about war and peace in Afghanistan while opportunities are provided for those willing to tell their personal stories. Eventually, the focus shifts to making the individual memory boxes. Under the guidance of the facilitator but with full autonomy, decision-making capacity and ownership the participants create their own boxes consisting primarily of personal objects which often belong to their deceased family member(s), such as copies of the Quran, wedding certificates, jewelry given by the late husband, photos of martyred children or Burkhas formerly worn by their murdered sisters. Finally, once all the personal objects and artistic artifacts have been created and gathered, usually more than 10-15 per person, participants are invited to set up their own, personal museum, i.e. they assemble their Memory Boxes in the most aesthetic and artistic manner and make them presentable for display. The artists are also asked to prepare a brief verbal presentation they will use to explain the content of their box to those interested in knowing more. The aesthetic process concludes with a final walk through the Museum of Memory Boxes followed by a closing circle in which the participants share their last thoughts and feelings about their experiences during the workshop. Achievements up to the present Since the summer of 2011, AHRDO has conducted eight Memory Box work- A look into the future Given the considerable success of the Memory Box initiative so far, the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization aims to further develop the methodology by • Expanding the Memory Box initiative to other provinces across Afghanistan, thereby allowing for more people to share their stories and make a contribution to peace and justice • Producing and publishing a policy paper on how the Memory Boxes can be included as part of ongoing memorialization efforts in the country • Making the Memory Boxes a key component for the establishment of Afghanistan's first museum dedicated to the victims of Afghanistan • Taking the Memory Box exhibition on an international tour for further advocacy work in support and protection of the victims of Afghanistan as well as to reach the Afghan diaspora around the world. The Memory Box Initiative: Seeking to Break the Cycle of Violence and Tragedy in Afghanistan The Memory Box Initiative: Seeking to Break the Cycle of Violence and Tragedy in Afghanistan 5 In addition, during the creative process participants produce further artistic artifacts related to their life stories. Often these include self-written poems, declarations of identity, pictures taken of their current life situations, various paintings, drawings and, frequently at the end of the process just before the creation of the Memory Box, their entire life journeys sketched on paper with colored pens, crayons and watercolors. Besides, the participants often engage in a reflective process on the national flags of Afghanistan. This aspect is of particular significance as the country has had more changes of its national flag during the 20th century than any other country in the world, twenty in total. More importantly, the constant change of flags during the past three decades of conflict is often attached to very painful personal loss. Consequently, the participants are asked to paint the flag which is most significant to their own life stories, only to then proceed and draw a second, new flag that depicts the Afghanistan as each individual participant would like to see it. shops in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif resulting in more than one hundred individual boxes created and designed by victims of war from at least five provinces of Afghanistan. Many of these boxes were publicly displayed during three exhibitions in Kabul that were visited by more than one thousand five hundred people. In addition, AHRDO published a newsletter in English summarizing the most important achievements of the Memory Boxes initiative. This newsletter was shared with people from different parts of the world and produced a great deal of interest in transferring the Memory Box experience to other countries in need of an authentic grassroots approach to mobilize victims of human rights abuses. 6