Help Our Peace Fellows to Serve and Learn!

This report is going to 323 friends who have supported our fellowship program, Fellows for Peace, through GlobalGiving. Together, you have donated $99,289 since 2015 (when we launched this appeal) and enabled us to recruit 98 graduates and undergraduates. Of these, sixty-six have served abroad. Thank you!

This past summer we deployed seven more committed Fellows to Vietnam, Nepal, Uganda and Kenya. An eighth Fellow, Maddie, managed our social media from the UK and will herself shortly be heading to Uganda for several weeks to work on WASH.

Instead of describing their project achievements, as we nornally do at this time of the year, we want to let six of our 2025 Fellows speak for themselves through their blogs. A seventh Fellow, Alexis, was forced to cut her fellowship in Nepal short and return home to deal with a family emergency.

This report will cover the same ground as a recent news bulletin, and we apologize for any cross-posting. You can find more information about past Fellows from our annual reports.

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Being forced to write a blog a week might seem a bit like bootcamp, but blogs provide Fellows with a wonderful record of their fellowships. Equally important, they offer an outlet for self-expression that can be quite therapeutic!

We saw this from our 2025 Fellow in Uganda, Aaron who served in the US military before enrolling for a Masters at Texas A&M University. Aaron found the slow pace of work and relaxed decision-making in Uganda to be a far cry from his military service - and used his blogs to vent! But his writing is also full of affection and admiration for his hosts.

The same can be said of Angie, a student of conflict resolution at Georgetown University, who worked with families in Vietnam that have been poisoned by Agent Orange. Angie visited eight families and found it emotionally wrenching. Writing about it helped.

Another 2025 Fellow, Julia, first went to Kenya for us in 2022 while studying at George Washington University and was snapped up by USAID after graduating. The collapse of USAID left Julia demoralized and depressed, but that changed after she spent six weeks helping Shield of Faith compost food waste in the Kibera settlement. Julia's second fellowship has given her a new lease on life – as you can tell from her sparkling blogs!

Three of our Fellows in Nepal simply like writing for its own sake.

Shuyuan, a Chinese national who is studying for a PhD in the Netherlands, gave us a brilliant portrait of the legal battles for transitional justice in Nepal, interspersed with poignant profiles of conflict survivors. Laila (Wesleyan University) described a community's collective trauma, 19 years after the war ended. Emma (Wellesley College) blogged about a community's response to trauma that could create a blue-print for others across Nepal.

All of this and more has found expression through blogs this summer. We hope you enjoy the following extracts and encourage you to dig deeper and leave a comment!

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Building transitional justice with survivors in Nepal (top photo)

Peace Fellows Laila, Shuyuan and Emma helped their hosts Niraj and Ram to launch Survivors Record, a newsletter about transitional justice in Nepal. The team is also establishing a new academic center for visiting international students, supporting an embroidery project by family members of the disappeared, and preparing recommendations on reparations for the UN.

Yummee! Julia meets the composting heroes of Kibera (photo 2)

Red Wriggler worms turn organic waste into compost and can be voracious eaters, as Julia found during a visit to Irene's shamba in Nairobi. Julia writes: "The worms seemed to especially enjoy avocado in Irene’s bin!" READ MORE

Laila finds a traumatized community in Nepal (photo 3)

During a team visit to Thakurbaba in Bardiya, Laila offered this heart-felt profile of Laxmi and Sarita, who lost family members and now offer counselling to other survivors: "Sarita tilts her head towards me, purses her lips. This bird of a woman. She hasn’t mentioned her own pain once." READ MORE

Angie raises funds for Agent Orange caregivers in Vietnam (photo 4)

Angie helped to raise almost $2,000 for the Tu and Cu families on GlobalGiving in July: "Tu ình Cu is partially blind, has limited mobility in his left arm, spinal problems, and a speech impairment. His son is severely underdeveloped, weighing only 28 kilograms at fourteen." READ MORE

Shuyuan draws strength from survivors in Nepal (photo 5)

Shuyuan profiled survivors and cut through the legal complexities of transitional justice in 12 beautifully written blogs. In the process she found peace of mind: "Six weeks softened me. I rediscovered patience, empathy, and even a sense of humor about life’s unpredictability. That is Nepal’s gift to me." READ MORE

Aaron launches tailoring in Uganda and reflects on his own military service (photo 6)

Aaron helped Women in Action for Women (WAW) start a tailoring business with funds raised through GlobalGiving. The nine WAW members all survived kidnapping and sexual slavery and their bravery left a deep impression on Aaron: "When they said 'thank you' I felt a sense of pride in my work that I hadn’t felt during my years of service." READ MORE

Emma journeys to the Pond of Hope and celebrates the power of memory in Nepal (photo 7)

Emma painted a rich portrait of the Kumbhar Adda Memorial Park in Bardiya District. The journey began at a wall that carries the belongings of 68 Nepalis who disappeared (photo) and ended at the Pond of Hope: "As we looked out over the water, we were overwhelmed by the grief, love, long struggle for truth and justice, and eventual hope that it represents." READ MORE

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Thank you again for supporting international service during these difficult times!

In gratitude

Iain and the AP team.