More than friends, Rotary Peace Fellows are a family

By Rotary International

Rotary Peace Fellows at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Rotary Peace Fellow Class 22 at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

By Hermanto Hasan, A Rotary Peace Fellow at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

When I found out I was accepted for the Rotary Peace Fellowship at the prestigious Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, I was filled with happiness and also surprise. I had applied for several fellowships in the past, but all required a university degree, which I do not have.

I had started working while I was still a high school student as a humanitarian worker to help victims of conflict in my homeland of Aceh, and gave up the opportunity to go to university because I wanted to help my people in the middle of an escalating war. The fact that the Rotary Peace Fellowship valued my experience working in conflict over a formal university degree was unexpected to me, and I am extremely grateful and exited for this opportunity.

Unlike many people who choose to work in conflict-affected societies professionally, I grew up in the midst of one, in a province that faced an armed separatist conflict for 30 years. My hometown of Idi, in East Aceh, was one of the areas where the conflict was most intense. By the time …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

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