George Lakey reports on making lemonade out of lemons.

Also, he's hassled only minimally by Canadian immigration.

The plan was to conduct TFC's third major training for trainers of civilian peacekeepers, May 12-15. The first had been in Philadelphia in December 2003 and the second in Harare, Zimbabwe, March 2005. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) helpfully agreed to set up the logistics of the training in Toronto.

What happened next was the chance to make lemonade. Only six participants signed up for the four-day training, which seemed too few to justify Karen Ridd coming from Winnipeg and George Lakey coming from Philadelphia to lead the training. I thought we should cancel the workshop. Karen talked me into going ahead with a two day workshop so that she could have the chance to co-facilitate using tools from the curriculum OPENING SPACE FOR DEMOCRACY. Karen expects to be in demand, as a Spanish-speaking Training Associate of TFC with on-the-ground experience in third party nonviolent intervention, to lead workshops such as this in Latin America.

Not only did the participants turn out to be a eager learners full of ideas for application (what Canadians call "keeners"), but we also found a way to make more lemonade than expected. Some of the training tools/activities for third party nonviolent intervention require more than six participants to "work." CPT and TFC got in touch with contacts in Toronto and invited them to a special evening of running through some of these tools.

Over twenty-five veteran activists for justice and peace came to a union hall to participate in these activities. The hall resounded with excitement as the activists plunged into the high-energy activities, including a sequence called "Confidence in the Face of Violence."

The event got a big round of appreciation for CPT and TFC, and aroused further interest in the new training manual for nonviolent intervention, Opening Space for Democracy.

I was also relieved to be hassled only minimally by Canadian immigration, which for three years has been giving me a hard time even to the point of leading me to the next plane back to the U.S. The pressure started in retaliation for my having co-facilitated a major civil disobedience training inside the buildings of the House of Parliament. When I was given permission to enter Toronto this time I asked, "Will I be hassled whenever I enter Canada in the forseeable future?" "Yes," came the answer, "for the rest of your life."

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