On 26 January 2012 Parramatta Council, Australia announced Rosemary Kariuki-Ffye as it's Citizen of the Year. Rosemary is originally from Kenya and is actively involved with the Creators of Peace programme.

Eight Afrikaner women participated in a peace circles workshop on the Oosterhuizen farm about 15km outside Ventersdorp, a racially sensitive town.

What is the common bridge that can bring communities together in Ventersdorp? Jackie Euvrard and Portia Mosia were recently invited to Ventersdorp, a town two hour's drive east of Johannesburg, accompanied by Brenda Maluleke, a social auxiliary working for the Social Development department in Johannesburg.

Following the International Day of Peace, International Peace Initiative (IPI) organisation had invited Initiatives of Change - Kenya to run a three day Creators of Peace Circles workshop for fifteen women leaders from different corners of Meru county.

Shoshana Faire from Sydney and her friend, Susanne Rix, a skillful facilitator, ran the first Creators of Peace Circle and facilitator training in Nepal.

‘I have always been the first to run towards where there is chaos and violence. I will now be thinking first before running to join chaos and violence’ said one lady who was one of the 12 women from the 13 villages of Kibera slums who participated in a Creators of Peace Circles workshop, 7-9 September, 2011.

This year, from February to June, 18 women with different spiritual views and various social and ethnic backgrounds, have been part of two Creators of Peace Circles at the Initiatives of Change center in Oslo, Norway. One Peace Circle was English speaking while the other was Norwegian, with each running once a week. The women shared their stories, their different experiences, explored their own and each other’s attitudes and viewpoints, dealt with prejudices and developed friendships.

Last summer, when a Peace Circle was being held at Caux, the Initiatives of Change international conference centre in Switzerland, some of the Dutch participants found themselves looking at each other and thinking: 'Why don’t we have any in the Netherlands? With dozens of countries around the world running Peace Circles, should we try to give it a go as well?'

Ten women (8 participants and 2 facilitators) met in Calgary for an intense time of training to be peace circle facilitators. The women - from Calgary, Edmonton, Surrey BC and Richmond, Virginia represented a wide range of experiences through local initiatives and/ or international work aimed at bringing people together to build peace at many levels. They brought their personal style to the training, asked many questions and worked hard throughout the weekend.

Brother killed, property destroyed – Susan Kukiti led the way to forgiveness. Jane Mills (Australia) writes about her friendship with this extraordinary woman.