Summoning the Human Spirit to its Best Self

In 2007, LemonAid Fund worked with professors and students from Stanford University and Luther College to facilitate an initiative entitled "Peace through Forgiveness." With the assistance of the LemonAid Fund, a professor from Luther College, Dr. Toussaint, arranged to teach forgivness skills at one of the LemonAid Fund schools in Sierra Leone. Using a model developed by Fred Luskin, the director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects at Stanford University, Dr. Toussaint and several of his students performed a week long training with teachers and students from the local school.The initiative was sponsored by The Davis Projects for Peace.

The following is an exerpt from a paper put together by those who participated (Toussaint et al):

In nations with a violent past the survivors face the challenge to make sense of these events and to restore hope for the future. This occurs simultaneously with continuing to cope with the physical and psychological scars of conflict, violence, and war. While many approaches may be used to help hurting people move forward, forgiveness appears to be a particularly hopeful means of coping. In Sierra Leone the devastation and hurt from a decade-long civil war is readily evident and the trauma and grief that Sierra Leoneans endured has not been easily overcome. Unanswered questions for the provision of psychosocial support and intervention are: 1) Can forgiveness be made culturally-appropriate? 2) Can attempts to promote forgiveness be effective in improving individual levels of well-being and peace?

Although cultures may exist where forgiveness interventions may be problematic, our experience in Sierra Leone suggests that attempts to bring about increased forgiveness are culturally-appropriate and well-received. Furthermore, we provide scientific evidence that these efforts can be effective agents of change in stimulating hope, well-being, and peace at the individual level. As Sierra Leone’s bishop Joseph Christian Humper has stated, “Learning to forgive those who have wronged us is the first step we can take towards healing our traumatized nation” (Humper, 2004). Our thinking is that forgiveness that is capable of healing nations must begin with individual citizens. Effective strategies that promote forgiveness at the individual level hopefully will create a groundswell of forgiveness that can offer resolution and relief that can cross the boundaries of states, nations, and cultures.

To read the rest of the report please click here:

Striving for peace through forgiveness in Sierra Leone: Effectiveness of a psycho-educational forgiveness intervention

To read what Greater Good Magazine had to say about the initiative click the following link: Peace through Forgiveness

For further information about the work of both Dr. Luskin and Dr. Toussaint please visit their websites:

Dr. Toussaint

Dr. Luskin

LemonAid Fund, 490 Lincoln Ave West, Highland Park, IL 60035 USA