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Peace Tour in Sierra Leone Focuses on a Conflict Hot Spot
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Kenema, Sierra Leone - An International Leadership Conference and Global Peace Tour event was held in Kenema, a town at the center of recent violence and conflict. The conference registered religious leaders, members of civil society groups, NGOs, and members from the community anxious to hear new ways of reaching out for reconciliation.
The President of the Peace Council, Mrs. Alice Kamara, moderated the conference, and the presentations were given by the Secretary General of UPF-Sierra Leone, Rev. John D.S. Samura. The conference was called to order by the Secretary of the Youth Federation for World Peace, Alpha Y. Mansaray, who introduced the moderator and the President.
Rev. Samura introduced the mission of the UPF as a global alliance of individuals and organizations dedicated to building a world of peace, a world where everyone can live together in freedom, harmony, and cooperation and with prosperity for all. “The foundation of our peace efforts rests on commonly shared universal principles,” he said.
He continued with other International Leadership Conference presentations including “One Family under God,” “The Significance of Being an Ambassador for Peace,” and “Character Education.” Participants reacted enthusiastically by asking many questions and giving meaningful contributions.
On March 28, Ambassadors for Peace participated in a service project that included cleaning the city center. The mayor of the town joined them in the cleaning.
Later that day, the main program continued at the Trinity Hall. Rev. Samura introduced the leader of the UPF-Kenema chapter, Mr. Hassan Kabba. The program then continued with a reading of the founder’s speech by Mrs. Kamara.
She thanked Mr. Kabba and his staff for their great efforts in making the event possible. Sharing the dramatic vision of peace for the 21st century that is sweeping across the globe, she continued by saying that it is a spiritual vision rooted in time–enduring principles, values, and aspirations, and it is inspiring a great peace movement throughout the world. That unifying vision is “One Family under God.”
Discussing the global crisis, Mrs. Kamara noted that “most governments, the G–20, and the United Nations are focused only on the ongoing worldwide financial chaos. But even more fundamentally, we face a growing moral and spiritual crisis, evidenced in the rise of family and marriage breakdown, divorce, the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the growing number of young people alienated from society and prone to violent and anarchic impulses.”
“The universal appeal of the vision to create One family under God testifies to the fact that we do live at a time when lasting change is truly possible,” she concluded. “The Global Peace Tour and the Global Peace Festivals can play a vital role in restoring Sierra Leone, a nation recently torn by conflict.”
For the keynote address and more information about the peace tour, click here.