"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
I have always loved this quote growing up, and I have always correlated it to Rotary and its humanitarian efforts. Now, over the past 48 hours, I have heard a number of beyond motivational stories from our Rotary Peace Scholars throughout our convention, through both plenary sessions and break-out sessions. It has been beyond inspirational. This is Rotary's long term investment of the future of humanity. Rotary Peace Fellows are leaders promoting national and international cooperation, peace, and the successful resolution of conflict throughout their lives, in their careers, and through service activities. Fellows can earn either through a 2 year program a master’s degree in international relations, public administration, sustainable development, peace studies, conflict resolution, or a related field, or a professional development certificate through a 3 month course in peace and conflict resolution. This has been completely funded through the Rotary Foundation (TRF), and an endowment is in process of being set up for sustainable growth. (Currently at $74 MM, with a goal of $95 MM by 2015!) Peace Scholars for the 2 year program require a bachelor's degree plus 3 year's work experience. (The 3 month certificate program is looser qualifications.)
I am here to tell you these people are born on this earth to change the world. This program started 10 years ago, and has produced over 600 peace fellows. The graduates work in a number of influential arenas, including the UN, world banks, journalism, and even held hostage in Afghanistan. Rotary has its own "Peace Centers" in 7 countries around the world. This has been in response to proactively seeking to make the world a better place. The 20th century has been the most brutal and horrifying violent history we have yet seen, and lost 10's of millions of civilians, not to mention countless soldiers. We must closely examine root causes and create change if we do not want to repeat history. The good news is, Peace & Conflict Resolution is much more mainstream in higher education today than ever, and part of the program is examining the causes of war. Further discussion then takes place around conflict prevention, conflict management and resolution, and post conflict transformation and peace building. Topics including human rights, weapons control, reconciliation and justice, economic development, food and water security, shelter, and education are vital to the cause. People kill and steal to survive. In order to change this behavior, we must first look at ways to change the structure of society and show that there is hope. Poverty, ignorance, and cultural differences are root causes of conflict.
Hannah Warren, a 2006 graduate of the program, and originally from Shakopee, MN (also a previous Rotary Foreign Youth Exchange Student, hooray!) is one example. What started out as a photography project in India, turned into working with over 100 women to develop a microfinance opportunity so they could own their own weavers to take out the middle man, resulting in profiting themselves and not giving it away! Hannah's inspirational 90 second video played at the convention can be found here: http://vimeo.com/25510993, and further information can be found on Rotary's website article here: http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/110214_news_warren.aspx.
Other students spoke in a break-out session, including a Ugandan who created a very positive impact in the 2011 Ugandan elections being the "least" deadly in history through educating people on conflict resolution and proactively assigning them to "hot zones" to help avoid conflict from escalating. Also Cherine from the US, who now works with the NGO (Non Governmental Agency), shared how her childhood influenced how she wanted to be part of the change in our world:
"I grew up sprawled across an ocean: a foot in Egypt and a foot in the States. My parents immigrated to the US a few years before I was born with the earnest hope of making a better life for themselves and their families at home. Thanks to their ambition and hard work, I grew up in a very privileged context. I attended private schools, traveled extensively, and had many wonderful experiences. Still, amid the abundance and seeming realization of the 'American Dream', I grew up often feeling alone, ashamed of my differences and feeling somehow 'other' and outside in both Egypt and in the US. Always in between, I never quite fit, anywhere. And so I learned from a young age, if I want to live in a world where I belong, where we all belong, I must work to create it. I feel fortunate beyond measure to have found an avenue to do just that." Cherine now works at "Generation Waking Up", and loves the opportunity to work on conflict resolution with young people and making a dfference. Young people start to exhibit prejudice between the ages of 2 to 8, so she has created a program for young children to break down barriers and share cultural differences. US segregation is arguably just as bad today as it was in the 60's. This is very dangerous, as the trickle effect of prejudiceness can lead to fear, discrimination, stereotyping, and hatred. We are facing more obstacles than ever in our evolution on the planet.
US native Amanda Martin, who graduated last year, spoke at our Plenary session today with compelling testimony about her recent "move" into the Burmese refugee camps in Thailand a few days a week. One can not fathom what she's gone through to help the greater good of the people have continued hope. She is working with Burmese refugees, over 142,000 living in Thailand, through the Global Health Access Program. Half of her week each week consists of living in a hut at the top of the mountain in a jungle, where she sleeps in a hammock with a mosquito netting over her and listening to the rats gnaw on her bamboo hut throughout the night. She works to educate students on a variety of topics, including under the principles of Mary Anderson's "Do No Harm" book, whereby she cites the experiences of many aid providers in wartorn societies to show that international assistance—even when it is effective in saving lives, alleviating suffering, and furthering sustainable development—too often reinforces divisions among contending groups. But she more importantly offers hopeful evidence of creative programs that point the way to new approaches to aid. Calling for a redesign of assistance programs so that they do no harm while doing their intended good, she argues further that many opportunities exist for aid workers to in fact support the processes by which societies disengage from war.
These young people have already, and will continue, to make an incredible positive impact on our planet. New applicants are accepted annually, so please feel free to contact me if anyone you know may resonate as a strong candidate!
