WEBVTT

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My name is Chaplain Fareed Awad and I

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am currently serving as the state

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chaplain for the North Carolina Army

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National Guard . We are here to partner

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with Zambia as we continue the African

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community outreach and development . We

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are here to develop relationships with

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our partners from other African

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countries . Chaplaincy is so important

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because we really do believe that a

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strong spiritual being is a strong

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soldier and we are force multipliers ,

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but we are also serving to be spiritual

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healers for our soldiers . As you know ,

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we have been through 22 years of war

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now and the spirit of our soldiers need

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to be healed from all that trauma and

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combat experience . So we believe that

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chaplaincy is so important because a

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strong spiritual soldier is a strong

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soldier that could continue fighting

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collaboration between the active duty

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component , the National Guard and the

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Reserves . And having people from the

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Navy , the Air Force , the Army and

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other component is really helpful

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because we get to collaborate with each

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other and to pollinate with the ideas

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that we share across different branches ,

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everyone has their own experience . And

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when we come together , the collective

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experience of each of us is much better

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than the single experience of the one .

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So we really get to learn from each

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other and lessons learned are always

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helpful so we could continue to share

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and develop how to develop and provide

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counseling and pastoral care to our

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soldiers . So the National Guard is

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very unique because we have soldier

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citizens and our citizens continue to

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serve in their communities , have

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civilian jobs and professions while

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coming into the Guard one week in a

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month and at least two weeks a year ,

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that's the minimum that they

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participate in their military duties .

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But they have a lot more to contribute

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than that . But because of their

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citizen soldier status , they get to

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serve their state while continuing to

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be civilians . The state partnership

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program is also very unique because we

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have longevity with our partner nations .

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For example , we have had over three

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decades of partnership with Botswana

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and now we are picking up the

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partnership with Zambia and Malawi . We

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are really excited about the ribbon

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cutting that is coming up in a few

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weeks as we begin that relationship and

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look forward to learning from each

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other and sharing information across

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the globe so that we could be better

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chaplains and serve our soldiers better .