I would be happy to put you in touch with our Middle East partnerships coordinator, who could give you a full briefing on that. I won't do it justice here today.
In South Sudan it has been a particularly effective strategy, the concern being that really, before you can even engage in it, there is such a great deal of counselling and support needed to bring people to the point that they can even engage at that level again. Our program has focused in the town of Malakal, which has been one of the hardest hit over the past year in the internal conflict in South Sudan. The atrocities committed—and there's no side whose hands are clean in this case—are just horrendous, so the challenge is even bringing women together who are able, as Bill was describing a moment ago, to work through their own experiences as the first step.
They are such powerful agents for peace, once they have received that support. In the Christian tradition we talk about conversion experiences. This is a conversion to being an agent for peace. Women have told me, “I literally thought my life was over after the sort of violence I experienced. I couldn't see what tomorrow would bring.” I meet with them after they have been through the program, and they are the most energized, committed, and passionate advocates for peace that you will ever meet.
This is where the promise lies, I think, in this agenda, that it is long-lasting and will sustain us through and create the sort of society that will not fall back into conflict. South Sudan, the newest newly independent nation on earth, realizes that this is their opportunity and that they have to build a society of peace.