Students Passion For Peace Put to Use Around the World
Several Haverford College
students with a passion for peace will be putting their
principles to use this summer, working in the field in
hot spots around the globe. Sponsored by Haverford's Center
for Peace and Global Citizenship, the funded internships
are designed around the study of reconstruction and reconciliation
as challenges of peace.
Sophomore Celeste Day Moore will spend ten weeks in Phnom
Penh, the capital of Cambodia, a city where an estimated
two-thirds of the population keeps guns in their homes.
Moore will be interning for the Working Group for Weapons
Reduction, helping with an education campaign that discourages
the use of weapons or violence in resolving conflicts.
"The issue of landmines in Cambodia has gotten a
lot of attention, but those mines are mostly in rural
areas," Moore says. "In the cities, where so
many people live in fear, the small arms trade is a more
immediate problem for a lot of people." A native
of Durham, North Carolina, Moore will be helping to develop
a resource center on weapons and planning several community
forums on weapons laws to heighten community awareness.
Additionally, because the Working Group's staff is primarily
Cambodian, Moore's English will be put to use in international
communications and organizations.
Haverford freshman Andrew Peterson is traveling to El
Salvador, intent on helping convince the people of that
war-torn country that education, mediation, and dialogue
can create a sustainable peace. Peterson will spend ten
weeks living and working in San Salvador with Yek Ineme,
a group formed after the end of the war in 1992 to continue
peace-building efforts between the country's diverse populations.
A native of Denver, Peterson will receive training in
mediation and conflict resolution techniques and help
run workshops and seminars for the so-called School of
Peace run by Yek Ineme.
Nineteen-year-old Gwenn Rosenberg of Baltimore will spend
14 weeks in Kibaya, a small town in Tanzania, that is
home to a learning center founded by a Haverford graduate.
The study center is designed to supplement the education
for Massaii and rural youth, many of whom do not receive
enough training in English to pass a test that is mandatory
for high school graduation. A recent changeover that requires
the graduation test be given in English has forced many
students to drop out of school altogether. Rosenberg will
spend part of her day leading an English study group for
Kibayan students. She also plans to organize discussions
on peace and conflict resolution. Although Tanzania has
maintained a fragile peace since its independence in 1961,
the country is home to more than 120 tribal groups, and
recent economic and political changes have heightened
tensions. "In many ways, Tanzania is a great model
for peace, since so many different tribal groups have
lived together without major conflict," Rosenberg
says. "While I hope to learn some of their tactics
for peaceful coexistence, I also hope that discussing
concepts of peace and reconciliation can help ward off
potential conflicts."
For Haverford sophomore Sara Wolf, her work this summer
in Cuba is a continuation of her mission to bring the
people of Havana and the United States closer together.
Over the past four years, Wolf has visited the island
six times and has spent a tremendous amount of time studying
Cuban culture and organizing joint U.S.-Cuba sports and
academic activities. Her efforts culminated in March when
Haverford's baseball team and a group of political science
students traveled to the University of Havana for a weeklong
student sports exchange. A native of Newtown, Pennsylvania,
Wolf hopes to spend this summer expanding on the ties
she has already made and establishing new contacts with
Cuban social leaders and students, to facilitate future
trips to Cuba. It is her hope that this diplomacy through
sports will foster a relationship of learning and understanding
that can lead to larger peacebuilding and conflict resolution
efforts. "We're taking practical and productive measures
to reconstruct a positive relationship with Cuba,"
Wolf says. "I can really see the light at the end
of the tunnel."
When the students return to Haverford in the fall, they
will take part in a semester-long seminar on reconstruction
and reconciliation, and they hope to bring in outside
experts for a symposium on peacebuilding. "A big
part of what the school wants to do is to continue the
experience and bring it back to campus, to share with
other students and raise awareness of world issues,"
Peterson says.
