Page 6 - 2023年11月號

The road to peace
T his month, Rotary takes a step toward sup- Positive Peace and is sharing them with students of

porting peacebuilding in the Middle East
his own in Cameroon. He became interested in the
and North Africa region.
Rotary Positive Peace Activator training program
In November, Rotary and District 2420
violence in Cameroon. Since completing the program,
are hosting a signing ceremony for our after witnessing extremism, online hate speech, and
newest peace center in partnership with Bahçeşehir he has brought his lessons on peace to students at
University in Istanbul. the Yaoundé International Business School and other
The ceremony is the first in a series of events rec- organizations in the Central Africa country.
ognizing the new center at BAU and Rotary’s work The world needs more people like the graduates of
to promote peace. The 2024 Rotary International the program at Makerere and our other peace fellows.
Convention in May will mark 25 years since the first To that end, we can all advance peace by encouraging
Rotary Peace Centers were announced — coinciden- our local peacebuilders to learn more about Rotary
tally at the Rotary Convention in Singapore in 1999. and apply for this impactful fellowship. Rotary mem-
Recruitment for the first cohort of Rotary Peace bers can also mentor candidates for the fellowship.
Fellows at BAU also starts in 2024, and selected can- Or you can work with peace fellows who have already
didates will begin their program in early 2025. graduated. They probably have an initiative or two
Since its beginning, the peace centers program has that would benefit from your help.
prepared more than 1,700 peace fellows working in Our peace centers in North America, Europe, Africa,
more than 140 countries to create a more peaceful Australia, and Asia depend on financial support as
world. That is certainly worth celebrating, but Rotary well. The program at BAU was made possible thanks
Peace Fellows are more than statistics on a page. to a generous gift of $15.5 million to The Rotary Foun-
Their actions have helped Create Hope in the World dation from the Otto and Fran Walter Foundation.
and will continue to do so. This new Rotary Peace Center will offer a one-year
For example, Jennifer Montgomery and Gorett professional development certificate in peace and de-
Komurembe — peace fellows from the program at velopment studies for fellows focusing on peacebuilding
Makerere University in Uganda — are co-founders of
within the Middle East and North Africa region.
PHOTOGRAPH: KEVIN SERNA ernmental organization equips Ugandan girls and R. GORDON R. MCINALLY
Magenta Girls Initiative. The international nongov-
Peace must be waged persistently; it is the soil
where hope takes root. But as with any journey, we
young women with the support and tools to over-
take one step at a time. Let’s take those steps together.
come harmful gender norms, generational poverty,
gender-based violence, trafficking, and trauma.
Ndzi Divine Njamsi, another peace fellow who

4 studied at Makerere, has taken lessons learned about President, Rotary International
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