One of the great things about UPEACE… you can go almost anywhere in the world and not be a stranger! I got to connect with two very dear friends who are here in Addis - Golda and Tigist!
Golda's now working with the UPEACE Africa programme, managing a university partnership program, which brings Masters students from partner universities in Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, and a couple others I think. They have a 2.5 month training program in Addis (including English for academic writing, curriculum development), and then go to UPEACE in Costa Rica for one year to study in whichever area they are doing their master’s in – peace education, gender, international law, media, etc… and they create university-level curricula as a thesis equivalent, which they then teach when they return to their home universities in the Great Lakes region. Essentially what Tigist did… what an exciting, practical, valuable program! And Golda, being African from Cameroon, having taught English as a second language for 3 years, being a Peace Education graduate, and having worked with UPEACE for the last 3 years… is the perfect fit for the job. I love it! And she’s planning for a Peace Education leadership training conference here in Addis for local teachers later this year… wheels spinning for how I might get on board with a poverty & development focus…!
And, Tigist, who, since graduating from UPEACE in Gender and Peacebuilding, has been teaching at the Addis Ababa University for courses on gender and on peace education, and also working with a women’s rights and advocacy NGO (with a pre-UPEACE background in law). Now she’s started her PhD, with a focus on forgiveness in Ethiopia after a history of cruel regimes… having done my thesis on the post-conflict reconciliation & peacebuilding in Sierra Leone, it was really interesting to hear about her research.
UPEACE reunions are always inspiring and exciting finding out what each other are up to!
(For UPEACE'rs following my blog, I haven’t had a chance to meet Myriam yet..but hopefully we’ll get to connect somehow before I head home!)
xoxo
Rainbow
ps My next post is about HOPE programs... that IS why I'm here!
That's awesome, Rainbow, that you've got contacts with people around the world! You're such a global woman! Hope the rest of your trip goes well!
ReplyDeleteSuper jealous! Give them hugs! (From me!)
ReplyDeleteGreat to be following along in your adventures!
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