{"id":4807,"date":"2015-01-16T09:42:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T15:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=4807"},"modified":"2015-01-20T10:56:45","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T16:56:45","slug":"csop-participant-profile-debra-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2015\/csop-participant-profile-debra-wilson\/","title":{"rendered":"CSOP Participant Profile \u2013 Debra Wilson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Student finds place of belonging at Canadian School of Peacebuilding<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP) has been a welcoming place for student Debra Wilson, who has returned to CSOP for a second time.<\/p>\n

\"Debra
Debra Wilson, 2014 CSOP participant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Describing herself as a person of many labels, including feminist, Muslim, Catholic and black-American, Wilson says she initially \u201cdidn\u2019t think it [CSOP] was a place where she belonged.\u201d After contacting CSOP, she says she \u201ckept waiting for someone to say \u2018don\u2019t come,\u2019 but that wasn\u2019t what happened at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

CSOP, an institute of Canadian Mennonite University, is a learning community of diverse peacebuilders who come together to learn, network and engage in peacebuilding.<\/p>\n

Wilson participated in the course Exploring Indigenous Justice and Healing, which was taught by Rupert Ross. She says her ongoing interest in \u201cwhat justice looks like for others\u201d was one of the reasons she signed up for this course.<\/p>\n

Her interest in attending CSOP stems from years of peacebuilding work in conflict areas, which includes time spent in Dundalk, Ireland, near the end of The Troubles. She describes that experience as one of the hardest times of her life but also as what \u201ckicked up\u201d her peace activism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to see people who loathed each other but got together for the greater good,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople who had lost people on both sides said they couldn\u2019t see the point of [violence].\u201d<\/p>\n

Raised by her Catholic father and Muslim mother, Wilson remains connected to both faiths. She\u2019s a member of Unity Mosque in Toronto, identifies as a Muslim and also attends a Catholic church in her hometown of Chicago. Wilson says the faith community at her mosque energizes her in her peace work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel my mosque community is taking back Islam and what they feel are the roots of service and inclusion,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are some very new immigrants in my mosque, and every single one of them is involved in volunteer service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s also energized in her peace work by the \u201cmoments and seconds you have when people find some commonality, no matter how simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

She witnessed such moments of connection during her time in Dundalk. \u201cIf these people, who have done horrible things to each other, managed to find a way to facilitate peace, it\u2019s always possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The welcoming nature of CSOP was complemented by the welcoming experience Wilson receives when visiting Canada. She speaks fondly of the time a border guard stamped her passport and said \u2018welcome to Canada\u2019 without asking her to explain what she calls her \u201ccomplicated background.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the aspects of being a peacebuilder is that \u201cyou never stop learning,\u201d says Wilson. Through her time and experiences in Canada and at CSOP, she says she\u2019s learned about some of her own biases. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to be an effective peacebuilder, you have to continue to learn and to accept that you probably have your own biases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s advice for aspiring peacebuilders is short, but powerful: \u201cHave a strong network. And stronger faith \u2013 an even stronger faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellen Paulley is the Writer & Social Media Coordinator for Canadian Mennonite University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student finds place of belonging at Canadian School of Peacebuilding The Canadian School of Peacebuilding (CSOP) has been a welcoming place for student Debra Wilson, who has returned to CSOP for a second time. Describing herself as a person of many labels, including feminist, Muslim, Catholic and black-American, Wilson says she initially \u201cdidn\u2019t think it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[171,156],"tags":[28,327,213,584],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4807"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4813,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4807\/revisions\/4813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}