Stories

Peace Counts sends reporters and photographers to areas that are or have been affected by conflict. They report on successful peacemakers and their methods and focus on possible solutions of violent conflicts. Up to now our teams have worked in more than 50 countries from A like Afghanistan to Z like Zimbabwe. Their inspiring stories are published in newspapers, quality magazines, radio, television and online. And in the book „Die Friedensmacher“ (The Peacebuilders; in German only). The project itself was awarded the Innovation Prize, one story from Libya with the journalism award „Andere Zeiten“.

Nigeria: “Peace is Divine”

James Wuye and Muhammad Ashafa once fought in opposing militias. Now they help mediate the conflicts that have repeatedly flared between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria. Successfully. Their strongest arguments are the Koran, the Bible – and their own biographies. By Michael Gleich

Killing for Medals

The northeast part of India, the largest democracy on earth, has proven to be a military regime. Hundreds of civilians are killed, and a special law guarantees the soldiers immunity. A lawyer and a woman who has eaten nothing for 14 years are fighting this. The two might win. By Michael Gleich

God’s Rapid Response Team

In the unsettled northeast of India, numerous rebel groups are fighting the army for political autonomy and financial sinecure. The only power respected by all sides is the Christian churches. In crisis situations, the Catholic archbishop Thomas Menamparampil brings an interdenominational peace team and rebels to the negotiation table. By Michael Gleich

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Libya: Flashbacks in Tripoli

A Tripoli trauma centre tries to heal emotionally wounded children and youth caused by war. By Michael Gleich

Rwanda: Reconciliation

Long after the genocide of 1994, Rwanda is still a wounded, divided nation. AMI, a small organization located in the south of the country, is attempting something that might seem unthinkable: to reconcile murderers and the families of people they killed. By Markus Wanzeck

Kenya: Shoot to score, not to kill

The Kenyan attorney Fatuma Abdulkadir Adan works to bring together members of northern Kenya’s warring tribes. Her methods so far have included organising football tournaments and setting up a council of women to discuss men’s violence. By Susanne Stiefel

Colombia: Mateo chooses Life

Mateo, the music group Eskalones and the „Elite de Hip-Hop“ use rhymes, dance, and graffiti art to resist the gang culture of Comuna 13, a notorious slum in Medellín, Colombia‘s secondlargest city. Their work is a courageous open-ended experiment. By Tilman Wörtz

Thailand: Gothoms’s March

A peace march of over one thousand kilometres, from Bangkok to Thailand’s southernmost province of Pattani: That was the idea that took shape in the mind of Gothom Arya, director of Bangkok’s Research Center for Peace Building. His hope was to draw attention to one of the world’s forgotten conflicts. By Uschi Entenmann