COMMUNITY HEALING AND MEMORY (Brainstorming, mini lecture, role play and discussion) 1 Guiding questions (The facilitator should think of other questions over and above those listed below.) • What is the difference between physical healing and memory healing? • What strategies could be employed to enable healing of memories? • Give concrete examples used in Zimbabwe and in your communities to help heal memories (at individual, family, community, and national levels). • What are the negative impacts on individuals and communities of unhealed memories? • What else could be done to promote healing of memories? Wounds that affect individuals and communities are not merely external and visible. The deepest wounds are emotional and psychological. The deepest pain remains engraved in human memories collectively and individually (see Module 6). When an experience is collective, it is known as history. According to Smith (1992), human history is powerful and emotive. There is no amount of rational argument that can alter human conclusions derived from one’s experiences. Such experiences play a major role in filtering messages that one receives from one’s surroundings. One’s experiences determine whether the hearer accepts or rejects the message. The layers of culture comprise the behavioural level, the social authority level, the experience level and the core-of-culture level. Both collective and personal experiences are hidden under the layer of social authority. The collective experience of a group is history, which powerfully shapes current culture. Even as experiences shape societies, so they shape individuals. Where there has been emotional involvement, seeing and feeling, it is meaningless to say that a remembered experience did not happen, or that it did ‘not happen in the way that you think it did’. Personal experience is powerful, and arguments will not change an individual’s perception of it. Such experience is essentially emotional, so rational discussion does little to alter beliefs based on experience (Smith, 1992). Memory and memorialisation Healing of memory implies ensuring the psychological well-being of victims of a horrendous past and is linked to reconciliation. For this reason, Bloomfield et al. (2003: p.77) eloquently state: Acknowledgement, apology, recognition and even substantial material assistance can never bring back the dead or be guaranteed to alleviate all the psychological pain suffered by a survivor. The essence of the problem of making amends for past violations, is that the amount of distress, hurt, injustice and anger the survivor is personally struggling to come to terms with is immeasurable. Thus, the memories of victims afflicted by distress, hurt, injustice and anger make it difficult for the individuals and communities to move forward and develop. Tied to the content of memory is the concept ‘memorialisation’, which can be defined as: a process that satisfies the desire to honour those who suffered or died during conflict and as a means to examine the past and address contemporary issues. It can either promote social recovery after violent conflict ends or crystallize a sense of victimization, injustice, discrimination, and the desire for revenge. (Barsalou & Baxter, 2007, p. 1) Module 1: Understanding community healing 13