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Project “Be the Change – Make a Difference”
Promotion of the book by Michael Lapsley
Belgrade, 10 April 2014
Anglican priest from New Zealand and author of the
book “Redeeming the Past: My Journey from Freedom Fighter to
Healer”, Michael Lapsley, visited Belgrade on 10 April 2014. His
visit made a part of the project “Be the Change – Make a
Difference”, which is organized by NGO “GARIWO” from Sarajevo and
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. During his stay in
Belgrade, which was preceded by the book launch in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Croatia, the author met with journalists, students
and other interested citizens.
“Redeeming the Past: My Journey from Freedom
Fighter to Healer” is the autobiography of Father Michael Lapsley,
but at the same time it is a story about humankind and the healing
of painful memories. To a great extent, his story is relevant for
this region as well. Lapsley begins his story by writing about the
event that changed his life forever. Namely, during his exile to
Zimbabwe, a letter-bomb which was hidden between two religious
magazines was sent to him and its explosion caused him to lose both
hands, sight in one eye and partial hearing loss. It was assumed
that the organizer of this attack was the secret police force of
South Africa. During the book promotion, the author pointed out that
he is the victim of state terrorism of a regime that was morally
illegitimate and that committed crimes against humanity. Lapsley
physically survived this attack and then he became a victor by
transforming from the object of history to its active participant.
He used his personal experience to support other victims of
violence. Father Michael Lapsley founded the Institute for Healing
of Memories in South Africa, whose activities are focused on peace
building and helping victims to become victors by openly speaking
about their traumas and by dealing with the past.
Press conference was organized at the Media Center
in Belgrade and speakers at this event beside the author were Sonja
Biserko, President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in
Serbia, Gradimir Gojer, director and writer, and Svetlana Broz,
Director of NGO “GARIWO”. Book launch was organized at the Centre
for Cultural Decontamination in the evening and in addition to
previously mentioned speakers, journalist from Sarajevo Amer Tikvesa
also gave his remarks about the book. Copies of the book “Redeeming
the Past: My Journey from Freedom Fighter to Healer” were
distributed to all the participants of the event.
About the author:
Michael Lapsley was born in New Zealand in 1949
and as a young man he went to Australia where he became a priest. As
a member of the religious community Society of the Sacred Mission he
went to South Africa in 1973, where he encountered all the
injustices of the apartheid regime. In order to fight them, Father
Michael Lapsley got politically engaged and his relentless struggle
against apartheid, which changed his life forever, began from this
moment. He started to raise his voice against the regime and to
speak on behalf of children who were killed, tortured and punished.
He was expelled from South Africa in 1976 and he went to Lesotho
where he became a member of the African National Congress. He
continued fighting apartheid and supporting liberation struggles. He
was a friend and associate of Nelson Mandela who described him in
the following way: “Michael’s life represents a compelling metaphor:
We read about a foreigner who came to our country and was
transformed by what he saw of the injustices of apartheid.” Three
months after Mandela’s release from prison, Michael Lapsley received
a bomb-letter during his stay in Zimbabwe. After this big trauma and
the recovery that followed, Lapsley became the Chaplain of the
Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture in Cape Town,
which assisted the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
of South Africa. These activities also inspired the forming of the
Institute for the Healing of Memories in 1998.
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