2 PHOTO 1 » A spirit medium performing rituals at a community-cleansing ceremony Appeasement of avenging spirits (Brainstorming and group discussions) Appeasing an avenging spirit is another ritual that can be carried out to achieve healing, and, ultimately, peace. In many African cultures, killing a person is a serious offence, regardless of the circumstances, and has consequences for the offender’s family and the community as a whole. The avenging spirit is believed to cause mysterious happenings and deaths as a way of prompting the family to pay compensation. It is only through appeasement that the avenging spirit can rest and cease taunting the offender’s family. If not appeased, the avenging spirit may kill the entire family and continue targeting the next generations until it is appeased. A herd of cattle and a young virgin woman are paid as appeasement of the avenging spirit. The payment is an admission of guilt and a way of asking forgiveness on the part of offender’s family, whilst acceptance of the payment is a gesture of forgiveness on the part of the deceased’s family, as well as an indication of its willingness to bury the past and share a common future. A ceremony where food and beer are shared between the two families is held to signify reconciliation, whilst the rest of the community is invited to celebrate together with the affected families (see Module 1). ULTRAMODERN APPROACHES (Mini lecture and brainstorming) The ultramodern or avant-garde approaches to community healing are considered to be more progressive compared with traditional approaches. The former approaches first came to the fore after it was realised that the atrocities of the First and Second World Wars not only had physical consequences, but also had detrimental psychological and economic effects on a person’s well-being. This resulted in the adoption of mechanisms that sought to heal the varying effects these events had on the individual and the community. In this section, these ultramodern approaches will be discussed in line with the national healing process that Zimbabwe can adopt in order to achieve sustainable peace. Module 2: Approaches to community healing 25