Our Mission

We are a global network of communities of people who wish to live and share peace from within. Our method to peace is for each of us to be the peace with everyone and everything, everywhere, and every day. Our mission is to stop the intergenerational transmission of hate, violence and trauma. We believe everyone holds the key to peace within their heart—and this is the peace we want the world to inherit for generations to come.

History of BE THE PEACE

BE THE PEACE was born out of our founder Hyppolite Ntigurirwa’s search for peace.  Hyppolite survived the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, in which more than one million people were killed in 100 days. As a child, Hyppolite experienced the killings of his father, relatives, friends, neighbors and many other Rwandans.  He was only 7.  Through time, guidance and reflection Hyppolite realized that the genocide was a result of a learned hatred ideology that was taught for generations before 1994.  As a young adult he made the conscious choice to forgive the killers of his father and his relatives. For a more complete version of Hyppolite’s story, we encourage you to read his autobiographical account in A Boy Called Hyppo (Amsterdam Publishers, 2021).

Hyppolite established BE THE PEACE in 2016 with a vision of halting the intergenerational transmission of hate. He believes that peace is what you give and not what you ask others to give you. This is a pillar of the BE THE PEACE practice: we do not teach peace, for that cannot be taught; we do, however, teach people to remove the blocks to the awareness of peace within.

BE THE PEACE has been operating in Rwanda since 2016 and continues doing work with Rwandans who include genocide survivors, perpetrators, exile returnees, and their descendants. Through personal development, the arts, community work, and projects, they work together to reconstruct trusting relationships.

  • Using the Arts, including but not limited to theatre, poetry and storytelling, our Rwandan members have been able to share their stories of survival, trauma, confession, forgiveness, and unity. 
  • Community work has created collaborations of developing vegetable gardens—together and for each other—and caring for and milking cows, which is a sign of friendship forever as well as a source of income and food.
  • Projects to support education and development include building houses for survivors, among many other activities that support a unified community.

Join the Movement                           

Our approach is simple but demanding: always remember that within you, you have and are the key for peace. We invite everyone to join us on the journey of sourcing peace from within ourselves, and then extending the peace with our family, friends, strangers, communities, and beyond.  This will contribute to a world free of hate, violence, and trauma—the world we want our future generations to inherit. When everyone commits to BE THE PEACE, we believe the world can be a much better and safer place now, and in the future. We are not a church, a political organization, school, business, or a religion, but a loving community, whose way to peace is being the peace.

We seek to overcome:

  • Hate with love and forgiveness
  • Violence with non-violence
  • Trauma with empathy and generosity

We serve with compassion, kindness, listening and understanding.  Our impact is through the arts, community initiatives, and projects. If you are seeking a more peaceful world, kindly join us on the journey of sourcing and sharing the peace.

For more information on Be the Peace you may contact Hyppolite Ntigurirwa at hyppo.survivor@gmail.com, Carole Berkowitz at sosvcarolin@gmail.com or Julie Fraser at juliefrasercoaching@outlook.com

Website coming up soon!

Playbook for Peace Request Form

Request a Playbook for Peace for more information on peace projects, initiatives, communities and becoming a member of the BE THE PEACE Movement.

Contact Us

Have a question, comment, or concern? Want to volunteer? Want to start a chapter of BE THE PEACE in your area? Please contact us using the form below. We look forward to hearing from you!