A Poem for Dekha
POETRY FORMAT, 1 Aug 2011
Emma Leslie, Convener for Southeast Asia – TRANSCEND Media Service
Dekha was a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. She was killed in a terrible car accident on July 14, 2011.
You prayed five times a day your whole life.
You pilgrimed to your beloved Mecca more than most.
You observed Ramadhan in its purest way to strengthen your soul.
You were ready for Paradise.
Paradise was ready for you.
But we were unprepared.
You had warned us many times.
Its not about us, its about the work.
‘Take your ego out of it”,
let the vision motivate you,
generously give the credit away.
Feel proud when others are praised for something you know inside was you.
And when you were gone.
Horrifically, violently swept away,
You were not taken from us,
It was your time to go,
But we were unprepared,
And could not and would not believe.
But as we pulled ourselves together,
Grappling with this cruel reality,
We began to comprehend the massive legacy you had left us.
It weighs heavily on your children,
Universities to build,
Somalians beyond number to feed,
Fragile peace to hold.
This should not be the burden of your children alone, if at all.
All of us who loved you, all inspired by you,
all who grieve your shining face,
and your gentle challenge to build peace everywhere,
must honour your memory.
We must take up the mantle.
You did not leave us alone, you left us an eternal quest to end violence and realize peace in our time.
We commit to honour you, by carrying forward your mission,
a hundred fold, a thousand fold, to all the corners of the earth.
We will not allow your children to bear this mantle alone.
For it is surely heavy as you well knew.
With the wisdom you left us,
with the spirit of generosity you shared,
and energized by your ancient laughter ringing in our ears,
we pledge our lives to work for a just peace,
just as you spent all your days.
Thank you Dekha for entrusting us with this most sacred of tasks.
We hardly feel worthy but we will not shy away from the challenge,
for to do so would be to dishonor your life’s work.
Emma Leslie, July 23, 2011
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Dekha Ibrahim Abdi – Kenya
Dekha Ibrahim Abdi is now a well respected and highly acclaimed international peacebuilder and a renowned conflict mediator. But her background as a Muslim women from the marginalised Somali district of Wajir in Northern Kenya has meant a lifelong struggle for legitimacy in defense of her own rights and those of her community.
Dekha grew up as one of a dozen children born into a rural family in a part of Kenya characterized by high levels of conflict and violence linked to the marginalization and exclusion of Kenyan Somalis by successive Nairobi based administrations. At the time of her birth there was an ongoing battle between government forces and the Somali guerilla movement (the Shifta).
With only a basic formal education Dekha demonstrated her innate organizing and conflict transformation abilities in her response to the growing fatigue of war that had begun to permeate the polarized lines between clans in Wajir. In 1992 she began working as a local level peacebuilder and community development worker.
Through the contacts she was able to establish, and the growing relationships of trust between groups from different clans in 1998 she was able to lead a group of women mediators who intervened in an ongoing aspect of the broader conflict that had divided the market frequented by the women. According to Dekha the move was prompted by news that a women friend was about to be married, but her links to the opposition clans meant that attending her wedding would be impossible. Working with a number of other women Dekha established Wajir Women for Peace, who the worked together with men, youth and the elders to negotiate a ceasefire agreement that enabled them to attend the wedding. The market opened up again and over time a peace agreement was forged that combined modern and traditional elements of conflict transformation and reconciliation to establish a peace that has held to this day.
Through the contact that she established with Birmingham based Responding to Conflict (RTC) Dekha received an opportunity to spend first a year with RTC as International Fellow and then full time employment for a further 2 years. During this time she got the opportunity to reflect extensively on her experiences, to write and contribute to a handbook on “Working with Conflict” and to participate in and contribute to a number of experiential and elicitive learning workshops conducted under the auspices of RTC.
She returned to Kenya as a training and organisational resource that has since seen a number of peace initiatives emerging out of Wajir that have spread to neighbouring Mandera. Dekha has played a role as mediator in a range of disputes including issues of land ownership, tensions between host and displaced communities over access to resources, conflicts between traditional and official state authorities, generational conflicts and interpersonal disputes between married couples, religious leaders and local business people. Her approach includes a close attention to relational aspects of the conflict, a deep look at the historical and underlying aspects of a conflict, a recognition of the need to link relational, systemic and structural elements of a conflict to a multi-level effort to build peace. The peace efforts Dekha initiates are linked to national and international actors through the key role she plays as a connector.
Dekha was also a founding member of the Coalition for Peace in Africa and ACTION for Conflict Transformation. These supportive learning networks provide further opportunity for reflection and the enhancement of her skills. Through her involvement in these networks Dekha has been exposed to conflicts across the continent of Africa, in South East Asia and the Philippines and in parts of Eastern Europe. In 2007 she received the Right Livelihood award in recognition of the outstanding role she plays in the promotion of peace across the world.
This combination of skills, experience and innate abilities placed her in a key position during the election violence in December 2007. Through her previous contacts with Ambassador Kiplagat, and George Wachira of the Nairobi Peace Initiative, Dekha was invited to step into the coordinating role of the Kenya Citizens for Peace formation. Here she played a major role in linking the myriad of initiatives that emerged from the forum, and in linking the middle level mediation and peacebuilding efforts of Citizens for Peace to the senior level mediation effort led by Kofi Annan.
In February 2010 Dekha was awarded the Hesse Peace Prize in further recognition of the key role she plays.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 1 Aug 2011.
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