White Rose sells handpicked recycled fashion to save lives through peace building in some of the most divided communities on earth. That’s what the Aegis Trust does. That’s what we support. 

So when three ram raiders smashed their way into our Sheffield store on Sat, 29th Oct, they didn’t just damage the store, steal clothing or force us to close until the New Year, leading to a loss of £20,000.  

No - what they did was take away an opportunity for young people traumatised by war to learn how to live together instead of picking up weapons to kill each other.  

Insurance will cover some of our loss, but it won’t reverse the delay to our store’s ability to get support to where it’s most needed: the Aegis Trust’s peace educators in the Central African Republic, where youth in conflict-affected communities are more likely than ever to join the cycle of violence. 

We could sit here angry at the heartless thieves, or sad at the knock-on impact this will have on vulnerable young people. But we don’t want to do that. We don’t think you do, either.  

That’s why we’ve launched this appeal, ‘Reverse the Ramraid’, to raise the same as our loss from the raid - sending every penny direct to peace education in the Central African Republic.  

"Enabling young people to give up revenge"

Led by Alain Lazaret, the Aegis Trust’s Central African team trained with peace educators from Rwanda who survived the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Developed by Aegis at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda - were 250,000 of those murdered in 1994 have their final resting-place - peace education builds empathy, critical thinking and personal responsibility.  

“It’s enabled young people in Rwanda to give up plans for revenge, and helped children of survivors and perpetrators to work with each other,” says Alain. “Now in Rwanda’s national schools curriculum, it’s foundational for peace after genocide. And if peace is possible after genocide in Rwanda, it’s possible here in the Central African Republic too.” 

Aegis uses storytelling in peace education to cut through divisive issues to the core of their human impact. These stories focus on individuals the audience can identify with, caught in dilemmas they too could face. And in these true life stories, people confronted with tough dilemmas find courageous and caring ways to resolve them, modelling the values of empathy, critical thinking and personal responsibility which peace education promotes. In Rwanda, the stories are Rwandan. In the Central African Republic, they are Central African.  

"I forgave the man I intended to kill"

For Kadjidjia, a former law student in Bangui who was assaulted by a militia group, Aegis’ peace programme was transformational. By the time she joined an Aegis workshop, she had stockpiled weapons for a revenge attack. She knew who betrayed her to the militia. She had grenades and an assault rifle ready to kill him. And then she joined the peace seminar. “After we went through trauma healing and the forgiveness exercise, I had given up my desire for revenge,” she says. “That night I was able to sleep again.” Kadjidjia turned in her weapons, went to the man she had intended to kill, and forgave him. Now, Kadjidjia’s own story is among those used for peace education in the Central African Republic. 

It costs £1,500 for Alain and colleagues to take 300 students through a two-day peace education programme in Bangui. That means for every £5.00 you donate or raise for this appeal, a young person will have an opportunity like Kadjidjia to learn how to overcome violence, gaining the skills to build peace in their community instead… 

So by helping us ‘reverse the ramraid’, what you give will save lives.