A charity based in Cumbria which aims to help people around the world reconcile their differences is reaching out to everyone.

Canon Sarah Snyder leads the Rose Castle Foundation, based near Carlisle, which launched its Emerging Peacemakers programme in 2018 to help people around the world.

With the coronavirus lockdown and people being confined together at home for long periods, there are opportunities for tensions to run high and conflict to occur, she said.

The Foundation aims to help people struggling with conflict, and is asking people in Cumbria to send stories of hope, and of how neighbourly conflicts were resolved. The stories will be shared around the world to encourage people to reconcile.

Canon Sarah said: “The Rose Castle Foundation is really conscious of the many families and households who are thrown into a small space under really uncertain and anxious times.

“The impact of that is really tough for anyone who is not used to living with that kind of contact. We are focusing on how we can best support people in a practical way – how to deal with a situation that is escalating, how to spot raised tensions and how to defuse it, how to listen more and speak less, and how to try stepping into other people’s shoes. These are some of the ways we are thinking practically about how to support others.”

The Foundation is involved in helping reduce conflict all around the world, in places including South Sudan, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and South Africa.

And Canon Sarah admitted: “The challenges they face are similar to what we face in our own homes. It is not faceless. It is real people in real conflict in real homes. Sometimes it is more violent. Conflict starts with violent words and escalates from there.

“There is a shared experience of conflict that we can relate to.”

Canon Sarah is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Adviser for Reconciliation programmes and resources, working as his adviser since 2016.

From 2014-2016 she was Director of Partnerships at Religions for Peace International, and directed conflict schools for the Cambridge Interfaith Programme at the University of Cambridge from 2011-2015.

When Rose Castle, the 800-year old seat of the bishops of Carlisle, became vacant, Canon Sarah saw an opportunity to invite strangers in and unite enemies.

And Cumbrian volunteers flocked to be part of the project, said Canon Sarah, with many people from the county helping.

“We are so grateful for the many volunteers that work with the Foundation. They are all Cumbrian, and the volunteers last year gave nearly 6,000 hours of their time which is amazing.”

Like the vast majority of workplaces, people who work for the Rose Castle Foundation have also had to change their routines to work from home.

“We are using Zoom every morning and afternoon, and we are discovering a whole new way of working with each other. We are actually connecting more with each other than we do when we are in the same office,” said Canon Sarah.

And she revealed that the Rose Castle gardener, Janet Queen, is still able to work in the gardens, and has been able to order plants to fill an area known as the ‘White Border’ and improve it.

“The environment is important to us. We are seeing less transport, and perhaps that is going to be a stark reminder to us all that we can do things differently. We can encourage people to think more about the environment,” said Canon Sarah.

“Our vision at Rose Castle is for a network of peace builders in their own spheres of influence - homes, communities and places of work.

“Some of us love being the helper but we are not as good at being helped. Pride gets in the way so often from just being able to say ‘I am sorry’, but that can be the greatest diffuser of tension at home.

“Sometimes the person we most need to say sorry to is ourselves, and what it means to be kind to ourselves rather than beat ourselves up.

“It is going to need many years of healing. There is no quick solution. At Rose Castle Foundation we are committed to that long term journey. It is long term and it is cyclical - for us that is the norm.”

And Canon Sarah appealed to Cumbrians to share their positive stories with the Foundation, which can then be shared around the world to help people in similar situations.

“If anyone has positive stories of neighbourly support that they would like to share with us, we would like to send them out to others to encourage them,” she said.

Anyone who wants to know more about the Foundation can go to its website at www.rosecastle.com/rcf/home

And to contact the Foundation, email contact@rosecastle.foundation