Father Xavier Fagba

Father Xavier Fagba

“We cannot be silent and cower in the face of injustice, but must have courage. To be a Christian is not just about being baptized, and true Christians live a life of love and reconciliation, not bloodshed.”

Father Xavier-Arnauld Fagba is a notable example of a leader who lives out love and forgiveness in the face of trials. As the leader of a Catholic congregation in the Central African Republic town of Boali, Father Fagba has had plenty of opportunities to decide whether to encourage peace or revenge.

Essay Competition Winners

Essay Competition Winners

The 2014 Love and Forgiveness in Governance essay competition has come to a close. A number of essays were received from students, scholars and practitioners on the topic “Can leaders change the world by promoting love and forgiveness”. The purpose of this essay...
Oscar Lopez Rivera

Oscar Lopez Rivera

Oscar Lopez Rivera is a Puerto Rican independence activist, serving prison time since 1981. Rivera was born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico on January 6, 1943, which is a holiday in Puerto Rico, but he wasn’t registered until January 8th, 1943. “I was five years old when I started school. By the time I started school my sister Clary had taught me how to write my name and the numbers from one to ten. She had also forced me to learn to write with my right hand although I was left handed. I was the youngest and the smartest kid when I started school but I had the habit of sneaking out of the classroom to go with my second cousin to the river. That’s how I learned to swim when I was five. I always stayed ahead of my classmates because my sister treated me as her student. In school I was full of mischief, fights, and pranks. During all the years I was in school in Puerto Rico I never stopped being me—an honor student with a bad boy attitude.”

Jaber Wishah

Jaber Wishah

Jaber is a Palestinian refugee, in the Gaza Strip and one of the most truly remarkable people I have ever encountered.  I first got to know him in 2004 when I moved to Gaza. His story, in many ways, is a typical Palestinian one.  His mother and father were refugees from Palestine, fleeing in the 1948 war.  Jaber was educated in the refugee camps, after his graduation, he worked as a physics teacher of physics teacher in Cairo.  He later became active in leftist political struggles in both Palestine and Egypt.