Moving from spots of unrest, TCC student teaches peace

 Ahmad Bah grew up with war.

One of six children, he was born in 1984 and raised in Saudi Arabia as the first Persian Gulf War raged.

At 14, Bah had another first-hand look at hostilities when his family moved to Sierra Leone, West Africa, during its civil war in 1996.

The lessons Bah learned abroad served the now 23-year-old well during his four years at Tidewater Community College's Virginia Beach campus. He graduates from the school during ceremonies Friday.

Bah said the unrest he lived through in his early years helped make him a more politically aware student.

Recently, he started the school's first chapter of Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, or STAND, a national group focused on fighting genocide.

Last October, he also organized the school's first demonstration, a "Die In" to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur. More than 50 students took part in the demonstration, which required participants to either wear blindfolds, representing ignorance or lie on the ground, symbolizing the victims of the ongoing extermination of people.

"Students have no problem following him," said Susan M. Fincke, an adjunct adviser to STAND. "If you walk across the campus with him, he speaks with everyone and everyone speaks with him."

Often, he speaks with the school's international students in their native tongue. Bah is fluent in five languages - English, French, Arabic, Fulah, which is his tribal language, and Krio, which is mainly spoken in Sierra Leone.

"He makes it a point to understand where everyone is coming from," said student Jessica Watson. She has known Bah for the past two years, having served on student government with him and as secretary of STAND.

"He's seen what happens when people have differences, so he's the first person to step in when people in our group have conflict," she said. "You can tell that's just what makes up his core."

Watson also participated in the "Die In," which she described as an empowering experience that taught her students can have a voice.

"He just really connected with a lot of students on campus," Watson said. "He was able to inform people about the issue and got the campus talking about it."

Organizing the protest to get everyone involved, Bah said, took about a week.

"It was nice to hear students ask, 'What can I do?'" he said. "Many people want to be active, and if we provide them the opportunity, I believe they will definitely take action."

Bah said he feels so strongly he hopes to make conflict resolution his life's work. After graduating from TCC, with a degree in Liberal Arts, he plans to study international relations at the College of William and Mary.

He wants to work possibly as an international diplomat, Bah said, a decision he made based on the clashes he witnessed growing up.

"It made me question why these things happen and why we as human beings don't interfere and stop it. We have that ability," Bah said. "If I can solve issues with my friends, why can't others solve issues among themselves?"

Bah has wrestled with that since he and his brother were forced to leave their family in Sierra Leone and move to the U.S. eight years ago. When the threat of rebel soldiers either killing or recruiting Bah and his older brother, Sulaiman, became imminent, their parents packed the two off to live with relatives.

Since then, Bah has not returned home to visit his family. After graduating from Tallwood High School, he and his brother worked part-time jobs and put themselves through community college. Sulaiman went on to earn a degree in international relations from William and Mary.

Bah will graduate from TCC with a 3.5 grade point average but said it wasn't easy studying and working.

Fincke said she expected no less of the hardworking student, whom she metlast summer, after he caught sight of a Darfur poster on her office door. In his typical easy-going manner, he walked over, introduced himself and spent the next several minutes talking politics with Fincke.

"He understands geopolitics so well," she said. "My first impression was that he is probably wise beyond his years, and I'd say that's probably because of his experiences."

When pressed, Bah shares from the few memories he said he holds from early childhood. Like the time in Saudi Arabia when his father bought a gas mask because he feared Iraq would deploy chemical weapons.

"Ahmad knows what the world is about - all the bad things - and he still manages to be a positive force," Fincke said.

"I think he has an understanding of family, of sacrifice and I think because of the sacrifices his family made for him, he feels he has an obligation to make their sacrifices reap rewards."

Rita Frankenberry, 222-5102, rita.frankenberry@pilotonline.com.