The Seventh Annual Peace Conference, themed “Diversity and Peace: Integrating Inquiry and Action” will be held in Rockwell Hall at Buffalo State College on Thursday, October 23. Members of the community are invited to join guest scholars, community leaders, college faculty, and students to hear the conference’s featured guest speaker, Abraham Awolich, one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” and the co-founder of NESEI, the New Sudan Education Initiative, which will help children in Sudan get an education by building twenty secondary schools.
The Lost Boys of Sudan, were a group of around 27,000 boys who were displaced and orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Awolich was separated from his family and endured a grueling journey through the desert and other trials as he struggled to survive. The first NESEI school opened last May , and more will follow. All and any can attend to watch and listen to the presenters, which will include essays from a competition specifically centered on the Peace Conference, by four finalists selected from around fifty entries.
Awolich will give a presentation at 1:35 PM about his organization, a video of which can be found here:
Here is the agenda, taken from a Buffalo Rising post:
Agenda:
9:15 AM - Dr. Muriel A. Howard, Buffalo State College President
9:25 AM - Lisa Morrison-Puckett, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
11:40 AM - Milton Rogovin, social-documentary photographer, honored
1 PM - Brenda McDuffie, Buffalo Urban League President
2:15 PM - Awadiya Ahmed-Yahia, Darfur native and activist
3:40 PM - Elea Mihou, WNY Peace Center President
3:50 PM - Clifford Cawthon, Students for Peace President
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