How Do We Build Peace? Rotary Peace Fellows Explain

You take it. I'm not taking it. You are taking it. What was the question again? G'day everyone. My name is Alex Rose. I come from Australia, down here. And I did my Rotary Peace Fellowship at the Duke UNC Rotary Peace Centre in North Carolina. The Rotary Peace Fellowship is a fully funded opportunity to study at one of Rotary's international peace centres. It's a really unique fellowship because there's not a lot of fellowship that gives out, you know, a fellowship for humanities, social science or social development. It's a very inspiring, very inspiring journey that also goes all across life. And you develop lasting friendships and relationships. Hi, my name is Lutho N. Mafale. I come from Liberia. Liberia is right here in West Africa. And I did my peace fellowship at Macquarie University in Uganda, somewhere right in East Africa here. During my fellowship, I learned how to build peace. How to build people capacity to deal with conflict. Because conflict is an integral part of our existence, of our communities, of our society. But often we don't have the capacity how to deal with conflict. And we also do theories of peace and also learn the principle of conflict resolution, which is very important. And that's one of the reasons why we are called Peace Fellows. You're coming together and you're spending time together. So you really learn more about different cultures, different peace building practices. And that's what was really, really exciting for me. Hello, my name is Humera. And I am from a beautiful country in South Asia called Pakistan. And I have done my peace fellowship from University of Queensland that is in a beautiful place called Australia. For me, it's about a society or environment where you can live in harmony and where inclusion, inclusivity is present. So women are given their due share in everything. That's a good, very good question. For me, peace means that I am happy, that people are happy. They can coexist, they can tolerate each other. This is peace. It's funny when you mentioned that, you know, first that it means that you're happy. And I want to say that in my language, Thai language, peace also means happiness. And that word is Santisuk. And for me, peace is the ability to choose how we want to respond to the events of our lives, rather than constantly react from a place that might be violence towards ourselves or towards the other. Peace for me is this ability to choose what it is and choose how we respond to the stimulus that we receive as part of our lives. Very right, very right. My name is Jenilee Strugnell and I'm from South Africa, over here. And I did my peace fellowship in Turkey at Beşiktaş Şehir University. It's really important in peace building to bring together people that have different perspectives. That's really where the depth comes in because we all learn from each other and each perspective has value. I think it's incredibly valuable that we embrace diversity and embrace tolerance in regards with recognizing the value of the different cultures that we are all part of and that we actually grow the most when we take into consideration other points of view, other cultures, other views of the world. And that we don't lose by them, but that we win by those differences. I think you cannot avoid it. I mean, I think in society there's always a different point of view, different values from different religions, different backgrounds, different societies. So I think bringing together is not only just something extra, it's something that's needed. And diversity is present in this room as well. And you guys are very peaceful. Hi, my name is Sridhar Sukumwat. I go by Panna. I come from Bangkok, Thailand and it's right here. So I did my fellowship at the University of Bradford, the United Kingdom. I think Rotary is an organization that's been built around the idea of service above self. So I think what that means is that their work around the world is also to support and help others. Rotarians are everywhere once you start to look for them and they do all sorts of things from the very local level all the way up to being present and affecting change to end polio globally in our lifetime. I really found that having Rotary hosts in Turkey made such a difference on the Peace Fellowship. Really people there to take care and just the kindness they showed was so valuable. Then beyond, they get to introduce you also to more people. Many Rotarians, even their own family members, their work colleagues. And over time, it gets to be like you have a family in this place. You have a whole lot of friends in this place other than just your classmates. That's something very, very, very lovely. You will love to taste. Hello, everybody. My name is Jorge Merubia. I am from Mexico here in North America in the Latin American region. And I did my master's degree at the International Christian University in Tokyo in Japan. If I could give a piece of advice to a Rotary Peace Fellowship applicant, sometimes I have crossed by persons who don't think they have what it takes to be a Rotary Peace Fellow. You definitely will. You definitely will. Be yourself, but also always respect other cultures as well. Diversity is going to bring friction, but at the same time, it's going to bring lots of knowledge and lots of good things. You need to open up, to grab new things and be like a bird. Just taking the good from the north, from the south, from the east and bringing it to make your nest. Don't be afraid to ask for help because help is available when it's needed and it will be needed. That's just going to be a part of the experience. Offer other people kindness and grace and share your gifts with them and also learn from them because that's where the greatest value comes out of it. We need you. We require you. We require your capabilities, your skills, your engagement, your compromise with yourself and with the world and we need you as a Rotary Peace Fellow. And we're waiting for you. We are waiting for you. You see, this is how I felt when I applied for it. How would the Rotary Peace Fellow, you know, be awarded to me? But here I am as a Rotary Peace Fellow. Yeah. And giving back to the society. Yeah. Here we are. Here we are.