Hope and Liberation

John Paul Lederach: Good morning everybody and thank you for this opportunity. I’m very appreciative to both the organizers at the Duke Institute for Reconciliation this summer and to share this moment and space with you; with Eric, who has been an extraordinary conversation partner.

Our topic for this morning is hope and liberation. And one of the first things that occurred to me in my background as somebody who has worked at peacebuilding in a variety of international settings, was an experience I had around a dear friend who, in the middle of one of our workshops, sang a song. And to understand this song requires a little bit of background, a story. And I would prefer to start with that background and then come to the moment when a number of things came together in a very extraordinary wa– a very extraordinary way one morning in Bhaktapur, Nepal.