How do we lead from wholeness, even in the middle of brokenness? This is a question I’ve held throughout my 30 years as an international peacebuilder. My new book The Answers Are There: Building Peace from the Inside Out, published in October, tells the story of how I’ve been doing that in practice and, especially, in partnership with Fambul Tok in Sierra Leone.
We’re confronted on a daily basis with the brokenness of so many of our systems, especially in international peace and development. And yet I have seen over and over again that there is so much more good available to and for us all than I had even thought to imagine – and that with courage and commitment, we can live into it together.
But how? How can we imagine the new that we yearn for? How can we live boldly and creatively into it, through our lives and work? The Answers Are There offers you my own powerful, imperfect journey of doing just that — told through vivid stories that can help light the way.
I believe we all have the opportunity to be wholeness visionaries – to tune into and work from our deepest knowing and vision of what is possible in the world – now. I hope my new book helps you uncover new possibilities for living and working from that place of wholeness.
I’ll let the book summary tell you more.
—Libby Hoffman
A NEW ARCHITECTURE FOR PEACE
Our world desperately needs new ways to support community transformation. In THE ANSWERS ARE THERE, Libby Hoffman shows us what is possible when outside aid animates, rather than obstructs, local leadership and recognizes and honors community wisdom, priorities, and resources.
This book shares stories of individual and communal transformation in Sierra Leone, where the culture of community was nearly destroyed by civil war. But the unique approach of Fambul Tok (“family talk”)—anchoring reconciliation in indigenous traditions of communal truth-telling, apology, and forgiveness—restored that culture and unleashed a powerful resource for national healing. Fambul Tok’s core conviction—that ordinary people have the creativity, capacity, and determination to transform their communities according to their own needs and desires—changed a country, and with it, international peace and development.
Hoffman shares her learning journey as a peacebuilder and as Fambul Tok’s co-founder, funder, and program partner. Her diligent, compassionate reflection on tending to community, to systemic failures, and to her own heart invites us into “building peace from the inside out.” THE ANSWERS ARE THERE masterfully blends lived experience, thought leadership, and actionable techniques, inspiring and equipping us to grow whole, healthy systems in the world.
