Peace in our time
Posted by Anthony Gilmore
on Mar 16, 2012
The following stories are from the February issue of the Rotarian that not all of you may have seen.
One year after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the first class of Rotary Peace Fellows began their studies. Since then, more than 590 fellows have gone on to build peace in their communities and nations, as well as across international lines. They include graduates of a two-year master’s degree program and a three-month professional certificate program at Rotary’s partner universities.
One year after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the first class of Rotary Peace Fellows began their studies. Since then, more than 590 fellows have gone on to build peace in their communities and nations, as well as across international lines. They include graduates of a two-year master’s degree program and a three-month professional certificate program at Rotary’s partner universities.
Here following are two of the graduates' stories.
The elections monitor
Certificate class: 2006
Rotary Peace Center: Chulalongkorn University
Sponsor: Rotary Club of Freetown, Sierra Leone
Master’s class: 2012-14
Rotary Peace Center: University of Bradford, England
Sponsor: Rotary Club of Folsom, Calif., USA
Citizenship: Liberia
Richelieu Allison grew up in Monrovia, Liberia, during a brutal civil war. Many of his friends became child soldiers, some on their own, but others after being grabbed off the street. “My mother said, ‘I am not going to allow any of my children to walk out of the house to join the rebel movement,’” he recalls. “I have been opposed to violence all my life because of my mom.”
To avoid the kidnappers, he stayed indoors, passing the time by learning to cook. He ventured out to accompany his mother on peace marches, which bore risks of their own. “We were in a march on our way to the president’s mansion,” he explains. “Suddenly bombs were firing all over the city. We had to run. I looked down and saw blood on my shirt and realized it was someone else’s.”
When the rebels invaded the area, his family fled to a refugee center. There, he formed his first advocacy group. Today, Allison, 40, is cofounder and regional director of the West African Youth Network in Freetown, Sierra Leone, which mobilizes and trains young people to help restore peace and human rights in West Africa. In late November 2010, he led a peace caravan – two buses with about 40 Rotarians and members of his youth network – to border towns in four West African countries, where they held workshops to teach conflict resolution.
Allison returned to Liberia to help monitor the successful 2011 presidential elections. “I grew up in a country that was peaceful, but all of a sudden one of the most gruesome conflicts ever seen in Africa erupted,” he says. “Look how far we’ve come.”
The Killing Fields survivor
Class: 2002-04
Rotary Peace Center: University of Queensland
Sponsor: Rotary Club of Bathurst, Australia
Endowment: Hartley B. and Ruth B. Barker Endowed Rotary Peace Fellowship
Citizenship: Cambodia
When his Rotary Peace Fellowship in Brisbane, Australia, ended, Path Heang headed home to Cambodia, an impoverished nation where the Khmer Rouge killed more than two million citizens between 1975 and 1979. Heang, now chief of a UNICEF field office, works to improve the lives of women and children in his country’s poorest households. He manages six programs that help millions in need.
“In Cambodia, privileges traditionally are for men and older people. Women and children are not a priority. They need access to education, health care, and training for employment,” Heang explains. “In the future, I will work in other countries. Because Cambodia needs people like me, I felt obliged to come back.”
Heang, 43, meshes his peace studies with his prior experience in a weapons eradication program and his native understanding of Cambodia. “I am in a senior position because of the analytical skills and tools I learned as a peace fellow,” he says. “Now I can influence national policy for the poor in Cambodia. [This work] is not about perception. It is about evidence.”
Reflecting on his peace fellowship, Heang says, “It changed me.” His studies explored the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia and security issues in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. At the same time, he says, he had to learn the basics of life in a wealthier nation, such as how to use an ATM.
by Kate Nolan
The Rotarian -- February 2012
The elections monitor
Certificate class: 2006
Rotary Peace Center: Chulalongkorn University
Sponsor: Rotary Club of Freetown, Sierra Leone
Master’s class: 2012-14
Rotary Peace Center: University of Bradford, England
Sponsor: Rotary Club of Folsom, Calif., USA
Citizenship: Liberia
Richelieu Allison grew up in Monrovia, Liberia, during a brutal civil war. Many of his friends became child soldiers, some on their own, but others after being grabbed off the street. “My mother said, ‘I am not going to allow any of my children to walk out of the house to join the rebel movement,’” he recalls. “I have been opposed to violence all my life because of my mom.”
To avoid the kidnappers, he stayed indoors, passing the time by learning to cook. He ventured out to accompany his mother on peace marches, which bore risks of their own. “We were in a march on our way to the president’s mansion,” he explains. “Suddenly bombs were firing all over the city. We had to run. I looked down and saw blood on my shirt and realized it was someone else’s.”
When the rebels invaded the area, his family fled to a refugee center. There, he formed his first advocacy group. Today, Allison, 40, is cofounder and regional director of the West African Youth Network in Freetown, Sierra Leone, which mobilizes and trains young people to help restore peace and human rights in West Africa. In late November 2010, he led a peace caravan – two buses with about 40 Rotarians and members of his youth network – to border towns in four West African countries, where they held workshops to teach conflict resolution.
Allison returned to Liberia to help monitor the successful 2011 presidential elections. “I grew up in a country that was peaceful, but all of a sudden one of the most gruesome conflicts ever seen in Africa erupted,” he says. “Look how far we’ve come.”
The Killing Fields survivor
Class: 2002-04
Rotary Peace Center: University of Queensland
Sponsor: Rotary Club of Bathurst, Australia
Endowment: Hartley B. and Ruth B. Barker Endowed Rotary Peace Fellowship
Citizenship: Cambodia
When his Rotary Peace Fellowship in Brisbane, Australia, ended, Path Heang headed home to Cambodia, an impoverished nation where the Khmer Rouge killed more than two million citizens between 1975 and 1979. Heang, now chief of a UNICEF field office, works to improve the lives of women and children in his country’s poorest households. He manages six programs that help millions in need.
“In Cambodia, privileges traditionally are for men and older people. Women and children are not a priority. They need access to education, health care, and training for employment,” Heang explains. “In the future, I will work in other countries. Because Cambodia needs people like me, I felt obliged to come back.”
Heang, 43, meshes his peace studies with his prior experience in a weapons eradication program and his native understanding of Cambodia. “I am in a senior position because of the analytical skills and tools I learned as a peace fellow,” he says. “Now I can influence national policy for the poor in Cambodia. [This work] is not about perception. It is about evidence.”
Reflecting on his peace fellowship, Heang says, “It changed me.” His studies explored the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia and security issues in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. At the same time, he says, he had to learn the basics of life in a wealthier nation, such as how to use an ATM.
by Kate Nolan
The Rotarian -- February 2012