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World Peace Blessing
Cambodian Couples Gather for Interfaith Peace Blessing
Written by Mr. Hajime Saito, regional president, UPF-Indochina
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Battambang, Cambodia—More than 700 couples took part in an Interfaith Peace Blessing ceremony held by UPF-Cambodia in Battambang City.
One month after it held an International Youth Convention for 5,000 students in Battambang City, UPF-Cambodia organized an Interfaith Peace Blessing together with the Cambodian chapter of Family Federation for World Peace (FFWPU).
This year the Battambang branch of UPF-Cambodia held several series of seminars at universities based on character education and pure love education. These efforts led to a memorandum of understanding with three universities in Battambang. Most of the professors and teachers at these universities are UPF Ambassadors for Peace.
A unique feature of Cambodia is that those who are between 30 and 40 years old couldn’t get a proper education because of suffering from the long civil war, the so-called “Killing Fields.” People in this age group now are going to school. Many of the students in the universities received the Interfaith Peace Blessing as previously married couples.
Another specific feature of this nation is that many university teachers and professors are also district and commune leaders. (The Cambodian administration system is arranged according to province-district-commune-village.) Each Ambassador for Peace in Battambang took responsibility to educate people of five communes. As a result of these efforts, 708 couples—a total of 1,528 persons—took part in the International Peace Blessing.
The Blessing ceremony was held at the Vimean Pochey Restaurant in the center of Battambang City. The chief guest was Deputy Governor H.E. Nhek Sakun. Dr. Lek Thaveetermsakul, vice chair of UPF-Asia, came from Thailand. In his opening speech Dr. Lek encouraged people in Battambang to live by the vision of UPF Founders Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, as it is a life-transforming opportunity, he said.
As the pre-program of the ceremony, Mr. Chamrouen Sophal, national leader of FFWPU-Cambodia, gave a presentation entitled “The Family Is the School of Love and Peace.” He spoke about the significance and meaning of the Interfaith Peace Blessing and seven steps to becoming an ideal family. After hearing this presentation, many participants determined to create families who could be role models for their community.
The highlight of the event was the Invocation of the Blessing. A videotape was played of Rev. Dr. Moon’s prayer from the March 2012 Interfaith Peace Blessing ceremony at the Cheongshim World Peace Center in Korea. Because of the deep content of his prayer, all the participants were inspired, happy and grateful to take part in the Interfaith Peace Blessing. In the days following the ceremony, many participants telephoned the UPF office asking about follow-up studies of Rev. Dr. Moon’s teaching.
UPF-Cambodia wishes to express its thanks to Dr. Chung Sik Yong, UPF-Asia regional chair, and Dr. Lek Thaveetermsakul, UPF-Asia vice chair, for their encouragement.
Special thanks also go to: Mr. Saing Sen, deputy director of International University, Mr. Srey Kievsokhom, deputy director of Provincial Teacher Training Center, Mr. Tho Bunet, deputy director of Cambodian University of Specialties, H.E. Sieng Em Totim, rector of University of Battambang, and Mr. Heng Monychenda, director of Buddhism for Development.
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