Turning Arms into Ploughshares



This robotic looking creature is actually a sculpture made up of destroyed weapons from the war of destabilization (1980's & 1990's) waged against the Mozambican government by a dissident group called Renamo. This group was funded and trained primarily by the the South African military structure during the Apartheid era (although other western countries supported this war of destabilization).



During this war tens of thousands of people died and millions were displaced either internally or as refugees in neighbouring states. Towns and countrysides were decimated and infrastructure destroyed throughout the country. MCC was one of the first external responders to the victims of that war and in the process forged a long term collaborative partnership with the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM). While the war has long been over one outcome was a proliferation of weapons throughout the country and a legitimaztion of violence as a tool for conflict resolution.

In 1995, then CCM President, Bishop Denis Sengulane, was instrumental in setting up a programme to help rid the countryside of arms and sensitize the population to the importance of transforming society from a violence based reality to one that actively worked for peace. Denis said "Living with a gun in your bedroom, is like sleeping with a snake. One day it might just turn around and bite you." The programe, 'Turing Arms into Ploughshares' operates under the CCM's Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Commission.

TAE (the Portuguese acronym for Turning Arms into Ploughshares) collects arms by researching weapons locations and then negotiating with the community to give up their weapons  in exchange for metal roofing, sewing machines, bicycles, etc. Once the weapons are acquired by TAE they are destroyed in the presence of the community. Educational programmes are offered in this enagement that provide skills sets for amicable resolution of conflicts and sentitization to the destructiveness of a militarized and violence prone society.

The destroyed weaponary is subsequently turned over to artists who transform it into an expression of hope and renewal that can be used in civic education programmes run by TAE. Each artist has the freedom to express their own interpretation of this tranformative process.

The pieces you see are made from items like AK-47's, mortar mines, Makarov's, Charger FN and other formerly deadly weapons.

These pieces are either bought by MCC or currently on loan as we explore ways of making them and their story available to others so that the 'hype of war' can be destroyed and the story of peacable transformation can be understood and embraced.