Can we forgive the unforgivable?

By Emma Midgley
BBC Berkshire

Archbishop Desmond Tutu helped South Africans forgive after apartheid

Could you forgive the man who killed your father? Or the man who raped you?

A new exhibition on the theme of forgiveness opens at Reading Friends Meeting House on Wednesday 21 October, and will run until 28 October.

The exhibition features arresting images and up to 60 personal stories from people around the world.

On Wednesday 21 October, Jo Berry will speak about the death of her father, the MP Sir Anthony Berry, in the Brighton Bombing 25 years ago.

Jo has subsequently met the man behind the bomb, Patrick McGee. As well as working to forgive Patrick, Jo has actually met him and he has told her he is sorry he killed her father.

The exhibition is part of the Forgiveness Project, which was set up by journalist Marina Cantacuzino to promote forgiveness.

It features people who have either been victims of violence themselves or who have lost loved ones through violence.

Jo Berry forgave Patrick McGee, the Brighton bomber

The stories come from locations as varied as South Africa, America, Israel, Palestine, Northern Ireland and England.

Member of Reading Quaker Meeting House Leslie Wilson has been a long term supporter of the Friendship Project.

She said she had experienced first-hand the power of forgiveness.

"My mother lived in Graz, Austria during the World War II" she said. "She was just 19-years-old when the Russians came.

"She was out taking her horse back to the stables when she was attacked. They took her to a house and into a room. She could hear the cries of another woman being raped upstairs.

"She was nearly raped, but the soldier was interrupted.

"He went out and locked her in the room, but she managed to jump out of the window and hide in the wood while they looked for her.

"Then she escaped over the mountains."

Leslie's mother escaped from Russian soldiers following World War II

Leslie's mother spent two weeks hiding in the mountains of Austria with no food, in freezing temperatures.

By the time she was found by British soldiers she was delirious, and had to be hospitalised.

Leslie said: "Twenty years later the incident came back to haunt her.

"My father could see something had to be done about it.

"He had two young Russian girls come over to stay, my mother made friends with them and she had a different vision of Russians. I don't think it made her forgive the Russians but she realised Russians weren't all monsters.

"My brother and I studied Russian at university and we both have good Russian friends now."

The Forgiveness Project Exhibition will be held at the Friends Meeting House at 2 Church Street, Reading, from 21 to 28 October 2009.

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Mike Sarson

Forgiveness is the key to healing many problems human beings experience on this planet Earth.