Canon Sarah Snyder (1984)
Sarah (nee Brewster) studied Archaeology & Anthropology (1984-87) before joining the BBC as a documentary researcher/producer. Subsequently she and her husband (Christ’s, 1984-87) led a multimedia programme in the Sahara desert, responding to widespread Western television of starving Africans (often with begging bowl) during times of famine. Working in an economically diverse, but politically and environmentally fragile region around Timbuktu, they gathered testimonies of the many ways in which African communities have much to teach the West, producing a resource for European schools called “Where camels are faster than cars”!
It was the experience of living with Tuareg nomads through various coups that catapulted her choice of career thereafter. She returned to St John’s to study World Religions (Islam and Judaism) and Christian theology, in particular the role of religion in promoting or relieving conflict.
A theologian and mediator, specialising in peace-building and dialogue, Sarah brings wide-ranging international experience in situations of violent conflict. She has worked for many years to promote faith-based reconciliation, most recently as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Advisor for Reconciliation – a role centred around supporting the Anglican Church to be an agent of conflict-transformation in conflict or post-conflict contexts. Previously, she worked with the United Nations as Director of Partnerships at Religions for Peace International, after directing the Cambridge International Summer Schools for emerging leaders from conflict zones.
Sarah is Founding Director of the Rose Castle Foundation - an international centre of peace and reconciliation offering a safe space in which to address misunderstanding of the "other", particularly those of different ideological traditions. Their residential programmes equip emerging leaders to act across deep divides within their spheres of influence. Located in an 800-year old castle near the English-Scottish border, it is a peaceful haven in which to transform conflict across societal divides, and to train up a generation to lead through change and chaos.
She and her husband have 4 children, 5 grandchildren and a dog. They live in the Lake District, near Rose Castle.