This past summer, the Institute hosted a dialogue on Healing Conflict with 11 diverse participants from various "hot spots" around the globe. These individuals were all personally engaged in the challenge of transforming fear and anger into reconciliation and forgiveness within their communities. Midway through the Summer Program, a plenary session, "Conflict and Compassion" was held with the entire Institute community. During this session, both David Steward and Sibusisiwe (Sibu) Mlambo eloquently spoke about their perceptions of conflict and the healing work they had been involved with in South Africa.

Currently, David Steward is the executive director of the F.W. De Klerk Foundation — an organization that is dedicated to working for peace and positive relations in societies throughout Africa and the world. As David said in the plenary session, "Our objective is to build on the great progress we have already made in South Africa, to continue the miracle, and to continue to work towards improved relationships among our many, many groups in South Africa."

F.W. De Klerk is best known for being one of the main architects of South Africa's constitutional democracy, as State President during the mid 1990s. And at his side during this dramatic political shift was David Steward. Once De Klerk's Chief of Staff, David now heads his foundation based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Several months after the gathering, David reflects about what he learned at the Institute: "I really didn't know what to expect. I was not used to the kind of interaction that the Shambhala Institute offered, and it took me a while to really become engaged. However, when I did, I found the interactions very stimulating and interesting.

"We were working on conflict resolution and bridging gaps between opposed positions — which is what our Foundation also does. I learned a great deal from participants from other conflict areas, such as Israel and Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Guatemala. A high point was the development of my own relationship with my fellow South African, Sibu. I feel that the Institute helped us find one another — in what is still a very divided society despite the progress that we have made."

In fact, one of the most poignant moments in the plenary session was when Sibu commented, "The greatest story of all, the story which I am going to relate to my colleagues at work and to other people in South Africa, is taking place right here. I thank the Shambhala Institute for inviting me to come to this conference. This is a success story for me, again, because I am sitting here on this stage next to Dave Steward, one of the people who, as you know, was working for the Apartheid government. For the first time in my life, I am hearing someone who is saying, 'I'm so sorry for whatever went wrong in South Africa.' For me, that is a very powerful statement, because everyone is usually saying, 'I wasn't responsible — the government was expecting me to do what I did; it was the government of the day, and so there was nothing I could do.'"

David left Halifax feeling renewed: "The conference provided me with valuable insights that I hope will be translated into positive action." The experience continues to influence current work. Recently, De Klerk attended Shimon Peres's birthday (Peres was Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1994 for work in the Middle East), and David was responsible for drafting his speech. David recalls, "I wrote his speech with Zoughbi and Yitzhak in mind. I had met them both at the Shambhala Institute and had been very impressed by their stories."

David's work with the foundation is ambitious: "Our Foundation has launched an initiative to try to promote national consensus on the transformation process in South Africa. We believe that such a consensus will be essential for the continuing success of our young and fragile democracy."

His vision is strikingly similar to Sibu's. As she stated in the plenary session, "For me, I am so happy that Dave is here and there are people like him who are saying, 'What can we do together?' People of South Africa, as diverse as we are, can help rebuild South Africa. There are future generations to come, and we don't want our children to grow up in a divided society where people are in conflict."

Read more about David and Sibu's perspectives in "Two Stories from Africa". Find out more about David Steward's work with the FW De Klerk Foundation at http://www.fwdklerk.org.za