For the next 12 months, Charles has made a commitment to "model and mentor" peace building conflict resolution locally and globally.

It is his pledge to be a peace builder and take action during the Peterborough Peace Builder Campaign. The Peterborough Peace Builder Campaign, coinciding with October's Month Without Violence, calls on residents to make a promise of action to reduce violence and build a better community. The commitment doesn't have to be massive; it could be as simple as mowing the lawn for an elderly neighbour or giving a single mom a break for a few hours.

The Peaceful Communities steering group, composed of various community partners who are leading the campaign, intends to build social capital through the exercise and create an inventory of the positive things happening in the Peterborough area.

Charles made his promise because he says he believes in the campaign.

"I believe in this kind of community development work," says Charles.

"I don't think we'll ever have a violence-free world, but finding ways to reduce violence and re-direct violence is very important."

Charles is the education co-ordinator for the Peterborough AIDS Resource Network. In his work, he facilitates support groups and he plans to model the peace building approach to resolving conflict when dealing with emotions like anger, frustration and confusion. "Having frustration, anger and having feelings that generally lead to confrontation and finding ways to express them more appropriately" will be his goal.

Likewise, that will be his goal at home when he is experiencing difficulty with his children or the children are challenging each other.

Charles volunteers for Jamaica Self-Help, an organization of Canadians working to foster the development of healthy Jamaican communities, according to its website. Charles is involved in a three-year project to reduce violence amongst youth, particularly in the innercity of Kingston, Jamaica.

"I promise to model and mentor peace building conflict resolution, full expression of emotion -- especially the negative and difficult ones, (have) compassion and empathy for my kids, co-workers and colleagues, and give as much as I can to my community and the world."

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