DeKALB | Sometimes, ordinary people can do the most extraordinary things.

Tuesday night, Stanley Campbell, executive director of Rockford Urban Ministries, will speak in the Holmes Student Center’s Lincoln Room about his experience during his Fellowship of Reconciliation trip to Iran.

During his 12-day trip, Campbell and 23 other delegates were given opportunities to meet and speak with human rights educators, environmentalists, students, women’s groups, veterans and an orphanage.

The trip was not a first for Campbell, who previously has been on missions of peace to Nicaragua, Guatemala, Vietnam, Israel and Bosnia. Campbell was drawn to the peace movement after serving in Vietnam, an experience which continues to inspire him today.

“While I was in Vietnam, I discovered I was a pacifist and that war sucks big time,” Campbell said. “When I was there in 1970-71, it took me four months to realize that I shouldn’t have enlisted in the army.

“I was stationed in Da Nang, Vietnam. There, I learned to hate war because of how it would spill over to the civilians and because I saw the best American trained young men out in the field and these young men were turning into racists. I kept my mouth shut until I got back though. I did my job and tried to stay as safe as possible, but when I came home I began to protest and that sent me on the life I live now. I found that when I helped people it healed the anger in my heart.”

Campbell is now spreading his message of peace throughout the Rockford community and the world. The goal of the Iran trip was not only to promote peace there, but also to encourage peace talks between the U.S. government and Iran.

“We tried to deliver at least a little message that we want our own government to talk to Iran and also find sentiments of peace in Iran, which we found all over the place,” Campbell said. “The Shiite government might be looking for military defense but the people want peace. The vast majority of people were concerned about the direction both the United States and Iran were going.”

While in Iran, the fellowship found that despite tensions with the U.S., they were invited to speak all over, including to Qum, the Vatican of the Shiite world and a place where non-Muslims are not supposed to go.

“We spoke there to Shiite leaders,” Campbell said. “They were less interested in peaceful resolutions and more interested in talking about what it means to be a good Muslim. We were with Dr. Richard Deats, who trained Dr. Martin Luther King in civil disobedience and people there were fascinated by him, to hear him speak. It was amazing. It was just wonderful to see the response of this witness.”

Not only were delegates allowed into Qum, but on their final day they were even able to speak with an Iranian government official for some time.

Although the Iran trip dealt with very big, heated issues, Campbell also spreads a message of universal activism.

“I hope people learn from my speaking that you can get involved in world peace as well as in neighborhood peace and don’t let fear stop you from stepping out and doing something whether it’s in your family or in the world,” he said. “The results are sometimes so surprising and when there is any success at all it’s really fulfilling.”

Rachel Gorr is a Campus Reporter for the Northern Star.