Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth Reflection (Book Review Sample)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth Reflection
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Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth Reflection
Introduction
Dr. Carolyn Boyes-Watson, the author of the book Peacemaking Circles and Urban Youth: Bringing Justice Home explores the use of the circle process to restore justice and peace in a community situated outside Boston. Roca Inc, which is a humanitarian organization, works with the youth from all walks of life. Using social and family circles of the young people and community members the group has managed to bring the people in the region together. The exploration of the work of Roca Inc. provides great insight to any entity or individual who works with troubled youth in the restoration of peace and justice in society. Throughout the book, it is evident that Boyes-Watson advocates for community-based support in the restoration of peace through the troubled youth.
Roca Inc. Core Values
The primary mission of Roca Inc. is to promote justice through the provision of opportunities to young people in the community. The organization seeks to attain this objective through the use four core values in its activities. The four core values of this organization are belonging, generosity, competence, and independence. The value of belonging in this context refers to the act of ensuring that everyone feels welcome to contribute in the Roca’s peacemaking activities. The employees have been trained to accept people from all walks of life and handle them with great respect. Nonetheless, it is important to note that for one to belong to Roca Inc, he/she must find a place since belonging is optional and conditional (Boyes-Watson, 2008, pp. 35-36).
Boyes-Watson (2008, pp. 36-37) explains that generosity as part of the core values of Roca Inc. refers to the act of giving out oneself for the community wholly. The argument is that everyone has something to offer to the community. Through offering oneself to the service of the community, people learn to execute other human values such as love, honesty, and peace. Further, Boyes-Watson (2008, p. 37) states that Roca Inc has determined the youth are more likely to attend school and take good care of themselves if they experience generosity and the sense of belonging. Therefore, the core value of charity services in the circles approach to encourage community members to take part in building peace and justice in their society.
Besides the two core values, Roca Inc. also seeks to develop two more critical elements in the human development process. These are the values of independence and competencies. The competence value refers to skill development among the young people, with the aim of helping them access opportunities in their society. Roca Inc has committed itself to the creation of competencies that the youth can apply in different opportunities, such that they do not get locked out when one chance closes. The value of competence contributes significantly to the development of independence among the youth. Freedom in this context refers to self-sufficiency and the ability to know how to lead a peaceful life (Boyes-Watson, 2008, p. 37).
Roca’s Five Strategies
Roca seeks to promote justice through the creation of opportunities for the youth to attain self-sufficiency. The organization uses five main strategies to communicate and incorporate young people in the promotion of justice.  The first is that involvement of the young people through street and outreach work; the second is the creation of transformational relationships amongst the youth and community members. The third strategy is the use of peacemaking circles. Fourth they also use the strategy of providing opportunities in employment, civil works, and education. The fifth approach is collaborating with organizations that offer different services to the youth, which helps reach out to the young people (Boyes-Watson, 2008, p. 39).
How Peacemaking Circles Work
Roca Inc. has formulated the peacemaking circles in such a way that they make it possible for people to meet as simply human beings. It is possible to argue that peacemaking circles eliminate all the boundaries n the society through ensuring that people meet as simply people (Boyes-Watson, 2008, p. 58).  These peacemaking circles often involve activities that help unite people from diverse background, ethics, social class, education, and beliefs. The primary argument behind the approach is that it helps eliminate the anxiety and stereotypes that often cause disintegration in society.
How Peacemaking Circles Assist in Creating Social Justice
The idea of peacemaking circles originates for the traditional western cultures. The aim of the strategy is to promote living together despite the diversities in the society (Boyes-Watson, 2008, p. 3). Considering that one of the causes of social injustice is the variety of people in the community, these peacemaking circles at Roca Inc. help promote/create social justice through helping people look beyond their differences. Through bring people together; they get to understand that beyond their differences they share a similar critical factor, which is their human nature.
Challenges within Roca Peacemaking Circles
Most of the challenges within Roca's peacemaking circles, including some of the members, leaving as soon as they join and another avoiding them, originate from the different beliefs of the people in the community.  Boye...