“It is a way I am able to serve my community while being abroad,” Justin Bibee, a former Cranston resident currently serving in the Peace Corps, said in an email. “I want to inspire my fellow Rhode Islanders in a meaningful way. When we expose our work – and our thinking – we learn together, we enrich and inspire others, and that is my hope for the people of Rhode Island.”

A few months ago Bibee was making headlines and now he is creating waves of reform throughout not only Morocco but in Pakistan and in the United States.

Bibee, who graduated from Cranston High School East, joined the Peace Corps in 2014 and traveled to Morocco. He is currently living in Morocco working as a youth development volunteer.

Bibee received a citation from Cranston Mayor Allan Fung for “outstanding citizenship” and has been nominated for the “Leader of the Year Award” from Morocco’s most prestigious university, Al Akhawayn University.

Bibee is the first non-Moroccan nominee in the history of the award for his various efforts to the improvement of the country. He has built libraries there, started the People’s Advocate Council, which works through community development projects to raise awareness for human rights and continued efforts to reducing poverty, homelessness and promoting education.

Because the award is coming from the same community Bibee has worked so hard to serve, he said the nomination was that much more meaningful.

A school, the Sabawoon Education Academy in Pakistan, which Bibee helped to build, also just opened in early April. He and his team took only 11 months to construct the school and now 13 students are enrolled “with more enrolling every week.”

The school is located in the “birthplace of the Taliban,” and one of the focuses of the school’s curriculum is religious harmony

“It is our hope that will prepare a generation that believes in religious harmony, peace and equality,” Bibee wrote. “The opening of the school is paramount in contributing toward greater peace both domestically and internationally.”

Bibee continues to work through the Peace Corps and on his own to improve the rights of citizens in those area he works and across the globe.

Since the opening of the school and the nomination, Bibee has been working on several projects, the first to establish the 1st Annual Moroccan-American Bilateral Forum on Peace and Development. The forum should act as a platform for both parties to discuss community initiatives to foster peace and development.

Secondly, Bibee is looking to establish Biennial Development Goals, as a “pledge of all the communities in the Gharb region of Morocco to fight the major manifestations of inadequate education, extreme poverty, and human rights violations.”

Some of the goals include combating HIV/AIDS, promoting female education and empowerment, and advocating for animal rights.

Bibee said that more often than not, we have the power, ability and “know-how” to address many of the concerns within a particular community, but with a “lack of leadership” these concerns can never be solved.

“I have been told by Moroccans – and Americans – that it is not my place to argue the case for human rights in Morocco,” Bibee said, “I wholeheartedly disagree. It is absolutely my place and my responsibility. We are all responsible for advocating human rights to ensure their universal recognition.”

In the same manner, Bibee is working on “reforming the Peace Corps Act” by increasing the focus on human rights by creating a Human Rights Committee within the Peace Corps looking at rights and the lack thereof in some countries is the biggest obstacle to peace.

Bibee has also started and has been running the Global Human Rights Project, which has 190 members in 70 countries.

The project will establish a network of regional leaders to establish “global solidarity” by collaborating on global awareness and project initiatives concerning human rights.

Bibee explained that the greatest motivating factor for him is seeing those he helps smile.

Bibee said, “My efforts may not change the whole world, but it can change their world.”