Peace Circle co-facilitators, Diana Damsa and Zhanna PetrukovichBetween 13-27 November, the first Creators of Peace Circle in Romania took place in Baia Mare, a city located in the north part of the country. Zhanna Petrukovich from Russia, who had been one of the team organizing the Creators of Peace conference in Australia, went to help her Romanian colleague Diana Damsa to run six sessions of this first Creators of Peace Initiative in Romania. Diana reports:

The group of ten women (most of them in their 60s) talked over and engaged in activities on topics such as: ‘What destroys and what creates peace,’ ‘qualities of a peace creator,’ ‘inner listening,’ ‘inner peace’ and ‘the power of forgiveness.’ Having lived for most of their lives in an authoritarian society under communism, they found at first our new, fresh and engaging approach unusual and uncomfortable. But from session two we all started to be more open and more relaxed, enjoying the process. Sharing their life stories represented a big challenge - to be so open and vulnerable. But after some encouragement and our personal example they took courage and it helped us understand them better through hearing some of the important moments that shaped them in life.

The session on forgiveness impacted all the group and confronted the participants with the need we all have to forgive and be forgiven. We also had a good look at the blame we tend to throw on others before looking properly at our own mistakes. This challenged the women to recognise and admit their own prejudices especially towards some other ethnic groups. In the last session the participants suggested that Peace Circles should be run for more people in Romania and they offered to form such groups and even learn how to co-facilitate. From February 2010 more Creators of Peace Circles are planned in the country.