René August is a veteran of the anti-apartheid movement, an Anglican priest, and a reconciliation trainer. She grew up in a racially segregated township in the land now known as South Africa, a land that gave her only one quarter of the vote of a white citizen. 

Her political life came alive when a group of mostly Black South African theologians released the Kairos Document—a spiritual and political challenge to the Apartheid regime. In that document, she found a spirituality that was big enough for the challenges her nation faced. It told the truth, it repaired what was harmed, and it moved toward the other in love.

Today, she embodies that spirituality in a place still struggling with the legacy of apartheid. She challenges her people to live out that spirituality every day, and she challenges us to believe that no matter how deep the pain, change is always possible. René embodies our first principle of peacemaking: Growth.

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