APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 107 How Tree of Life Is Taking Root in Zimbabwe 107 The Tree of Life survivor-to-survivor, trauma-healing approach was introduced in Zimbabwe in 2004. Its methodology and medium- to long-term value for participants have been assessed in recent publications, which report that a majority of participants experience an improvement in their psychological state and an increased ability to cope; in addition, the process enables them to find new aspects of value in their lives and to connect with other people and participants, many of whom they remain in contact with after the workshop ends.1 Tree of Life as a mechanism can be used for addressing personal trauma as well as, albeit indirectly, inter- and intra-community conflict. The method is relatively inexpensive: The only requirement is food and a residential environment for the three days of the workshop, as it is important that participants meet in a safe environment, outside the context in which they experienced violence. It does not require the intervention of highly skilled professionals. Tree of Life is thus an important development for communities in Zimbabwe, where the incidence of politically motivated and other violence is high, but financial and certain other resources, including qualified psychologists and therapists, are scarce. The Small Tree of Life, the main body of facilitators and members in Zimbabwe, meets on a monthly basis, under a tree in a peaceful garden in Harare. Aside from a small number of administrative staff and the ‘guardians’ who founded the organization, all of the facilitators have survived some form of violence, usually organized violence or torture in a political context. Each of the facilitators has participated in a Tree of Life workshop, a process which involves debriefing survivors in such a way as to enable them to integrate their traumatic experiences with the rest of their life story and recognise that their value and purpose as an individual can endure and even grow beyond their experience of violence or torture. Thus, despite their differences in age, gender, and skills, and despite the different locations from which they come, the people gathered in the circle share something specific and powerful: the knowledge as a survivor that not only does violence devastate and dehumanise, but healing is also possible. Understanding both aspects of this experience means that the people in the circle share a realistic but hopeful vision of what is suffered by Zimbabweans living with trauma and the healing and restoration of dignity that are possible. INTEGRITY OF PROCESS Working quietly and relatively slowly—building trust is crucial—members of the Small Tree of Life connect with other people they know who have experienced organized trauma and violence. They invite not only victims, but also perpetrators of violence to participate in the workshops. The latter is possible because former perpetrators have sent ‘scouts’ to workshops to gauge the safety of the process: Zimbabwean society is riven with suspicion and fear, and people often worry that there are spies everywhere. 1. For details about the process and an assessment of its efficacy and value in the Zimbabwean context, see T. Reeler et al., ‘The Tree of Life: A community approach to empowering and healing the survivors of torture in Zimbabwe’, Torture 19:3 (2009), 180–93; and A. Iliff, ‘Root and branch, Tree of Life: Sowing the seeds of grassroots transitional justice’, Oxford Transitional Justice Working Paper Series, March 2010, http://africanarguments.org/2010/03/root-and-branch-tree-of-life-sowing-the-seeds-of-grassrootstransitional-justice.