February 2025
Dear supporters,
May I wish you a belated Happy New Year – Sretna nova godina! Thank you all for your ongoing support - welcome to our Winter newsletter, which includes several opportunities for you to get involved in a practical way.
As I write, the ceasefire in Gaza is holding and as in the Ukraine conflict, we pray on for justice and peace. When the violence eventually stops in both regions, community peace building teams can begin their work. There is so much to learn from organisations like the ‘Centre for Non-Violence and Human Rights’ in Osijek with whom we worked initially in the 1990’s. Likewise we have almost thirty years of experience in ‘Touch of Hope’ of healing the hurts of war.
September 2023 Newsletter
Dear supporters,
Hello and welcome to our Autumn newsletter!
Our cycle of workshops for 2022/23 has come to an end. Our last workshop was held in June, in the beautiful city of Novi Sad, where we stayed in the lively city centre. When we arrived in Belgrade, there were street demonstrations calling for an end to violence in the country following two mass shootings, one involving a school. There were also tensions in Kosovo, with clashes with UN peace-keepers. In many places we saw signs proclaiming that ‘Kosovo is Serbian.’
The theme of this final workshop was ‘Living in a reconciling way’ and at the end we asked the question, "What can I do personally to live in a reconciling way?“
Answers included:
A participant's perspective
The following account underlines the difference 'Touch of Hope' can make in participants' lives, years after the war. May I introduce Vesna? (I have changed her name.) She attended this latest cycle of workshops, aged 60. She was a young woman of 28 when Vukovar fell in August 1991. This is her story. Please don't reproduce it without my written permission.
I was working on a livestock farm when the war caught up with me, on August 24th 1991. From a workforce of 100 or so, about thirty of us couldn't get home that day because barricades had been put up round Vukovar. We were stranded on the farm, hearing gunfire and explosions in the city; the farmer had to accomodate us. This went on throughout September.
Then, in early October, the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and 'territorial defence units' entered the farm. They searched our apartments, and occupied the empty ones. They restricted our movements; I went to work with a military escort, and guards were stationed at our workplaces. We were afraid to talk to one another in case we got questioned.
From bad to worse
On November 6, six of us (Croats and Muslims) were tied up by the police and taken away. The moment when we walked bound through the farmyard is etched in my memory to this day. The army looked at us mockingly, my colleagues were silent, and I felt more humiliated than scared.
In a nearby village we were imprisoned in a basement. I was physically and sexually abused there. I survived but my five colleagues were killed (one was found in the New Cemetery in Vukovar, and the others are still considered missing.) I experienced fear; a desire not to exist; anger. I thought, "Why did this have to happen to me?" and "What kind of God allows such things?” I was transferred briefly to an industrial storage site outside Vukovar which was being used as a detention camp. Then I was held in a prison in Serbia, until I was swapped in a prisoner exchange on December 21st. In Zagreb, I learned that my brother and several other family members had been killed. I never told my mum what happened to me.
Aftermath
I tried to bury all the bad events deep inside me. I joined the Croatian Army, where I felt protected, and met my present husband. But in 1997, when our baby died during childbirth, the bad dreams, negative thoughts, and other traumas resurfaced. A psychiatrist diagnosed me with depression and PTSD. There were good days, but many more bad ones for me. Sometimes, it took a lot of strength just to get up and do something. I had my husband's support, as I do today, but there were times when we were silent and withdrew into ourselves.
Steps towards healing…
In 2013, I started therapy with a group of women through the programme ‘I Am More Than My Trauma,’ which helped me a lot; my family was my greatest motivation and support. I realised my worth as a person, learned to communicate better with others, and solve problems. This programme changed my life! So in 2022, when a close friend invited me to join the ‘Touch of Hope’ workshops, I agreed to participate (I hesitated at first, not having heard of the programme before).
…further benefits from ‘Touch of Hope’
I view these workshops as an extension of the therapy I underwent ten years ago. No matter how much you work on yourself, there are moments when life's problems and memories pull you back. I'm glad I went through these workshops.
The most significant thing I gained was the empathy of the others there, whether workshop leaders, or fellow participants. We came from different backgrounds, meeting for the first time, and gained so much good from each other. Something from each workshop has touched me. The fact that participants come from different regions helps me see some personal experiences from a different perspective. I also like how the leaders use "biblical images" to thoughtfully address various topics and apply them to resolving our different opinions. I believe the combination of their knowledge and our diversity led to successful work.
I feel a bit "confined" as a person, so topics like communication, forgiveness, forgetting, and reconciliation are important to me. I try, and I hope I succeed, in applying what we've learned. It's important that I've learned to accept others as they are. Every problem is solvable if we deal with it. It's important to listen, not just hear other people, to avoid misunderstandings.
I thank the people who helped make this programme a reality!
What has been clear during the past year, from stories like Vesna's, is the ongoing need for our work of healing the hurts of war. Thank you for your invaluable support whether it is by:
Prayer – your continued prayer is the spiritual lifeblood of the work!
Practical support – please contact me if you can look after the website or join our small organising group.
[In the last newsletter I welcomed our new editor Nicky Andrews. Nicky has been visiting the Balkans for 20 years , including serving (2005-2007) in Kosovo, with international missions agency Operation Mobilisation (OM). She speaks Serbian and a smattering of Albanian. These days she is a journalist with OM based from home in Rugby. Nicky and her husband Dave have supported Touch of Hope for over ten years.]
Finances – the money from the Methodist Fund for World Mission is used up, so we need to raise £40,000 if we are to hold another cycle of six workshops during 2023/24, and train more facilitators. We are approaching grant-making bodies for help but it would great if you can make a personal donation, or hold a fund-raising event! Cheques are payable to: CFR Footprints. If you are a taxpayer and can include Gift Aid, that would be a wonderful help. A Gift Aid form is attached with your covering email. Please send cheques/Gift Aid forms to: Revd. Clive Fowle, 62 Copsewood Avenue, Nuneaton CV11 4TG.
**************
May I end this edition with two 'Book Recommendations'?
'The Island of Missing Trees' The background in Turkish writer Elif Shafah's novel is the war in Cyprus and its aftermath. This book resonates for me with the work of Touch of Hope, as it deals with the aftermath of war and themes of identity, loss, grief and how people cope. It is a good read!
'Border: A journey to the edge of Europe' likewise is a provocative book dealing with life in the southern borders of Bulgaria,Greece and Turkey. It is full of stories of people's journeys across these borders or people trying to make for the borders. It touches on the war in former Yugoslvia. The Bulgarian author Kapka Kassabova now lives in Scotland.
***************
I am, as always, available to speak at your church or organisation – please contact me via clivefowle1@gmail.com or 07817 057963.
In peace.
Revd. Clive Fowle.
Hello and welcome to our Autumn newsletter!
Our cycle of workshops for 2022/23 has come to an end. Our last workshop was held in June, in the beautiful city of Novi Sad, where we stayed in the lively city centre. When we arrived in Belgrade, there were street demonstrations calling for an end to violence in the country following two mass shootings, one involving a school. There were also tensions in Kosovo, with clashes with UN peace-keepers. In many places we saw signs proclaiming that ‘Kosovo is Serbian.’
The theme of this final workshop was ‘Living in a reconciling way’ and at the end we asked the question, "What can I do personally to live in a reconciling way?“
Answers included:
- Listen more to people and communicate in healthy ways using nonviolent communication.
- Work on changing myself.
- Listen in order to hear.
- Make mistakes in order to move on.
- Embrace the needs of others.
- Change the culture of Vukovar where neighbours are still avoiding one another, thirty-two years after the fall of Vukovar in 1991.
- Acknowledgment in society that atrocities happened.
- Put pressure on prosecutors to bring people to justice.
A participant's perspective
The following account underlines the difference 'Touch of Hope' can make in participants' lives, years after the war. May I introduce Vesna? (I have changed her name.) She attended this latest cycle of workshops, aged 60. She was a young woman of 28 when Vukovar fell in August 1991. This is her story. Please don't reproduce it without my written permission.
I was working on a livestock farm when the war caught up with me, on August 24th 1991. From a workforce of 100 or so, about thirty of us couldn't get home that day because barricades had been put up round Vukovar. We were stranded on the farm, hearing gunfire and explosions in the city; the farmer had to accomodate us. This went on throughout September.
Then, in early October, the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and 'territorial defence units' entered the farm. They searched our apartments, and occupied the empty ones. They restricted our movements; I went to work with a military escort, and guards were stationed at our workplaces. We were afraid to talk to one another in case we got questioned.
From bad to worse
On November 6, six of us (Croats and Muslims) were tied up by the police and taken away. The moment when we walked bound through the farmyard is etched in my memory to this day. The army looked at us mockingly, my colleagues were silent, and I felt more humiliated than scared.
In a nearby village we were imprisoned in a basement. I was physically and sexually abused there. I survived but my five colleagues were killed (one was found in the New Cemetery in Vukovar, and the others are still considered missing.) I experienced fear; a desire not to exist; anger. I thought, "Why did this have to happen to me?" and "What kind of God allows such things?” I was transferred briefly to an industrial storage site outside Vukovar which was being used as a detention camp. Then I was held in a prison in Serbia, until I was swapped in a prisoner exchange on December 21st. In Zagreb, I learned that my brother and several other family members had been killed. I never told my mum what happened to me.
Aftermath
I tried to bury all the bad events deep inside me. I joined the Croatian Army, where I felt protected, and met my present husband. But in 1997, when our baby died during childbirth, the bad dreams, negative thoughts, and other traumas resurfaced. A psychiatrist diagnosed me with depression and PTSD. There were good days, but many more bad ones for me. Sometimes, it took a lot of strength just to get up and do something. I had my husband's support, as I do today, but there were times when we were silent and withdrew into ourselves.
Steps towards healing…
In 2013, I started therapy with a group of women through the programme ‘I Am More Than My Trauma,’ which helped me a lot; my family was my greatest motivation and support. I realised my worth as a person, learned to communicate better with others, and solve problems. This programme changed my life! So in 2022, when a close friend invited me to join the ‘Touch of Hope’ workshops, I agreed to participate (I hesitated at first, not having heard of the programme before).
…further benefits from ‘Touch of Hope’
I view these workshops as an extension of the therapy I underwent ten years ago. No matter how much you work on yourself, there are moments when life's problems and memories pull you back. I'm glad I went through these workshops.
The most significant thing I gained was the empathy of the others there, whether workshop leaders, or fellow participants. We came from different backgrounds, meeting for the first time, and gained so much good from each other. Something from each workshop has touched me. The fact that participants come from different regions helps me see some personal experiences from a different perspective. I also like how the leaders use "biblical images" to thoughtfully address various topics and apply them to resolving our different opinions. I believe the combination of their knowledge and our diversity led to successful work.
I feel a bit "confined" as a person, so topics like communication, forgiveness, forgetting, and reconciliation are important to me. I try, and I hope I succeed, in applying what we've learned. It's important that I've learned to accept others as they are. Every problem is solvable if we deal with it. It's important to listen, not just hear other people, to avoid misunderstandings.
I thank the people who helped make this programme a reality!
*************
What has been clear during the past year, from stories like Vesna's, is the ongoing need for our work of healing the hurts of war. Thank you for your invaluable support whether it is by:
Prayer – your continued prayer is the spiritual lifeblood of the work!
Practical support – please contact me if you can look after the website or join our small organising group.
[In the last newsletter I welcomed our new editor Nicky Andrews. Nicky has been visiting the Balkans for 20 years , including serving (2005-2007) in Kosovo, with international missions agency Operation Mobilisation (OM). She speaks Serbian and a smattering of Albanian. These days she is a journalist with OM based from home in Rugby. Nicky and her husband Dave have supported Touch of Hope for over ten years.]
Finances – the money from the Methodist Fund for World Mission is used up, so we need to raise £40,000 if we are to hold another cycle of six workshops during 2023/24, and train more facilitators. We are approaching grant-making bodies for help but it would great if you can make a personal donation, or hold a fund-raising event! Cheques are payable to: CFR Footprints. If you are a taxpayer and can include Gift Aid, that would be a wonderful help. A Gift Aid form is attached with your covering email. Please send cheques/Gift Aid forms to: Revd. Clive Fowle, 62 Copsewood Avenue, Nuneaton CV11 4TG.
**************
May I end this edition with two 'Book Recommendations'?
'The Island of Missing Trees' The background in Turkish writer Elif Shafah's novel is the war in Cyprus and its aftermath. This book resonates for me with the work of Touch of Hope, as it deals with the aftermath of war and themes of identity, loss, grief and how people cope. It is a good read!
'Border: A journey to the edge of Europe' likewise is a provocative book dealing with life in the southern borders of Bulgaria,Greece and Turkey. It is full of stories of people's journeys across these borders or people trying to make for the borders. It touches on the war in former Yugoslvia. The Bulgarian author Kapka Kassabova now lives in Scotland.
***************
I am, as always, available to speak at your church or organisation – please contact me via clivefowle1@gmail.com or 07817 057963.
In peace.
Revd. Clive Fowle.
In praise of Sabbaticals
April 16th 2021 was a very special day for me. It marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of me setting foot in Osijek in Eastern Slavonia Croatia in 1996. I have been reliving that first week when I met the staff at the Centre for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights and heard all about the peace-building work in that part of Croatia which had seen fierce fighting and the destruction of Vukovar, a lovely old town on the bank of the river Danube. It was to be a life-changing visit and it altered the whole direction of my work and ministry. What is significant for me is that the visit was made during a Sabbatical.
I have been very blessed with having had four Sabbaticals, the first of which was in 1989 when I was very involved in making church links with East Germany. The recent TV series on Channel 4, Deutschland 83,86 and 89, has been requisite viewing for me as I watched the demise of the German Democratic Republic and the opening up of borders between East and West Berlin. On that Sabbatical in 1989 I witnessed the powerful services for peace in the Nikolai Kirche Leipzig which were attended by hundreds of people who poured out onto the streets when the services had finished to demonstrate their desire for more freedom watched by the dreaded Stasi, the secret police.
It was the second Sabbatical in 1996 that proved to be the most productive in terms of the direction of my future ministry. I have always seen my work as learning to live in a reconciling way and I have been greatly inspired by the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland and its commitment to reconciliation. What inspired me most in Osijek was witnessing grass roots reconciliation work. I was introduced to Dušanka Ilić and Bench we Share, a grass roots project encouraging people of all nationalities to sit together on the bench again after the benches outside people’s houses became empty in the war in 1991/2 as the country of Yugoslavia disintegrated into chaos.
I was drawn into the peace work almost immediately and the link with Bench we Share evolved into Touch of Hope. With the help of generous grants from the Methodist Church and people together with grant making bodies the work of Touch of Hope has expanded from Croatia to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In our twenty fifth year we continue to offer a series of workshops in reconciliation and we offer training for people to be local facilitators in leading workshops. The need for our work is still pressing despite Croatia being a popular holiday destination.
Sabbaticals are a real gift from the Church to the Church. I shall never forget that sense of freedom I felt from the pressures of circuit life when on day one I stepped into the unknown of what the Sabbatical was to offer. It was strange at first not having to think about next Sunday’s sermon and who needed a visit. That is why it was important to travel away from home very early on to take advantage of the time and space I had. Returning from my travels it was lovely spending time with the family in the evenings and not have to rush out to a take a church council!
I felt it was also good for my churches to ‘let me go’ for three months and when we were reunited it was good to reflect together on what the three months had meant for me and the congregations I served. I was blessed with a supportive congregations in the Birmingham Elmdon circuit when I came back from Osijek, and I was encouraged to develop the reconciliation work by them.
While I was in Osijek, I also became aware of how important mediation is in transforming conflict. I saw how mediation was being used when people who had been forced to leave their homes were now wishing to return to their communities. Mediation was available in the tensest of circumstances. I was determined to initiate a Community Mediation service on my return to circuit. This desire became a reality in Leamington Spa where Mediation and Community Support was formed. Like Touch of Hope, our work has grown and we offer mediation in neighbour, workplace and church disputes. We also offer training in different aspects of handling conflict to the community including to churches.
On that Sabbatical in 1996, I realised that within my call to being a Methodist minister, I was also receiving the call to exercise a ministry of reconciliation locally through the mediation service and also internationally through Touch of Hope. It was not easy at times to articulate this call in the Church and I went through a lot of turmoil and heart searching. However, I always experienced a deep peace when I knew that I was being true to that calling. Little did I realise that when I stepped off the train at Osijek station in 1996 and not knowing a soul, how much my life and the lives of so many others would be transformed by God’s reconciling love.
Rev Clive R Fowle
Supernumary minister in the Coventry and Nuneaton Circuit.