The Dutch artist Hester Mila-Groeneweg, an active member of the Creators of Peace initiative since its beginnings, created a work of art to express her emotions after the 9/11 attacks. Her morning quiet times were the place where she pondered how to do this and she found herself struggling with the effects of conflict not only in big issues but in the life of individuals, families and the workplace. In 2003 she completed the composition “From conflict to community” consisting of 12 separate panels. The different panels represent the paths from fear to love and from conflict to community.

During the 2 monthly meetings of the group of eight Dutch women of Creators of Peace discussions have been ongoing how the underlying message of reconciliation of Hester’s artwork should be passed on to others. Here the idea came of a Power Point presentation of the 12 panels and Hester’s husband, Jerker Mila, has developed a short presentation with minimum text. The CofP group has then worked on questions which can be used for discussion after the PowerPoint presentation so that a deeper conversation can develop about peace building and reconciliation.

Since 2008 the PP presentation and the accompanying questions have been used in several churches and gatherings in The Netherlands. The church services were built around the theme “From Conflict to Community”. At a meeting of 35 ladies in Hester’s home town Hester answered questions in response to her introduction and the showing of the PP presentation. The ensuing discussion was animated and as one lady said, “Forgiveness”, illustrated in one of the panels, “is crucial to the process of reconciliation.”

At another occasion in Digna Hintzen’s home town one of the participants, a psychologist, showed great interest and has gone on to develop a course for discussion with senior members of her parish on the theme of loneliness. She is going to report back to the Creators of Peace group about her experiences.

Recently a Spanish version of the PowerPoint presentation was shown in Colombia, Argentina and Brazil. A Colombian teacher and pedagogue thought the presentation was a perfect way to reach out to children who are normally very hard to get through to. Another described it as a masterpiece for all ages, each receiving the message on his own level of experience.

For enquiries about the presentation contact the office of IofC in The Hague, The Netherlands: Email here