Many years ago now, I heard a story that fundamentally changed how I thought about that much-discussed topic – “post-conflict peacebuilding”. Now I think about it as ‘practical peacebuilding’.

I was with a group of peacebuilders from countries in Africa and Asia – countries where there had been, and often still is, conflict between groups of men that cause havoc for surrounding communities and people. (There are similar conflicts in many urban settings in the rest of the world, of course, but we don’t think about it the same way.)

George told the story quietly, without drama – although it was one of the most dramatic stories told in that group of people who had seen so much.