Fambul Tok bonfire forgiveness ceremonies

Domain XV · Nature, philosophy, social & rites of passage · John Caulker, Libby Hoffman · 2007 · Sierra Leone

What it is

Fambul Tok (Krio for "family talk") is a community-owned, village-level reconciliation programme created in Sierra Leone after the 1991–2002 civil war. It is not a psychotherapy and it is not a court. Its founder, the Sierra Leonean human-rights activist John Caulker, had argued for grassroots…

Format

• Follow-up. Peace Trees, Football for Reconciliation, community farms, Peace Mothers' groups, radio listening clubs, student peace clubs, and ongoing visits until local structures can sustain themselves; then repetition in new districts.
• Criteria for moving between phases (as published). Community willingness established in consultation; committees formed and trained; community contributions gathered; fears (e.g. of prosecution) addressed, sometimes delaying a bonfire; refusals respected, with staff returning only when invited.…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Sensitisation and training. District Executive and committee members are trained in Fambul Tok values, basic trauma healing, listening, mediation and restorative justice; a one-week training appears on the programme's chart; the content of the trauma-healing training is not published in detail.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Version followed: the Fambul Tok community-reconciliation process as its founders and partner organisations published it between 2008 and 2012 (Forum of Conscience and Catalyst for Peace, Fambul Tok: Our First Year; Caulker 2012 in Conciliation Resources' Accord 23) and as described in Caulker and…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• A chosen companion who has their own stake in the testimony. Working when the plan is specific and the companion has agreed.
• Suicidal ideation in bereavement; use safe-messaging practice and crisis resources (988 US; Samaritans 116 123 UK and Ireland).
• Late-onset symptoms; somatic presentations. Crisis resources for diaspora clients: 988 (US); Samaritans 116 123 (UK and Ireland).
• Hopes pinned on one sentence; guilt at not feeling forgiving. Working when the client can tolerate an imagined disappointing account.
• Guilt at absence; idealising the village process from afar. Working when the client feels some sense of completion on their own terms.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.