Watch this video to hear reflections on peace and war by CSOP Participant, David Caceres.
Author: admin
by Aaron Epp
‘War is something that no one should live,’ says retired Peruvian colonel.
If anyone knows about the realities of war, it’s David Caceres.
Caceres, who calls Lima, Peru home, was a colonel in the Peruvian army and served his country during the 1980s and 1990s. Witnessing the atrocities of armed conflict during the Cenepa War, a 1995 border dispute between Ecuador and Peru, caused Caceres to reevaluate what he wanted to do with his life.
“War is something that no one should live,” says Caceres, who was in Winnipeg June 17-28, 2013 to study at Canadian Mennonite University’s (CMU) Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP). “We should have to respect everyone’s life.”
After the Cenepa War, Caceres began working for the Peruvian army in a peacekeeping capacity. That led to a job at the United Nations, where Caceres worked for four years as a training officer. In that role, he developed military training materials for the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
With a wide range of experiences in managing human resources, mediation, and conflict resolution at the international level, Caceres has facilitated seminars, workshops, courses, and training in Africa, Europe, Asia, America, and Latin America.
Caceres is currently the Lima District Manager for World Mediation Organization, where he consults and trains people in mediation and conflict resolution.
He is also in the process of developing the International Peace Studies Center of Peru that will help enhance the capabilities of communities and government workers to deal with conflicts in Peru so that they can resolve them peacefully.
He studied at the CSOP in June because he wants to expand his knowledge of conflict resolution.
“If you feel like being a cook, you need to have a lot of recipes,” Caceres says, adding that the CSOP instructors he learned from have given him a variety of different recipes for, or ways to approach, resolving conflicts.
“I’m putting everything in my bag and I believe I’ll use the knowledge and experiences and relationships [I made at the CSOP] so that I can do my job … in the best way.”
If you want to know more about the CSOP and what the CSOP experience offers, take a few minutes to watch this video of reflections from 2013 CSOP participants and instructors.
At the 2013 Canadian School of Peacebuilding, the "Human Rights and Indigenous Legal Traditions" class participated in making moccasin vamps for "Walking with our Sisters," an art installation created to raise awareness of the hundreds of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. Other CSOP participants were invited to become involved by walking alongside a visual representation of our forgotten sisters, created by class members. Check out the video below about this project at the CSOP and go to http://walkingwithoursisters.ca/ for more information on the art installation.
Ovide Mercredi, CSOP instructor in 2010 and 2012, was recently awarded the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Manitoba’s Alumni Association. See http://umanitoba.ca/news/blogs/blog/2013/04/26/ovide-mercredi-annouced-as-2013-distinguished-alumni-recipient/ to read more about it.
Armand Volkas, who taught at the CSOP in 2013, will be returning to Winnipeg in January, 2014. Along with Laura Simms and Kate Donahue, Armand will be offering creative arts workshops as part of a certificate program offered by Express Yourself: Art Therapy & Expressive Arts Workshops for Children, Youth & Adults in Winnipeg. For more information go to http://www.breathe-create-transform.ca/ or contact express-yourself@shaw.ca.
Click 
to listen to the story of The Lion Tamer, as told by George Lakey at the CSOP Peacebuilders Banquet, June 23, 2011.
Each week during the Canadian School of Peacebuilding we invite the general public to join our students for a lunch banquet of great local food and storytelling by one of the week’s instructors on the the theme of great peacebuilders. This is a time to gather as a community of peacebuilders, to celebrate with great food and to be inspired by the stories of peacebuilders from around the world.
Click to listen to the story of Florence, as told by Stan McKay at the CSOP Peacebuilders Banquet, June 9, 2011.
Each week during the Canadian School of Peacebuilding we invite the general public to join our students for a lunch banquet of great local food and storytelling by one of the week’s instructors on the the theme of great peacebuilders. This is a time to gather as a community of peacebuilders, to celebrate with great food and to be inspired by the stories of peacebuilders from around the world.
Click to listen to the story of Barbara Smith, as told by George Lakey at the CSOP Peacebuilders Banquet, June 23, 2011.
Each week during the Canadian School of Peacebuilding we invite the general public to join our students for a lunch banquet of great local food and storytelling by one of the week’s instructors on the the theme of great peacebuilders. This is a time to gather as a community of peacebuilders, to celebrate with great food and to be inspired by the stories of peacebuilders from around the world.
Click to listen to the story of the hummingbird, as told by Karen Ridd at the CSOP Peacebuilders Banquet, June 29, 2012.
Each week during the Canadian School of Peacebuilding we invite the general public to join our students for a lunch banquet of great local food and storytelling by one of the week’s instructors on the the theme of great peacebuilders. This is a time to gather as a community of peacebuilders, to celebrate with great food and to be inspired by the stories of peacebuilders from around the world.