Ep 22 Wayne Marriott – Conflict resolution, mediation, and peace-building

If conflicts are a fact of life, left unmanaged, they can be costly. And not just in financial terms. Yet, “when handled constructively, conflict is a normal and useful part of life.” Today, Wayne Marriott speaks of his work in conflict resolution and management, mediation and more – in short, peace building. That can be at the family level, in small groupings or communities and organisations, and onward. We live with some dreadful realities that we can reference. How then do we see what is happening and learn to break out of the cycles.In this work, resolving conflicts must go beyond surface problems to the heart of an issue; to relationships, and to recognise that healing is done 'with' people, not 'to' or 'for' them. As a member of MBBI – Mediators Beyond Borders – Waynes is connected into conversations and the important advantage of shared learnings foremother settings. His decision to head overseas to study – at an age a bit later than many – came from a realisation that he needed to challenge himself in different contexts. And here, the choice of the Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, USA, was not a casual one. He was learning among a multi-national, multi-cultural cohort of students. And the Mennonite traditions (and the work of Center for Justice and Peacebuilding) offered a very significant learning experience.In this conversation Wayne makes mention of at least one occasion from the time of the mosque shooting when he was made aware of the personal impact on one of his own family of the events happening around him – something that he might not otherwise have anticipated.