My name is Desire Louis Peterson; I am a LPN facilitator of SAKALA (Sant kominote Altenatif ak lape) since December 2013. My first participation in the meetings of AFSC Local Peace Networks was for me a miracle, because I used think that violence was something you could not avoid considering that in my neighborhood if you want to survive you must seem hard, as a protection mechanism.

When I got involved with AFSC I learned that there are tools to transform conflicts and that is also important to understand the causes of conflict. During my participation I have realized that violence doesn’t make you a strong person. I have changed in a persona level, I have learned to be calmer and respectful and now, I train other youth on mediation and conflict transformation.

I want to thank AFSC for the implementation of this project in Cite Soleil and in other area high intensity of violence. This project helps many young people in my neighborhood to improve their view of the future how to manage the violence.