It was very exciting to me to offer a course in Social Psychology to refugees as a founding program for RESPECT University. We were fortunate to find an excellent textbook available free on the internet.

The course has two parts. The students are reading the textbook two chapters at a time and responding to thought provoking questions related to the readings. At the same time, the students are responding to questions by applying social psychological concepts to their own lives. The biggest problem has been the time delay. Everything takes place by mail. Tom Fred Obonyo has been most helpful and supportive by being the contact and activist for the course. A few months ago, I received eight responses to an introductory assignment. Tom Fred is currently working to facilitate responses to this round of correspondence. My understanding is that the military situation in Uganda may have caused Tom Fred and the students some additional hardship.

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this pioneering correspondence university program. If all goes well, RESPECT could establish a methodology and model for other refugee programs.

My selection to the 1st African-Canadian Youth Symposium for Leadership and Development has been like facing history to me. I was there in Nova Scotia to share my inspirational story of working with the young victims of war in my country Sierra Leone and to raise global awareness of the role of diamonds in fanning the flames of Sierra Leone's largely brutal decade long civil war. I was asked to co-facilitate several conflict resolution and peace building workshops at the symposium in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where approximately 100 young activists and youth leaders gathered at this valuable symposium to share ideas with one another in true collaborative spirit. The verve that we possessed throughout the symposium was reflected in our shared commitment of finding effective youth-friendly strategies to tackle the issues youth are facing throughout the world - issues such as HIV/AIDS, the environment, peacebuilding and economic development. <<more>>