Firstly, I am indeed humble by the desire and privilege to establish the Institute of Truth to free people. Truth is one of the highest virtues to me and has led to the freedom of millions of people over the centuries. I come at a time in history when we are passing through a challenging threshold into the 21st century and it is important to hold unto truth to guide our footsteps and faith to keep us focused.
My goal in life has always been to educate, inspire and empower people to become responsible citizens in the world. We cannot develop people and our communities if they are not educated with the wealth of positive ideas that abound in the universe. I believe in nurturing sound leadership skills into the younger generation by precepts and examples. In that way, set them on the path to becoming responsible citizens.
Secondly we need to be educated about the virtue of truth because it has time and again proven to be right. I want to pursue a degree in Comparative and International Development Education because I value truth as one of the main factors to identify and define international problems at a comparative level, which affect the development of societies and communities. If we fail to determine the truth in context, the semantics we employ will alter the desired outcome.
The civil wars and genocides in Africa speak volume about what happens when people distort truth. I will use my time and energy in this class through empirical evidence to show how truth can become a catalyst for international development and peace. I will also have to acknowledge that truth, which I consider a virtue is controversial. Many a times, people have settled on half-truths, while others on multiple and relative truths. Yet, this has left many others, mostly blind followers confused, brainwashed and betrayed by corrupt leadership.
The outcome is a world, which appears so beautiful but also plagued by human-made problems such as refugee camps caused by abuse of power; civil wars, genocides and ethnic cleansing. The fact is, these issues could be prevented if people define truth, as it ought to be. I will use the continent of Africa as my case study to point out how multiple and relative truth is a complete distortion. I want to nail down the root cause of these problems so that we could jump-start a new conversation on how to solve these problems because they impede international development and peace. My idea about solving is through early intervention and prevention.
Thirdly, I will continue to focus on the US –Africa relationship in the 21st century for a more peaceful co-existence and mutual respect. This is one of the areas where a cross-cultural dialogue is obvious in the light of comparative and international development education. We have to compare and contrast systems and processes to figure out why others are able to achieve far better results than others. My commitment to international development education stems from my sense of diversity and inter-cultural engagements with my fellow human beings.
I see a world and society, which is increasing becoming a global village whereby we must co-exist peacefully under just principles of human dignity. In my research, I will draw from “The Civil Rights Movement” to show how it has educated and transformed the United States of America and black Africans. So, how come they are still blaming someone else for our plight?
Fourthly, I will use the force of truth to argue that brain drain does not exist and that African intellectuals should quit from shifting the blame. I have been deeply concerned by the tactics employed by some African leaders in order to escape from taking responsibility for their failed leaderships. How can we have debt relief when the elite in Africa swim in affluence as a result of ill-gotten wealth? They have been part of the problem for as long as dictatorship has been around? It is true that throughout the world education is key to human civilization as well as a tool for pursuing liberty and justice.
To me, education of the head and heart are a complimentary requirement to equip leaders and responsible citizenry. In my personal journey and struggles to change myself so that I could become a better human being, I realized that I share this universe with others. Therefore, my experience of injustice and dictatorship in Africa has now transformed me into a moral agent for change. Yes, I believe that we will achieve our dream for a more just, stable and peaceful world if we speak the truth and concomitantly engage one another under the terms of Comparative and International Development Education.
Humbly submitted: Jonathan F Awasom
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