Should Joseph Kony be forgiven by Ugandans, and should Osama Bin Laden be forgiven by Americans?
These controversial questions were among those I posed during my keynote address Saturday, Nov. 1 at the symposium “Culture of Forgiveness: Peacebuilding Lessons from Uganda.” The event, held at Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in the Kansas City area, was co-sponsored by the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University.
The forgiveness questions were part of larger discussion
about the media’s role in the reconciliation process. My belief, I told the 80
or so attendees, was that media in Uganda and elsewhere have a responsibility
to give a voice to peacemakers, to lead discussions about difficult issues
(like forgiveness), and to not inflame or exacerbate otherwise volatile
situations. For most of the audience members, this was their first exposure to
the principles of peace journalism, and judging by their questions, they were
intrigued by the concept.
In the afternoon, the symposium featured a number of
informative break-out sessions, including several that presented details about
the exemplary humanitarian medical missions (via the Medical Missions
Foundation) that have been undertaken by nursing students from JCCC and other
area universities.
Three Park University students participated in a breakout
session titled, “Students Making Peace.” Bailey Puckett told the gathering
about her thousands of hours she has spent working with newly arrived refugees
from around the world at Jewish Vocational Services. Doreen Nakagiri, who is
from Kampala originally, gave an informative presentation about several youth
peacebuilding initiatives in Uganda. Sarah Stout talked about how peace
journalism students have contributed to peacebuilding initiatives in Uganda and
Cyprus, where Stout worked with local journalists last March.
After the seminar, an attendee told me, “You are really
lucky to have students like these at Park.” I told him that I couldn’t agree
more.
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