Auckland, New Zealand—New Zealanders bicycled and walked to support the Peace Road 2015 international initiative.
UPF organized the event together with the New Zealand chapters of affiliated organizations Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) and Youth Federation for World Peace (YFWP).
The Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of these four organizations, designed Peace Road as an effort to connect the world together as one through an international peace route. Many of the participants did the Peace Road event in remembrance of Rev. Dr. Moon, whose passing in 2012 was commemorated on August 22.
About 30 people took part in the event, which was held on August 1, 2015, starting from the UPF Peace Embassy in the Auckland suburb of Parnell. They could choose between bicycling 20 kilometers (nearly 12.5 miles) to St. Heliers Bay or walking 7 kilometers (more than 4 miles) to Mission Bay. The bicyclists were led by two young adults, Mr. Simon J. Markwick and Mr. Amon Watanabe.
Before taking to the road, the participants received a general orientation from Mr. Leon Pogoni, coordinator of Peace Road New Zealand, and Rev. Julius Gicole, national leader of FFWPU-New Zealand. They also wrote their signatures on a Peace Road Map in order to record their participation in this global event.
Both groups closed the event with a barbecue lunch and fellowship.