The Peace Maker

Best known for his Academy Award -- winning role as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland,” actor, director and filmmaker Forest Whitaker uses his success and platform to create positive impact and build peace in conflict regions. Whitaker focuses much of his work in Uganda, where he is dedicated to teaching and healing the young victims of Uganda’s civil war. Much of this work is done through Hope North, an accredited school helping to rehabilitate victims of the conflict, founded by our friend and former child soldier Okello Sam. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Whitaker about the incredible work that he is doing during the 2014 Gala, where he was recognized for his work with the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative.

What does Uganda mean to you?

Uganda has a special place in my heart because it’s the first place that I touched down in Africa, which is the land of my ancestry. When I went to Uganda, I had been commissioned to learn what it was like to be a Ugandan, what it was like to be African. I was working on a role for “The Last King of Scotland,” and I was doing a lot of research centered in Uganda. I started to understand the place and to feel it as a part of me, a part of my being. The foods I ate, the places I went, the way I spent my days all were centered around the Ugandan life, and so as a result, part of it became embedded in me as a person.

How has Uganda impacted your work in conflict resolution?

Uganda had the longest-running conflict with Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army. This conflict went on for decades, and so many people lost their lives, were displaced and put in camps there. So many youths were harmed during the process because he was abducting children and making them become soldiers in his army. Many lives were altered, and the future of so many people was impacted. These children, as they were growing up, were the new nation and still oftentimes suffering from some of the post-traumatic stress that this environment gave to them – whether it was abuse, the things they had to do, the atrocities they had to see, the atrocities that were done upon them, or any number of different things that occurred as they tried to survive being enslaved in the Lord’s Resistance Army.

The work that I do in conflict resolution and peace is different for every region I go to. I think I’ve been able to have a really great space in Uganda with Hope North. I was working there for a number of months, and I got a chance to meet with Okello Sam. He asked me if I would come to his orphanage and see what he was trying to do. I decided to go and spend some time there, and eventually, I decided to work with him to build more dormitories, buildings and wells. It’s a relationship that’s lasted more than eight years. Then, about a year and a half ago, I started a program in Uganda with Sam at the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative.

How has Okello Sam inspired you?

Sam is a remarkable individual — he’s full of life; he’s full of love; he exudes both. They come across to anyone in his presence. I think he took a tragedy and turned it into something that allowed him to give back. He started Hope North with a mission to build the conditions for peace by educating and empowering youth. I was fortunate to get a chance to work with him and help him realize some of this mission as our relationship evolved.

Sam was able to reconcile with the things that happened to him because he was able to transform those pains and problems into his expression of love. I think love is the key to being able to heal. People go through many things to move beyond the pain or trauma from their past. At the core of it is a sense of self, which Sam instills in these youths - it’s a sense of knowing that they belong that they’re important.

What is the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative?

 The Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative is an initiative that brings together peace builders and community builders in areas of conflict around the world. This includes work centers to provide youth affected by the conflict with conflict transformation training, communication skill development and tools like computer technology training. A very large part is life coaching, life training, meditation and trauma release. From there, these youths make their own plans of action to effect change in their communities. We help them to succeed in bringing their plans to life and bringing peace to their environments.

Do you see a peaceful future?

I believe that humanity is going through evolutionary change. I think that we are becoming in some ways more compassionate. You can see it in this country. You see a lot of people reaching out and trying to have their voices heard, looking for ways that they can affect their fellow man. I think that movement is going to continue as we recognize how deeply connected we are and how one thing affects the other and the butterfly effect, or ripple effect, that our actions have on the planet.