Bern, Switzerland—UPF supporters joined members of an affiliated youth organization in a "Peace Road" event in the Swiss Alps.

The International Association of Youth and Students for Peace (IAYSP) organized a “Peace Hike” on August 7, 2021, partly in honor of the United Nations’ International Youth Day, which takes place every year on August 12.

The 15 participants met in the village of Lauterbrunnen in Bern Canton and took the cable car to Grütschalp to start the hike. The intergenerational group walked 5.1 kilometers (more than 3 miles), with an incline of about 500 meters, from Grütschalp to Mürren.

It was a very motivated group of diverse people, from the French and German parts of Switzerland, and even from the neighboring nation of Liechtenstein, with some young adolescents and adults, and older relatives. Two of the participants were UPF Ambassadors for Peace.

Connecting to each other in the nature—after being apart for many months due to the global pandemic—was a great opportunity to open our hearts to each other and build bridges, seeing old friends and meeting new ones. It was also the occasion to continue the "Peace Road" project (https://peaceroadusa.com/).

An IAYSP supporter who wished to stay anonymous organized a contest with five train day-passes as the prizes. The winners were picked randomly among those who applied to the contest and thus joined the hike without any transport charge.

The participants enjoyed the gifts of nature: the beautiful landscape of the Swiss Alps with colorful flowers along our paths; picking mushrooms and wild blueberries; and crossing streams near grazing cows and goats.

After the first steep part of the hike through the forest, the participants took a break for lunch. Some groundhogs could be heard from afar. In Mürren, the end point of the hike, the participants took a cable car to return to the valley with a grateful heart, just as a pouring rain started.