Tirana, Albania—UPF-Albania combined the 2015 International Day of Peace program with a 10th anniversary for UPF and the third anniversary of its founder’s passing.
The event, which took place on September 20, 2015, in the UNESCO hall of the National Museum, was organized together with the Albanian chapters of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) and Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), two affiliated organizations, as well as the National Institute for the Integration of Albanian Orphans.
Around 270 participants filled the hall.
The event was organized in three parts which were well connected. The first part recognized the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Universal Peace Federation. Among the many Ambassadors for Peace who were present, quite a few had participated at the UPF inaugural event in Tirana in 2005. After explaining the purpose and meaning of the event, the MC, Mr. Gani Rroshi, the president of FFWPU-Albania, invited Dr. Arben Malaj, the chairman of the UPF National Peace Council, to give the congratulatory address. In his address Dr. Malaj emphasized the spirit of “living for the sake of others,” which is the core principle of UPF and Ambassadors for Peace, and encouraged everyone to do more for people in need, especially orphans, who, despite their situations, have the same value and potential as other children in front of God.
The second part of the event was dedicated to UPF Founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon and honored his legacy on a national level on the third anniversary of his passing. After a moving video on his achievements was shown, two mothers, Mrs. Elsa Xhai and Mrs. Imihane Shala, representing Albania and Kosovo as well as Ambassadors for Peace, laid a bouquet of flowers in front of his photograph.
Then two Ambassadors for Peace gave their testimonies. The first was Mr. Gaqo Apostoli, a founding member of UPF-Albania, who had just returned from attending the third anniversary events in Korea, He also sang a song dedicated to mothers, in respect for Dr. Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon. Then Mrs. Kozeta Zavalani, the chair of the Tirana Peace Council, spoke about the role of Ambassadors for Peace and closed her address with the powerful words of a poem that Rev. Dr. Moon had written as a teenager, “Crown of Glory.”
In the third part of the program, “living for the sake of others”—the guiding principle of UPF and the manifestation of Rev. Dr. Moon’s lifestyle—was demonstrated in the distribution of 100 packages with learning tools to 100 orphan children. This had become possible through the cooperation of FFWPU-Albania and the National Institute for the Integration of Albanian Orphans. Family Federation volunteers did fundraising through the summer to collect funds for orphans. Mr. Ilir Cumani, the general director of the National Institute for the Integration of Albanian Orphans, thanked each of the volunteers by name and encouraged everyone to take their example and help those in need. The last speaker was Ms. Irida Shkoza, the leader of the team of volunteers. On behalf of them all, she spoke about the beautiful experience they had had going around almost the whole nation. She expressed her gratefulness to the UPF founders for giving this great vision and enabling people to find their true value and see each other as brothers and sisters under one God!
At the end, all the orphan children were invited to receive the packages from the volunteers and also the Ambassadors for Peace.
The event was covered by national and local media. Six TV channels were present and broadcast sequences from the event on their news programs.
We would like to thank all the participants who came from throughout Albania and Kosovo, and especially the Ambassadors for Peace, for helping to make this event successful!
- We wish that the UPF vision and principles and Ambassadors for Peace will continue to inspire people of good will to step up and take the lead in changing this world into a place where everybody naturally lives for the sake of others.
- We are sure the time is coming when the UPF founders’ legacy of practicing true love through living and sacrificing for the sake of others will become the lifestyle of those who want to break down all the boundaries of culture, religion, nationality, race and share God’s blessings as one family under Him.
- We pray the small gesture of helping some orphan children will inspire many other people and organizations to share their hearts with those in need, because it is then that the greatest joy comes.