Today, I had a meeting with Joshua Oyergiu, our peace partner in Uganda. We are planning how to expand our peace program in 2025. When Joshua started sharing from his heart how relevant our peace curriculum is to his students, and how he wished everyone, young and old alike, had the opportunity to learn how to nurture more peaceful relationships, I asked him to please share his message with you....
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Why ever war? That's a question Larry Gibbs has been asking himself ever since he saw this military cemetery in Sainte Avold, France, when he was eleven years old. Larry shares, "This is one of our family photos of Sainte Avold Cemetery in France. I was not quite 12 years old when we visited it in 1961.... I was so struck by the image, and the immense tragedy that it represented, that I wrote the...
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It's a somber day - April 7, 2024. It's the 30th anniversary of the day when all hell broke loose against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Within 100 days, over one million Tutsis, and their Hutu allies, were dead. Killed. In Rwanda. Please take a moment to remember them with me now.
I am marking this anniversary in Uganda. Next week I will be in Rwanda, visiting memorial sites and learning about the long,...
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The hardest thing I have seen yet in Kampala are the people subsisting off the Kiteezi Landfill. 1.2 tonnes of garbage are dumped here every day. It's bubbling with methane and unfit even for maribou storks to feed off of, but dozens of people subsist by scavenging for pig slop and selling plastic for $1/kg. A secondary industry has sprung up to serve the recyclers. Entrepreneurs sell peanuts,...
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Happy World Day of Peace!
It's 2024 – a new year for a fresh start. As we reflect on 2023, we can't help but cry for peace. While Gaza is being bombed in response to Hamas' brazen attack and hostage taking, the war in Ukraine continues, and other conflicts foment, it is clear that humanity needs to learn peace.
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Last weekend, I walked through the streets of Toronto with a 12-foot puppet named Amal. Amal represents a 10-year-old Syrian girl who has lost her mother and is looking for a new home. It was wonderful to be part of the crowd that welcomed her with songs, food and love, and to share that sense of community with fellow Torontonians and newcomers.
This video shares the joy of the event, with songs...
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This post is from Moses from Nigeria, who shared this story on the Peace Wall.
What does peace mean to you?
It means a lot and I have always wished to live in peace in my life. But it's unfortunate I couldn't have the chance to be in peace with myself because of life choices here in Nigeria.
Are you living it?
No. I have always wanted to be a military officer serving people...
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Do you ever wonder if the hope for “peace on earth, good will towards all” will ever be fulfilled?
Me too. There are good reasons to be discouraged, some of which are visualized in the video, below. But there are also signs of hope. For each crisis, there are committed people working towards peace, restoration and healing. That’s why it’s appropriate that during advent, the time leading up to...
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Today, at 10 AM in Israel, the country stood still for two minutes to pay their respects to the six million Jews who were murdered by Nazis during World War II. Around the world, others stood in solidarity with them. And in Poland, thousands of people marched silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau to remember the victims of the Holocaust who died there, by participating in the annual March of the...
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My sister told me to look up a remarkable woman, Jane Marczewski, yesterday. I listened to her songs and wisdom all night. Her joyful vulnerability, as much as her beautiful ballad, "It's OK," won the hearts of the judges and audience of America's Got Talent in the summer of 2021.
If you, like me, weren’t following her story, it is well worth hearing. Jane’s stage name, Nightbirde, came to her...
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