WISER.ORG POST ON UN Peace Day 2013: Focus on Peace for the DR Congo

Our eighth annual Sept 21st UN Peace Day for Hampton Roads takes place this year at Virginia-Wesleyan College in Norfolk. We have combined forces with the One Love Festival who are also holding their annual event on Sept 21. UN Peace Day itself will run from 2:30 to 5:00 PM in Boyd Hall on the campus, with plenty of parking. Our theme this year is Peace for the DR Congo, which is the most devastated and blood-stained country in Africa, with, by most experts' counts, over 5 million war-related deaths and countless crimes, especially rape, in the last 15 years. Recently, however, there has been movement internationally and nationally to bring an end to the carnage. We want to help energize this movement. We will be providing a forum to discuss current events in the Congo as well as how to engender real peace and progress. Our speakers, participants and supporters include missionaries and Congolese spokespersons. This will be an educational and cultural event about the DR Congo, and, with your help, an inspirational event.

Speakers thus far include Rev. Carey Chirico of the Virginia Episcopalian Diocese ministry, Women-to-Women (http://www.thediocese.net/ Ministries/MissionTeams/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/) established between the women of the Diocese of Virginia and the Mothers’ Union of the Diocese of Bukavu in South Kivu province. Also speaking will be one of two speakers from Friends of the Congo, either Maurice Carney, their executive director or their spokesperson, Kambale Musavuli.


From Old Dominion University we have the well-known lecturer in political science and history, Ambassador (Ret.) Bismarck Myrick, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho (1995-1998) and U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Liberia (1999-2002), as well as head of the U.S. Diplomatic Missions as Consul General to Durban, South Africa (1990-1993) and Consul General to Cape Town, South Africa (1993-1995). He is also a retired U.S. Army Officer and a member of the U.S. Army Hall of Fame.

Also speaking are a Congolese woman residing in Northern Virginia, Faith Liwanga, who has set up her own NGO, MICAH-elle Foundation (http://micahellefoundation.org/), as well as the Mwamini Thambwe Mwamba Diggs, authoress of the “Untold Story of the Women and Children of the Democratic of Congo."

Our sixth speaker is visual artist Kathy Klein, who recently visited Bukavu with Carey Chirico. She raises money for the women of the Congo in war-torn areas through her Art for Hope Project. Her website is http://kathykleinstudio.com/ .


To keep our event international as well, the Taiko Drummers of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Global Buddhist Network in Virginia Beach will be performing again this year at UN Peace Day. They were a big hit last year and create huge amounts of positive, joyful energy with their drumming. Also performing will be world music instrumentalist Charles Clarke. Other performers will be announced later.

For more info go to our website: http://unpeacedayhr.org/

 
Also check out our Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/378478985607430/. Let us know if you are going and spread the word. Thanks!

Event: UN Peace Day 2013: Focus on Peace for the DR Congo