Local group marks International Day of Peace

Since 1981, the United Nations has marked International Peace Day. Originally it was on the third Tuesday of September, which made it a bit of a moveable feast, and then was changed to be celebrated every year on the same day, Sept. 21.

“There are peace activities happening all around the world on this day,” Dr. Maida Follini, a member of the Halifax Friends Meeting (Quakers), says. “There are many definitions of peace — inner peace, domestic peace, peace in towns and villages, intercultural peace, and international peace that deals with the root causes of war and tries to solve them through diplomacy to bring conflict to a close.

The speakers during the evening addressed all of those aspects of the word peace. The representative from the Atlantic Contemplative Centre and its allied Waves of Compassion program talked of ways to bring mindfulness to daily life, especially in the workplace.

Other speakers talked about the Voice of Women for Peace’s initiatives including its Peacemakers’ Leadership Camp and the annual white poppy campaign in November. Other ways of bringing peace to the community included speakers talking about programs to help young inmates at Dorchester, bringing refugees to Canada, teaching parenting programs in the far North, and teaching young people in India to grow sustainable crops.

The Zonta Club of Halifax brought awareness of the organization’s focus on reducing violence against women worldwide and ensuring that every girl has the opportunity to reach her full potential.

“Zonta is a global organization where the rights of females are considered human rights,” vice president Sherri Topple said. “We are an organization of 30,000 members in 67 countries working together to improve the lives of women and girls, that is a consultative NGO at the United Nations and a large part of our advocacy is to get girls out of human trafficking and early marriage. During the period of Nov. 25 to Dec. 10, Zontians world wide will be observing 10 days of activism under the theme, Zonta Says No, raising awareness of these issues.”

Dr. Jane Gordon, a member of the Halifax Meeting, spoke about her summer as a member of a Friends Peace Team building a community centre in Rwanda, on the Congolese Border. There, she said she was involved with both the physical labour of building the centre and the vibrant church community, where she found herself singing in the choir and learning the intricate rhythms of local dance.

Follini said there were 17 groups represented, from all backgrounds, at the event, held in the historic George Wright House in Halifax. “Next year, let’s try to have 100 groups and in a larger venue.”