GLOBAL NETWORK CIRCLE STORY

Members of the Oneness Family Circle

The Oneness Family Peace Circle began in 2005 with an email from an airplane. Kate Ebner read about Peace X Peace in O Magazine and sent an excited message to a few good friends. They started meeting in Circle and registered to be matched. Soon they were connected with a waiting Circle of young Nigerian educators - "very savvy, very passionate activists" - in Lagos. It's the third most densely populated city in the world, they have since learned, and considerably larger than New York City.

The six US women are equally excited about the bonds they have formed among themselves and the mutual benefits of the Circle match. They marvel at the trust that has evolved, and report "astonishing conversations" that sometimes go on past midnight. "We can be vulnerable here and we can be strong; we can say ‘I'm not good at this' and ‘I am very good at this,' and both are OK. We trust the dialogue to yield the fruit," says Kathy Kelley.

The sister Circle relationship has weathered lulls and flurries of activity. "It is a slow, stewing, kind of thing," Kate says. "We know something's going to happen to take it to a new level." The possibilities include traveling to Nigeria together and making a film about the connection. Twice Nigerian members made plans to come to the US and twice their own government denied them visas. For now, the US women light a blue candle for peace and imagine the other Circle lighting the nearly identical one they sent last year. They read and share messages "over the candle," and they "bring the conversation about world peace into the house."

"There is power in this Circle," says Bodil Erickson. "It makes us daring." They carry that power into their families and beyond, functioning as a strong leadership team for the school (the Oneness Family School in Bethesda, MD, where several have children enrolled and Bodil teaches) and for the wider community. On the Nigerian side, one of the men took leadership at first, but in recent months his wife, Abimbola, has been moving to the forefront. The Americans have been impressed with how knowledgeable their counterparts are about events in America and moved by the concern they show when the news is sad, as it was after Hurricane Katrina.

One of the primary intentions for the match is to dispel stereotypes. At first the US women were apprehensive when the question of concrete help arose, because Nigeria has been associated with internet scams. Time after time they hesitated and their doubts were dispelled, so the level of trust is rising steadily. The group makes constant efforts to learn about Nigeria. A Nigerian woman living in the US attended one meeting to explain cultural differences, like the expected level of formality. At the same time, as relationships mature, the Nigerians are learning that Americans have the same struggles and joys that they do.

"We all have to keep digging deeper to find more confidence in ourselves and reach for the best in them and in us. We're becoming real to each other, and we are endlessly grateful for the opportunity."