What I Learned About Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution Training in South Africa
Cape Point, South Africa
Recently, I got the opportunity to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, for an All Nations Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution workshop.
On the day before I had to fly back, some very sweet mobilizers who were also at the conference drove me and another friend to Cape Point. If you've never heard of Cape Point, it's the convergence of the Indian and Atlantic oceans. What's truly amazing is that the Indian Ocean is a gorgeous turquoise blue and quite warm, while the Atlantic is more dark navy and very cold. The two oceans are so chemically different that they cannot even mix. The two oceans converge at this cape, slam into each other, and then simply coexist, side by side. In this photo, which admittedly is hard to see, there are white foam lines which delineate the two waters. As I stood there taking this all in, I thought, Lord, you are showing me something here.
And as I watched, I realized that when these two oceans mix together, they sometimes hit each other with a lot of force. They swirl around, bubble, and foam. But ultimately, because they’re chemically, totally different, they can’t really change or mix together. They eventually stop slamming together, calm down, and eventually just coexist next to each other. This is a dance that we often do as people.
Sometimes when we have differences, a conflict, or just a difficult situation we can’t change, we swirl around and foam up, but in the end, we can’t change how we were made or where we came from or what we need in the situation. But we can choose instead to adopt an attitude first of curiosity, which eventually leads to a better understanding of the situation and the other person. And then we can find a way to coexist. But it takes a willingness to be calm and to stop our own voice long enough to listen.
It was almost indescribable to stand on top of the point and look out over the two oceans, and think, Here I am for a conflict resolution conference, and you’re showing me how you resolve conflict between two bodies of water.
The Lord is truly good and faithful, isn't he?
About the Author: Callie Ferguson left her home in Oklahoma to serve as a field worker with refugees in Hamburg, Germany, with her husband, Jacob, and two children, Rory and Ian.
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