Peru—More than 300 participants joined the broadcast of the UN 2021 World Humanitarian Day, organized by Universal Peace Federation UPF Peru branch on August 27, 2021.
As part of the programming, 39 new Ambassadors for Peace were appointed with the commission to promote peace initiatives and social service work to assist those most in need. The event was hosted by Mr. Jaime Fernández, general secretary of UPF Peru. Ambassador for Peace Nora María Rodríguez Herencia read the message from the United Nations about World Humanitarian Day.
“Many Ambassadors are active throughout Peru, providing aid to the least-favored ones and responding to emergency situations,” said Dr. Trevor Jones, executive president of UPF Peru, who also pointed out the support of the Ambassadors for Peace of Peru in many UPF initiatives at the national, regional and international levels. “I am confident that, with the growing number of Ambassadors in the Universal Peace Federation, Peru, we will be able to build on the foundation of those who have worked hard in this area for many years,” he concluded.
Dr. Raúl Mendiola Hurtado, president of the national volunteering organization “For Love of Peru,” shared with the audience a brief summary of his 41 years of humanitarian assistance: providing free specialized medical care and donating medicines to more than 4,500,000 people, performing thousands of specialized surgeries free of charge and more than 3,500 free health campaigns in the most needy areas throughout the country. Dr. Mendiola is now seeking to involve in this endeavor other health professionals from all over the country, civil organizations, private companies, authorities and the armed forces: “The main idea is to join everyone in this matter in order to reach the population in the best way.”
“When we speak of humanitarian aid, we refer to people and institutions that reflect the heart of God in seeking the good of human beings,” said Ambassador for Peace Luis Acero, pastor counsellor of Fraternidad Pastores de Huaral. “Today we are gathered, an entire people, a whole nation, a whole lineage that has love of neighbor. In times of pandemic, giving help to others has been practically surrendering to death, to the challenge of disease, to the challenge of family misfortune. But we, as men and women, have given ourselves to this task of serving for the good of others. As members of UPF, we are called to be ambassadors of the good of God, which is Peace for all humanity.”
“Our mission as human beings and Ambassadors for Peace is service to others. Humanitarian aid must be consolidated at all times by sharing Christian values from wherever we are, consistent with our ideas and leading by example,” said Ambassador for Peace Silvia Velásquez Paucar, volunteer coordinator at Starkey Hearing Foundation. Since 1977, she has been managing humanitarian aid with public and private entities for vulnerable people and people with disabilities from different parts of the country, in order to improve their quality of life, attending to their basic needs and providing learning opportunities.
Sociologist Jorge Martínez Campoblanco, founder and CEO of Scientific, Social and Technological Research Centre of Peru, expressed his reflections on the cost of wars, conflicts and climate change. “Just as human beings are capable of creating and building wonderful things, they can also harm each other and the environment through wars and the excessive use of natural resources for production and consumption. State policies on environmental education, which are increasingly being incorporated by private companies, have a significant effect for future generations.”
For his part, Ambassador for Peace Carlos Salvatierra Castillo, musician and deputy pastor of Victory Family Centre Church, shared with the audience a brief summary of his 28 years of experience providing humanitarian aid, establishing networks of health professionals and institutions that provide health services, both in the public and private sectors, to bring specialized care and treatment, as well as spiritual resources to the less favored people.
Mr. Jaime Fernández, secretary general of UPF Peru, chaired the ceremony of incorporation of 39 new Ambassadors for Peace. Colonel Enrique Gargurevich Godoy and Sister María Hurtado Arroyo offered congratulatory remarks as new Ambassadors for Peace and ratified their commitment to serve for peace.
The event concluded with final remarks by Dr. Trevor Jones, who thanked the panelists and guests for their attendance at the meeting and invited the audience to participate in UPF national and international activities.