7. NABI SAHAK

Sponsor Club: Rotary Club of Great Falls, Virginia, USA, District 7610 

Host Club: Brisbane High Rise Rotary Club, Brisbane, AUS, District 9600 

Nabi Sahak graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University in the United States. Nabi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. Before migrating to the U.S., he lived in Afghanistan for nearly 30 years, and witnessed five regime changes: the Soviet war from 1979 to 1989, the post-communist government from 1989 to 1992, the civil war from 1992 to 1996, the Taliban government from 1996 to 2001, and finally the Karzai government. He speaks four South Asian languages fluently: Pashtu/Pukhtu, Dari, Farsi, and Urdu. From 1997 until 2002, he worked as a BBC reporter. In this capacity he travelled to 27 provinces of Afghanistan (out of 34) when the Taliban ruled the country. He also travelled extensively among numerous refugee camps throughout Pakistan. As a BBC reporter, his primary task was to conduct focus groups, interviews, and surveys to collect and analyse data for the BBC's Afghan Educational Project. Throughout those five years, he learned about the governments, cultures, master narratives, societal norms, philosophical and anthropological makeup of the societies in South Asia, specifically those in Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

As part of his Applied Field Experience from October to December 2015, Nabi travelled to Central Asia to explore whether or not the dispute over the contested border, Durand Line, between Afghanistan and Pakistan could be peacefully resolved. 

After his graduation as a Rotary Peace Fellow with a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Resolution, Nabi intends to work as a practitioner in the field. He will be exploring employment with non-governmental or non-profit organizations that focus on and promote human rights, particularly in the post-conflict environments. 

Nabi’s personal background, extensive professional experience, and deep interest in the field of peace and conflict resolution make him a great practitioner and scholar of peace.