Youths for peace; together making it happen is the theme for the second Eastern African Youth Conference that opened on 8 February in Kampala, Uganda, with Hon Dan Kidega, a Member of Parliament for the East African Community and a member of Initiatives of Change (IofC) Uganda, as the guest of honour. The conference, which will run for the next five days, consists of over 60 delegates from Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia, as well as friends of good will from Cameroon and USA.
The chairman of MRA Uganda, Mr James Napokoli, welcomed the delegates and wished every one present a transforming and life changing moment in this journey of working to make peace prevail.
Addressing common challenges that face the Eastern African bloc, Hon Kidega, taking great pride in being part of the Initiatives of Change network, shared his experience of how IofC ideas and principles has significantly impacted his life since his teenage life, and continues to impact it still. ‘ I made a commitment after meeting the ideas of Moral Re-Armament (now renamed Initiatives of Change) and that is the reason you will never hear anyone say that I have stolen anything from the public’. He also didn’t fail to emphasise the importance of moments of silence and inner listening. ‘Listen to yourself and share with your friend. There is peace in listening to ourselves.’
Hon Dan pointed out greed as the key cause for lack of peace, ‘It is greed that has caused absence of peace. To bring peace, one of the things we have to do is stop being greedy.’ He encouraged everyone to live a life bigger than themselves in a bid to search for peace. ‘Don’t live for yourself only, live for others as well and there shall be peace’, he said.
As a leader in East Africa Community, Hon Dan has a great concern for what future the region holds when economic and political challenges seem to divide the people on cultural and ethnic lines. ‘We must embrace our cultures and be ready to accommodate each other. Our religious and ethnic differences do not mean division to us but requires a great deal of thought on how we can have unity of purpose. While we talk about peace and passionately long for it, we must do it with fear of God.' Hon Kidege continued and asked the young people of the Eastern Africa region to stand for what will make a fundamental change in the future of our countries and what will improve livelihoods.
Mike Muikia