by Don de Silva
A packed house attended a special screening of the new film An African Answer at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at Sussex University on 10 November, 2010. Over 200 students welcomed Pastor James Wuye and Imam Ashafa, two former warring militia leaders from Nigeria who feature in the film, together with Dr Alan Channer, the film’s director and co-director of FLTfilms.
IDS is one of the world's leading organisations for international development research.
Sir Richard Jolly, Senior Research Associate, and Emmanuel Rukundo, a master’s student, organised the event. The team was accompanied by Don de Silva, head of programmes at Initiatives of Change UK.
A lively question and answer session followed the event. Among the questions asked were:
How do you sustain the peace process?
It is easier to manage a process like this at a micro level; how do you spread the impact at the macro level?
How can you have a bigger impact at a macro level and still maintain the level of quality?
How can you make the peace process apolitical?
To what extent were you viewed as outsiders in Kenya? How did you, coming from Nigeria, relate to the local communities?
How do you deal with certain religious extremists in Nigeria?
What are your plans to spread the impact in Nigeria?
Imam Ashafa challenged students to use their knowledge and skills to promote peace and reconciliation. He said: ‘The world's best and the brightest students on development issues are present here. You are going to be at the heart of governments, political power and decision-making. Please use you skills and the knowledge that you have gained here wisely for the benefit of all people in your countries.’
He added: ‘We need a new development process that brings preventive justice to social and economic issues.’
Commenting on the screening, Emmanuel Rukundo, said: ‘The film was sensational in many ways. The lessons of participation, grassroots initiatives and group dynamics learnt were quite immeasurable. Many students have been requesting for more films like this at IDS events.’
English