Costa Rica Allure

Sea Foam: Costa Rica university teaches students peaceful coexistence
David Lauderdale
dlauderdale@islandpacket.com
islandpacket.com/goincoastal
843-706-8115
Published Monday, May 25, 2009
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Thanks to June Cunningham of Hilton Head Island for sharing the story about her daughter's unusual graduate study in Costa Rica.

Catherine Wilson, daughter of June and the late Walt Wilson, grew up on Hilton Head Island attending Sea Pines Montessori school and graduating from Hilton Head Island High School. She was a Hilton Head Rotary international youth scholar in Bordeaux, France, her junior year and a Heritage Classic Foundation Scholar in 1996.

She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a NROTC scholarship. Upon graduation she was commissioned and served five years as a surface warfare officer and in the Navy's nuclear propulsion program. She was a lieutenant and Reactor Electrical Division officer on the USS Ronald Reagan.

After completing her service in the Navy, Catherine has traveled extensively; taught English as a second language in South Korea; lived, studied and worked in Cartagena, Colombia; and worked and received a graduate certificate from Florida International University in Miami.

June writes:

I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica visiting my daughter Catherine Wilson, and I wanted to share an experience that had quite an impact on me.

Costa Rica seems to be an alluring destination for many Americans these days, and I do not need to expound on the natural beauty and tranquility of this Central American country. Rather, I would like to shed some awareness on the school in which Catherine has chosen to pursue a master's degree in natural resources, environmental security and peace.

I was totally unaware of the existence of "The University for Peace" (La Universidad para la Paz) until Catherine brought it to my attention and told me she had applied there.

The university is authorized to offer academic degrees in the field of peace and conflict studies. Although the university system extends throughout 10 countries in North America, South America, Asia and Africa, "UPeace" has headquarters in Costa Rica, a country distinguished by a long tradition of democracy, the abolition of the army since 1948 and a strong interest in environmental conservation.

The school offers 11 master's programs ranging from international law and human rights to natural resources and sustainable development. The campus is situated in the mountains southwest of San Jose, and there are approximately 170 students from more than 60 countries in the world.

With the open air architecture of the school, students are able to study outdoors while enjoying the view of the Costa Rican Central Valley.

The university was established in Costa Rica in 1980 as a Treaty Organization by the United Nations General Assembly "to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence." What a wonderful mission statement in light of the complexities and challenges of our world as we know it today.

One of my first thoughts was to wish that every young adult could experience the connection and the feeling of peace I witnessed among the student body. As Catherine introduced me to one friend from Iraq, who stood next to a friend from Jordan, Egypt, Uganda, Kashmir, Korea, Cameroon, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Brazil, Darfur, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka, Iceland -- it went on and on -- I couldn't help but think how amazing it was to see the diversity and camaraderie among these young men and women.

Before the school closed for spring break, we were lucky to hear a lecture given by one of Catherine's professors and also attend a performance given by 10 students in the Human Rights and Peace program. The program was entitled "A Monologue, A Memory, A Rant and A Prayer." It addressed the abuse of women around the world and I found it most interesting in that some of the male students participated in the delivery of the monologues.

Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, has a strong interest in the university and recently visited with the students. President Arias was a recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in many Central American countries.

Statues of various world leaders who have promoted peace, including Ghandi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Leo Tolstoy and Yitzhak Rabin, dot the campus grounds and a sign above a flourishing tree says "planted by Secretary-General Kofi Annan." Another sign above a Tree for Peace says: "In commemoration of the Rwandan Genocide -- We Will Never Forget."

The first student Catherine introduced me to was Blanesta. Her parents are Afghans, and she was born on a plane en route to Switzerland. Her family was fleeing Afghanistan during the war in hopes they could stay in Switzerland if she were born there. Because nature took its course and she was born mid-air, when the plane landed they had to be sent back to their homeland. They eventually fled to Pakistan, then to India and finally to Canada.

Another young man, Francis Wani from Sudan, had never seen a computer and was turning in handwritten papers. Since this is unacceptable at a graduate level, he now has the challenge of not only the rigors of the course material but how to use what we consider a staple in all of our homes.

Those are just two of the stories of the many backgrounds of this diverse student body. Perhaps the one thing that really stood out for me during this brief visit to the university was the multicultural approach to studying the challenges of world peace and our environment.

All of the students at UPeace have one thing in common and that is to improve and give back to the world in which they have been born in a positive and productive manner. What a refreshing concept.

I am in hopes that by writing this article, it may touch someone's child or grandchild who possesses the same hopes and dreams as the student body at the University for Peace.

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