YANGON (UCAN) -- When children in the care of Sister Justina Ja Hakwn fight, she no longer judges who was right or wrong. The St. Joseph of the Apparition nun tries a "win-win" approach instead, so neither side loses.

Reparation Sister Assumpta says she also realizes now that every conflict has two sides and that conflicts are "natural" occurrences in life. It is up to people to know how to manage and overcome them.

Sister Ja Hakwn from Pyin Oo Lwin, Sister Assumpta from Lashio and 26 other nuns from various Religious communities working around Myanmar learned these and other ways to look at, manage and resolve conflict during a 10-day workshop at the Catholic Religious Conference of Myanmar complex in Yangon.

Rose Mary, Thomas and Soe Soe from a local Catholic NGO and Nan Shan from the Shalom Foundation conducted the Aug. 21-31 training sessions. The Shalom Foundation is a Myitkyina-based NGO that trains people in conflict prevention and peace building. The workshop focused on resolving conflicts through trust building, communication, negotiation and mediation.

Instructors emphasized attitudinal change as the key for effective conflict transformation and peace building. They also explored how participants could apply what they learned in their respective communities.

One idea that has stayed with Sister Ja Hawkn is an analogy between people in conflict and how certain foodstuffs change when they are cooked.

"An egg is soft but becomes hard after being boiled. A carrot is hard but becomes soft after being boiled. And coffee smells good after being boiled," she explained. Similarly, she continued, some people "become hard, bitter and unforgiving after they encounter conflict," while others lose their will and give up. Then there are people who, in the midst of conflict, think of how to act effectively for the benefit of everyone.

"We should be like coffee beans in our communities," she concluded.

Sister Ja Hkwan told UCA News that when she shared her workshop experiences with the other nuns of her community, most wanted to have similar training. So she plans to conduct a session in April 2007 in Pyin Oo Lwin, 610 kilometers north of Yangon, for her whole congregation, with the help of a local Catholic NGO.

Sister Assumpta told UCA News she learned practical methods to handle conflict such as communication, negotiation and mediation.

The nun, who currently works with boarding-school students and other youths, and leads prayer meetings in Lashio, about 1,020 kilometers northeast of Yangon, said she also learned about mediation at the session, about settling problems face to face. She learned "do's and don'ts" of being a mediator, a role that she acknowledges is difficult.

According to her, a mediator needs to have a big heart to sympathize and understand, big ears for listening more, big eyes to observe feelings and nuances, but a small mouth for not talking too much.

She appreciated the training, saying that what she learned is very useful for herself as well as for her community. The training is appropriate for all Myanmar Catholic organizations, she added.

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