The true story of a country transformed
Something extraordinary happened in Mozambique. Almost nobody knows the story.
A country ravaged by decades of wars began to change.
Violence fell away.
A horrific civil war ended.
The country entered an astonishing recovery.
Richard Broome PhD
Author and researcher
01
Mozambique suffered through decades of war.
First came the struggle for independence. Then came a long civil war.
The country was damaged. Its people were exhausted.
Then something changed.
Violence fell. The civil war ended. The country began to recover.
The change was real. But the reason for it remains little known.
Ripples of Peace tells that story. It follows the people, the events and the research behind one of the most unusual peace stories of modern times.
Richard Broome02
Mozambique has always been in my mind.
I visited it before the second awful war. I then heard how deeply war had damaged the country. Much later I heard that something seriously unusual had happened during its recovery.
I wanted to understand it. Because it was only eight hours drive from where I lived. And because I got to rebuild a plane that had been in its Air Force.
That search took me into history, politics, eyewitness accounts and scientific research.
It also led to a larger question:
Can a change in collective consciousness radically change a society?
That question became Ripples of Peace.
03
The Mozambique story is powerful on its own.
But it also raises a harder question.
Was the change only political and economic?
Or was something else at work?
Research on Transcendental Meditation has examined whether large groups of people practising the technique can influence wider society.
The findings are controversial.
But they are difficult to ignore.
Ripples of Peace looks at that research, the claims made for it, and the extraordinary evidence behind those claims.
What if peace can begin in consciousness before it appears in society?
04
This is not only a book about Mozambique.
It is a book about what may be possible.
Inside, you will find:
The book does not ask you to accept a belief.
It asks you to look at the story and the evidence.
05
Early responses to Ripples of Peace.
“This is an amazing book & I’m reading it with great interest. I’m going to print a copy so that President Chissano can read it and share his thoughts.”
Celio Mondjane — President Chissano’s nephew and Director of NPOs
“This is a wonderful collection of facts and details. The comprehensive materials in this book are so rich in detail… (of) the terrible wounds of colonialism inflicted upon Mozambique. I personally remember how ravaged the country was…”
Norman E. Rosenthal, MD — Research psychiatrist and New York Times bestselling author of Transcendence, The Gift of Adversity, Super Mind, Poetry Rx and Winter Blues
“The wonderfully engaging and thought provoking stories within it just make the transformational life messages even more fun to digest. This book and the lessons it contains is what the world needs more than anything right now.”
Mark Bunn — Bestselling author of Ancient Wisdom for Modern Health
“A very compelling and absorbing writing style!”
Dr Richard Peycke — Director of Companies and NPOs
06
Richard Broome PhD began his career as a military and airline pilot.
He later trained as an investment analyst and built a career in management consulting, company leadership and teaching Transcendental Meditation.
For more than four decades, he has worked with people and organisations in South Africa and internationally.
He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering, an MBA, and a PhD in Management Psychology from the University of Cape Town.
His research has examined stress, work and the effects of Transcendental Meditation.
Ripples of Peace is his first book.
Available now
The Mozambique Miracle – The World’s Greatest Secret, & What It Means For The Rest Of Us
Buy on AmazonThe story, in greater depth
Explore the chronology, Transcendental Meditation, the Maharishi Effect, and the people who were there.
07
Who, what, where and when—from colonial rule to the peace initiative and recovery.
FRELIMO is founded; the armed struggle against Portuguese rule begins in 1964.
Richard Broome visits the city as a student. His memories open the book’s Introduction.
The Carnation Revolution opens the way to negotiations. The Lusaka Accords precede independence in 1975, with Samora Machel as first president.
Civil war begins between the government and RENAMO, devastating communities, infrastructure and the economy.
Joaquim Chissano succeeds Samora Machel. Broome describes a turn towards reconciliation and economic reform.
Joan Roura recalls an initial trial with 100 officers, followed by about 1,000 military personnel at Manhiça. Teachers then instruct roughly 3,000 members of the public at Maputo’s Rovuma Hotel in three months. The book cites a July 1990 newspaper report of General Dai’s negotiations with RENAMO. TM was taught extensively before the peace agreement.
Kenneth Kaunda helps introduce José Luis Álvarez, Kurleigh King and Carolyn Gaylord-King to Chissano. According to Roura, the president learns TM and arranges instruction for his family and ministers.
Chissano and RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama sign the General Peace Agreement. Roura places the early Manhiça trial before this agreement, and the much larger teaching programme after it.
General Tobias Dai reports that about 15,000 people learn TM across military units, with more than 3,000 trained in the advanced TM-Sidhi programme.
Demobilisation disrupts the practice groups. Dai’s conference addresses report the earlier results and plans to restart the Prevention Wing.
Roura recalls a funded group of around 2,000 participants, a further fall in crime, and the end of that programme in mid-2001.
08
Can a change in collective consciousness change the course of a nation?
The central hypothesis of Ripples of Peace is that Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the group practice of its advanced TM-Sidhi programme helped reduce collective stress in Mozambique—supporting reconciliation, peace and recovery.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi proposed that a small proportion of people practising TM could improve the quality of life of the wider population. The name given to this phenomenon is the Maharishi Effect.
The book traces extensive TM teaching before the 1992 peace agreement: a trial involving 100 officers, about 1,000 military personnel at Manhiça, and roughly 3,000 members of the public in Maputo. It then follows presidential support and the much larger military programme in 1993.
“In my mind, in my interpretation, is that this initiation of one thousand people was a turning point.”Joan Roura · Act Three, p. 44
Broome asks why Mozambique’s peace took hold when Angola’s settlement collapsed. He recognises the roles of leadership, demobilisation, economic reform and international support, and explores whether a change in collective consciousness helps explain the breadth of the transformation.
The proposed proportion of a population practising TM.
The proposed group size for the advanced TM-Sidhi programme: the square root of 1% of the population.
09
Ten significant studies and research cases discussed in the book, with references from its footnotes.
Researchers compared 24 cities in which 1% of the population had learned TM with comparison cities, using FBI crime data over a longer period. Broome describes significant reductions in crime and an independent investigator’s supervision.
Book pp. 69 · ReferenceThe village was compared with four neighbouring villages during the civil war. After 1% of residents learned TM, the book reports no incoming shells, casualties or property damage during the study period, while hostilities increased in the comparison villages.
Book pp. 75–78 · ReferenceThe book describes a two-month assembly in Jerusalem and reports a reduction of more than 70% in Lebanon war deaths on days when participation reached the predicted threshold. It also follows changes in a composite quality-of-life index.
Book pp. 79, 84–87 · ReferenceAcross seven assemblies, the book reports 71% fewer war fatalities, 68% fewer injuries, 48% lower conflict and 66% more cooperation. It describes analyses that considered temperature, holidays and weekends.
Book pp. 80 · ReferenceAround 4,000 practitioners assembled for a publicly announced test. Broome describes predictions submitted to a 27-member review board and an estimated 23.3% reduction in HRA crime: homicides, rapes and assaults.
Book pp. 81, 88–90 · ReferenceThe book connects a large group in Iowa with reductions in homicide and other violent-crime indicators during the 2007–2010 intervention period. Its summary reports a 28.4% reduction in the homicide-rate trend and an estimated 4,136 murders averted.
Book pp. 82, 91–93 · ReferenceThis prospective quasi-experiment is one of the two studies cited by Broome alongside the Iowa assembly. The book follows group size through the threshold period and discusses the later return of adverse trends as participation declined.
Book pp. 91–93 · ReferenceBroome presents predicted and observed drug-death trends. His account describes deaths levelling off when the group reached the proposed threshold in 2007 and returning towards the earlier trend after participation fell.
Book pp. 94–95 · ReferenceThe book summarises a study of group TM and TM-Sidhi practice and national stress indicators over 17 years. It discusses unemployment, inflation, policing, demographics, temperature and seasonal cycles as alternative explanations.
Book pp. 97–101 · ReferenceA footnote in the Mozambique–Angola comparison describes a time-series and mixed-method study in Cambodia, reporting a 96% decrease in violent acts during 1993–2008 compared with the earlier baseline.
Book pp. 27 · Reference10
Selected eyewitness accounts from the book. Excerpts are shortened; the page references lead to the fuller stories.
First Officer Ray Ledlie recalls preparing to leave Lourenço Marques before independence in 1975. The road to the airport had become dangerous. A fellow airline captain came into the cockpit and asked the crew to take his wife and three small children.
“My skipper said, ‘Okay, bring them.’ So we put them in the 737’s cockpit with us.”
When the chief steward asked how many people were on board, the answer was that the crew did not know. People were sitting in the aisle. Ledlie recalls estimating the people and weights, deciding they could go, and taking off.
“And then we landed at Smuts, there was immigration and security police right there, just as we told them. Because we don’t know who these people are, where they come from. They have no documents with them.”
Broome had occupied the same first officer’s seat only four years earlier. Hearing Ledlie’s memories brought the country’s upheaval close to his own life.
“Actually, the whole thing of Mozambique started in one elevator in Switzerland, you know.”
Roura recalls José Luis Álvarez meeting a Mozambican vice-minister in Switzerland in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The invitation that followed eventually brought Roura to Mozambique, where a military contact opened the way to a trial with 100 officers.
“And the experience was very good. So then, General Dai decided to make a trial to initiate 1,000 people in some unit close to Maputo. A military unit. It was Manhiça, I think.”
Three teachers came from Portugal. Roura recalls that the journey required a military escort because of the danger from guerrillas. After the thousand had learned TM, news appeared of General Dai talking to RENAMO. The book’s footnote cites a front-page report in Lisbon’s Diário de Notícias on 19 July 1990.
The teaching then reached the public at Maputo’s Rovuma Hotel. Roura says the teachers instructed about 3,000 people in three months.
Roura concluded that a national programme needed support from the top. Kenneth Kaunda helped arrange an introduction to President Joaquim Chissano for Álvarez, Kurleigh King and Carolyn Gaylord-King.
“And then the President had a long meeting with them, and then he decided— He told them that what he wanted was to learn TM.”
According to Roura, Chissano then wanted his family and council of ministers to learn. Roura also recalls Chissano describing his curiosity after seeing a fellow passenger sitting with his eyes closed on an aircraft.
When Roura and other teachers later arrived at the presidential residence, Casa Dos Ventos, the Rome agreement had already been signed. Broome asked whether this preceded really large numbers learning TM. Roura answered:
“Yes, … But not before the Manhiça project, the first 1000.”
The early teaching and the later national rollout are two distinct stages in the story.
General Dai’s address describes a country still fragile after the peace agreement. The Joint Chiefs of Staff evaluated the proposal and decided to implement TM and TM-Sidhi, including Yogic Flying, to create the Maharishi Effect.
“It was a matter of decision. Either to try it or to leave it aside. Our decision was to try.”
Dai reports about 15,000 people taught in 1993, across ground, naval and air forces, followed by a further 1,000 in 1994. More than 3,000 were trained in the advanced programme. His later address reports lower crime during group practice and renewed difficulties as demobilisation broke up the groups.
One detail is particularly striking: he reports road deaths falling from 1,130 in 1992 to 1,107 in 1993, while the number of vehicles and the freedom to travel increased. His report presents this as one of the programme’s anticipated benefits.
Roura remembers taking about 200 officers and staff officers to practise the advanced programme in the presidential palace while Chissano and Dhlakama negotiated upstairs. The mattresses, he says, were made of grass.
“They were doing the program and flying there. Meanwhile, the president and Dhlakama were negotiating.”
Broome asked whether the president knew. Roura’s answer was emphatic:
“Oh yes, not without his authorization. Of course he knew. I told him that I wanted to do that and he said, ‘Yes, yes, organise it.’”
He also recalls the nickname Homem das Chuvas—“Man of the Rains”—given to him by troops after rain returned during the teaching programme. These are Roura’s first-hand recollections, recorded in conversation with Broome.
11
Ripples of Peace · Introduction, printed pages 1–4
Some folks find science boring, so I’m going to tell you a story. And stories start with long ago and far away.1
But because this story is so amazing I’m going to tell it as a play. Not because it’s fiction I’m giving you - the events really happened, and the characters are real - but because a play makes it easier to enter this world that seems so removed from ordinary reality.
Long ago in 1969, and far away at the bottom of Africa, bottom right hand side of Africa, there was a country that was called Portuguese East Africa.
It is called Mozambique now. And on the other side, there was Portuguese West Africa.
And I was a student, and there was a town, the capital of Portuguese East Africa. Lourenço Marques.
It was fantastic.
We drove there from Durban for one or two weekends.
To do what students do. There was Laurentina cerveja, nightlife, and the Hotel Polana.
South Africa at that time had a very Calvinistic kind of government so the bars closed I think at 11 o’clock, and nothing on Sunday.
It was not like that in “LM.”
It was really the Paris of Southern Africa.
And time went by.
In 1975 Portuguese East Africa gained its independence from the Portuguese colonial powers and a socialist one party state was created. It was one of the three poorest countries on earth.
The governing party was a party called FRELIMO.
And Samora Machel was the first president.
And I didn’t know all this was happening.
I was in Durban at the time.
I was just a student of electrical engineering at the University of Natal (now UKZN)
What happened then was the Mozambican economy started to contract - key industries were nationalised, agriculture was collectivised and productivity dropped.
The world was not happy with Mozambique due to its… Well, let’s say that the Western world, including South Africa, was very unhappy with the country because of its socialist and communist orientation.
And then a civil war started in 1977 between the government and the anti-communist rebel group, RENAMO.
It was a devastating war. Populations were displaced, infrastructure was destroyed and the economy was disrupted. Roads, railways, schools and hospitals crashed. The quality of life deteriorated, with challenges even to get basic services like water.
The combination of civil war, economic mismanagement and socialist policies led to economic contraction and hyperinflation. This in turn led to migration out of the country,
I knew about none of this.
And then everything started to change in about 1990.
There were economic reforms, which led to more foreign investment.
The economy grew.
And it is incredible because the turnaround was staggering.
It’s a period often referred to as the Mozambican miracle or the Mozambican renaissance.
GDP grew, agriculture, mining and tourism did better.
The country started to sort out its infrastructure, its healthcare and education.
Not that there were no challenges, but something amazing happened in about 1990 or so.
This book is about what happened, why it happened, and what we can learn from this experience to turn our own lives around.
Now watch what happened.
12
Explore the papers, books, reports and eyewitness sources behind the story.
The bibliography brings together selected references from the footnotes of Ripples of Peace, including research on crime and conflict, General Dai’s addresses, the peace agreement and accounts of recovery. Each entry identifies where it appears in the book.
Bibliography & research13
Why did the war end? Did Chissano practise TM? What does the research say?
The book describes the Rome General Peace Accords of 1992, reconciliation under Joaquim Chissano, demobilisation, changing international conditions and extensive support for reconstruction. Broome recognises these political and economic factors and explores the contribution of TM and the Maharishi Effect to the atmosphere in which peace became possible. TM was taught extensively before the agreement: Joan Roura recalls 100 officers, around 1,000 military personnel at Manhiça and roughly 3,000 members of the public in Maputo. The programme then expanded nationally.
Chissano steered Mozambique towards reconciliation, economic reform and a negotiated settlement with Afonso Dhlakama and RENAMO. He signed the General Peace Agreement in Rome on 4 October 1992. In the book’s account, he also supported TM instruction for his family, ministers and the military, giving the programme the leadership backing needed for a national initiative.
Yes, according to the account published in Ripples of Peace. Joan Roura tells Broome that, following a meeting arranged with Kenneth Kaunda’s help, Chissano decided to learn TM and wanted his family and council of ministers to learn as well. Roura also recalls Chissano’s earlier curiosity after seeing a fellow airline passenger meditating.
Continue the story
The people, the evidence, and what Mozambique’s experience may mean for the rest of us.
Buy on Amazon