By Wendy Coulson, Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University, Class of 2015
We talked a lot during our first two weeks at the Rotary Peace Center at Chulalongkorn University about connectors and dividers — what brings people or groups together and what drives them apart — in conflict situations.
As soon as our class of Rotary Peace Fellows arrived, we looked for ways to connect with each other. In fact, our tallest classmate found many of us on Facebook and began friendships and organizing workshops even before we arrived. We were so keen to meet each other that we threw open our doors to see who had arrived and threw open our arms to greet those we had only known virtually.
When you look at conflict situations around the world, dividers are typically differences in religion, language, ethnic group identity, or over resources. Our class has all of these as potential dividers, but they are used as connectors here. We connect through talking about sports, food, the arts, and celebrations. We also connect by talking about each other’s culture, families and places we’ve traveled, and things we celebrate. We put business cards on our doors, leave them open, send messages, hang out …read more
Source:: Rotary International Blog
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