By: Bob Gravino, District Endowment & Major Gifts Coordinator, Bath Sunrise RC
Kathy and I attended the Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center's Annual Spring Conference on April 11, 2026, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We found it motivating, encouraging and exciting. The Conference was one of the most worthwhile Rotary Foundation events that I have ever experienced.
The candidate for the 2024-2026 Rotary Peace Fellowship that District 7780 interviewed in the Spring of 2024, Hanan Kadi Abafita, a medical doctor from Ethiopia, was strongly endorsed by the District Rotary Peace Center Committee and was selected by The Rotary Foundation as one of twelve Rotary Peace Fellows to attend the program at Duke-UNC Chapel Hill beginning in August 2024. In early May 2026, Hanan gave the commencement talk at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Hanan was number one in the 2024-2026 Class of Rotary Peace Center Fellows, co-president of the Gillings School of Public Health International Association, and was awarded a Masters in Public Health with an Applied Epidemiology Concentration.
District 7780 Rotarians should be proud of the accomplishments of our Peace Center Fellow during her two-year course of study. Hanan has returned to Ethiopia to implement her newly acquired knowledge gained from her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology degree and the key courses related to Peace Building and Conflict Prevention. I am confident that the world will be a better place because of her dedication and commitment to Doing Good in the World.
Bob Gravino
PS: This annual Spring Conference is open to all Rotarians. It is generally held in early April each year. For further information, reach out to Bob Gravino at rcgravino@aol.com or Aileen Dugan, Chair of the District Foundation Committee, at aileen@aileendugan.com.
(Editor’s Note: I was privileged to be part of the team, along with Bob Gravino and PDG Claudia Frost, which interviewed and recommended Dr. Abafita for the 2024-26 Rotary Peace Fellowship. We then again had the pleasure of spending time with her at the District Conference in Kennebunk in May 2025.)