建立烏干達持續性的和平

 Setting the pace for sustainable peace in Uganda

Dan Nixon撰

By Dan Nixon

扶輪國際新聞2010/1/6

Rotary International News -- 6 January 2010

照片：扶輪社員及前和平獎學生Robert Opira(左起第二)參加了2009年的Gulu Walk，這是特別為關注北烏干達受到戰爭侵襲的孩童的困境，建立和平的活動。 Robert Opira攝影 Rotarian and former peace fellow Robert Opira (second from left) takes part in the Gulu Walk 2009, a peace-building campaign focusing on the plight of war-affected children in northern Uganda. Photo courtesy of Robert Opira

烏干達的Robert Opira是低調保留的專家，他稱他大學畢業的第一份工作是「非常有挑戰性的工作。」身為心理學家及世界展望會的計畫管理者，他在2002-2005年間協助超過12000名北烏干達的前童兵恢復與重建。

Robert Opira of Uganda is a master of understatement when he calls his first job out of college "very challenging work." As a psychological counselor and project manager for World Vision, he helped rehabilitate and resettle more than 12,000 former child soldiers in northern Uganda from 2002 to 2005.

「聖主反抗軍誘拐並招募了約36000名孩童，最小的只有七歲，」Opira說，他是Gulu扶輪社員，也是前和平獎學生。「這份工作就是激勵我去申請扶輪和平獎學金的動力。我想也許我能做某些事來幫助阻止戰爭的發生，而不是收拾戰爭的後果。」

"The Lord's Resistance Army had abducted and recruited an estimated 36,000 children, the youngest being seven years old," says Opira, a member of the Rotary Club of Gulu and former Rotary Peace Fellow. "It was this kind of work that motivated me to apply for the Rotary Peace Fellowship. I thought maybe I would do something to help prevent war, rather than addressing the consequences."

當Opira在2005-07年在澳洲昆士蘭大學擔任和平獎學生時，他就有了在家鄉成立衝突解決中心的想法。「我了解到開始一個中心能幫助我更能應用和平獎學金學到的知識及技術，」他說。

While a 2005-07 peace fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia, Opira got the idea for creating a conflict resolution center in his homeland. "I realized that starting the center would enable me to better utilize the knowledge and skills acquired from the fellowship," he says.

Opira與另一個烏干達的和平獎學生Godfrey Mukalazi (2004-06)在昆士蘭扶輪中心分享他們的願景。就在他們畢業的同時，這對前受獎人建立了the Great Lakes Center，以解決在烏干達Gulu的衝突。GLACCR是一個非政府組織，在大湖地區的五個國家處理衝突及安全挑戰，這個區域從1990年代中期至今，在剛果、盧安達及烏干達民主政府的衝突中已經超過500萬人死亡。

Opira shared his vision with another Ugandan peace fellow (2004-06) at the Queensland Rotary Center, Godfrey Mukalazi. Following their graduation, the pair founded the Great Lakes Center for Conflict Resolution in Gulu, Uganda. GLACCR is a nongovernmental organization working to address conflict and security challenges in the five-country Great Lakes region, where more than five million people have died since the mid-1990s in conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda alone.

與26個非政府機構及地區政府領袖合作，GLACCR正在北烏干達將敏感衝突訓練建立為發展計畫。Opira說這個計畫，由美國國際開發援助署提供的10萬元美金成立，將藉由專注於根本問題及衝突後果，協助保留區域性的社區和平。

Working with 26 NGOs and district government leaders, GLACCR is building conflict sensitivity training into development projects in northern Uganda. Opira says the effort, funded by a US$100,000 grant from USAID, will help preserve peace in area communities by focusing on the root causes and consequences of conflict.

GLACCR也提供和平建立專家及衝突解決給聯合國難民事務高級專員公署、世界展望會、烏干達自救會及其他在烏干達活躍的非政府組織。除此之外，他正在設計一個衝突初期警告系統，將地區性的網路連結到世界資料技術，以幫助預防衝突。

GLACCR also provides expertise in peace-building and conflict resolution to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, World Vision, Self-Help Uganda, and other NGOs active in Uganda. In addition, it is designing a conflict early warning system that will link global information technologies with local social networks to help prevent conflict.

Opira也擔任聖彼得中學的理事，他在2008年在澳洲、日本以及美國的扶輪社員支持下創立了這所學校，主要設計以服務因為家庭受到衝突及愛滋病侵襲的孩童，這個學校已經建立了托兒所，每年以增加一年級為目標。

Opira is also director of St. Peter’s Junior School, which he founded in 2008 with the support of Rotarians in Australia, Japan, and the United States. Designed to serve mainly children of families affected by conflict and HIV/AIDS, the school has established a nursery and aims to add one grade each year.

Opirag說，「全世界扶輪支持」的世界和平獎學金讓他同年加入了扶輪社。「我要持續在扶輪這個大家庭裡。因為我了解到透過這個偉大的家庭，我更能夠服務好我的社區。」

Opira says that "the support from Rotarians throughout the world" for his peace fellowship led him to join Rotary that same year. "I wanted to remain in the Rotary family. I realized that through this great family I could better serve my community."