Peacebuilding Kit ($55)

When we think of peace, the ideas and imagery are indelible: smiling faces, bountiful fields and people working together. However, for millions of people around the world, peace is only a distant dream. In places like Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq, families know little but violence and heartache.

Why Help Is Needed

Where there is conflict, oppression and war, families need more than tangible goods like food and medicine to rebuild their lives. Violence can shred the very fabric of society, so that even people who are determined to improve their lot have no practical way to do so.

Mercy Corps In Action

Progress requires peace. Mercy Corps promotes greater understanding in conflict-torn places such as Iraq and Sudan by including all segments of the community. We fund projects that bring different groups together to solve common problems. Our trainings in Kosovo, Colombia, Guatemala and elsewhere give local citizens concrete skills to resolve conflicts peacefully.

Alice's Story

Photo: Lisa Moore for Mercy Corps

Alice Oboke did not forget what happened to her during Uganda's decades-long conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army rebels. But she did forgive.

Abducted by the LRA in 1988 from the school where she taught and then sought refuge, Oboke was held at gunpoint and forced to join a small group of other captured civilians. Three of the group’s members were killed on their way out to the bush. Upon reaching a bridge, the rebel commander ordered the rebels to kill the remaining civilians. Oboke, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was badly beaten by one rebel soldier and left unconscious. Her baby died shortly after delivery.

More than a decade later — with northern Uganda still embroiled in a ruthless war — a recently widowed Oboke visited her uncle in the hospital, where she encountered the rebel who had beaten her on that fateful journey. He didn't recognize her, and — alone and starving — he implored Oboke to help him.

And then something startling happened: she agreed. She visited the hospital each day for several months to bring him porridge and keep him company until he recovered. Oboke reminded him of their meeting a decade earlier. He thanked her for her kindness during his illness and visited her several times to request forgiveness.

"Without forgiveness, Oboke says, "peace will never come." As a community-elected trainer with Mercy Corps’ conflict mitigation program in Pader, Oboke has been trained in transitional justice, conflict resolution, leadership and trust building — and is now imparting that knowledge to her community. With the view that "peace should begin from the home," Oboke seeks to empower her community to embrace reconciliation techniques to resolve their disputes one household at a time.

"There is a joy in me when I talk about peace," says Oboke. "It helps me forget very many bad things I saw."

Peacebuilding Kit ($55)
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Purchase of a Mercy Kit is a symbolic gift that supports Mercy Corps' worldwide programs to help children and families in need. The Breastfeeding Kit, Climate Change Kit, Fuel-Efficient Stove Kit, Cricket Farm Kit, Send an Orphan to School Kit, Plant a Tree Kit, Play to Heal Kit and Uganda Farm Kit supports those specific project funds. Proceeds from the sale of other Mercy Kits will be used where most needed.