A Lunch of Reconciliation

Today I had lunch with three of the Bridge Builders -- prominent leaders from up and coming NGOs in the developing world. Akbar, whom I worked with in Java, is here for the week representing his organization, KOMPIP. He has been sleeping on my spare blow-up bed and borrowing my XL jacket since Sunday!

At the lunch, I shared chicken parm and penne with Rahmatullah (from Afghanistan), Evariste (Rwanda), and Shanthi (Sri Lanka) as we discussed how to better their efforts at reconciliation in their respective countries. You couldn't ask for three more disparate and fascinating places, particularly with regards to inter-racial and -religious strife. Their main universal complaint was that peoples may live together, but there are no incentives to talk and work together, and that the latter are necessary for a society to function fully.

I had to leave early, but I was left optimistic that even in the world's most "dangerous" and "awful" places, we should never underestimate the capacity of people to work together to reconstruct hope and trust.