working with Arm, emphasised the impact of first aid training in PNG’s rural areas where hospitals are hours or days away.
“Having people trained in first aid skills gives community members tools to deal with medical challenges,” she said.
“First aid skills empower communities with hope and confidence.”
BrianWaso, director of Arm, highlighted the value of having first aid skills in tribal conflict areas like Aiyura.
“Tribal fighting can break out unexpectedly, and first aid skills are crucial for peace-keeping leaders, church leaders, and organisational leaders to help wounded casualties,” he said.
Emergencies and medical challenges are a regular experience for communities around the globe.
But, facilitators of this training wished to use this training to empower and equip community members to meet those challenges and emergencies head on.
Worldwide emergencies that occur significant distances from higher level of care are known to have poorer outcomes if those responding to the incident do not have good, basic knowledge of safe first aid.
Knowing that improved first aid knowledge can improve long-term outcomes for victims of emergencies, the facilitators wanted to give community members the tools to improve the health and safety of their communities by providing training that was tailored to the emergencies common to their area and to the tools and transport capabilities that would be available to them.
All in all, the training was practical, covering how to safely assist in an emergency, safe patient transport, initial wound care, and more.
It is not just about saving lives – it is about building stronger, more caring communities.
