Novosibirsk, Russia - Starting from 2011, there is a new holiday – the UN International Day of Friendship! Everyone wants to be happy, but this is possible only when there are close people with whom to share happiness. A lonely man cannot be happy in his solitude. Sharing social networks, people seem to acquire a lot of friends on the Internet, but such friendship brings little joy. The public consciousness has undergone great changes, and today people have to learn again the art of building intellectual, morally pure relations. It is friendly ties that guarantee durability of all international relations! The proof is the UN Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights.
The International Day of Friendship was celebrated in the Novosibirsk House of Veterans on July 30 On the initiative of UPF-Siberia, volunteers gathered together to create a "Flowerbed of Peace" and offer it as a gift to the veterans. The central activity was the creation of the flowerbed styled as the map of the world with the Pacific Ocean in the center instead of the traditional Atlantic Ocean, as a symbol of peace (the word "pacific" meaning peace). Altogether, volunteers planted out 400 multicolored flowers donated by the company "Green City." For the majority of the participants it was the first experience in volunteering. Many of them represented the company KFC.
Here’s the comment of one volunteer, a student from Cameroon named Kamdem Collins: “It was my first volunteer project. I liked it very much. Now I know that the Universal Peace Federation is not only declaring the principles of tolerance, exchange, and interaction in relations among peoples of different races and religions, but also is putting them into practice in the city of Novosibirsk.”
Dozens of motivated volunteers participated in the event. Working together they laid out stones in the shape five continents in the middle of the flowerbed. The result was excellent. Bright flowers symbolized prosperity, harmony, love, and joy of men and women – God’s children.
The veterans sincerely appreciated the efforts. They invited the young people to come again and give them a musical performance. Plans are being made to do so in the coming autumn.