World Peace Prayer Society - 2003 compilation

ZAMBIA
(2003 World Peace Prayer Society Report)

EARTHWALKER Paul Coleman wrote a letter to the President of Zambia, calling for the development of a culture of Peace, that was broadcast throughout the country on TV and radio and in the Zambia Times. He also organized a major tree planting event that included a walk through Lusaka center with the Zambian Army Brass Band, 70 majorettes and about four hundred children from the Fountain of Hope Orphanage. The walk ended at the Orphanage where the Deputy high Commissioner of South Africa was waiting to plant forty trees donated by the Zambian Forestry Department.
("WE THE PEOPLES" INITIATIVE Participant)

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

I heard your call and responded with an open letter to the President published on IDP last week. Soon after followed that with a major tree planting event that included a walk through Lusaka centre with the Zambian Army Brass Band, 70 majorettes and about four hundred children from the Fountain of Hope Orphanage. The walk ended at the Orphanage where the Deputy High Commissioner of South Africa was waiting to plant with us forty trees donated by the Zambian Forestry Department. That event appeared on TV, had major radio coverage over his last weekend and appeared in the papers. The letter to the president was an open one and through that letter I not only spoke to the President, but also the people of this beautiful but impoverished nation.

For one section I used Joanie Misrack's words (Twin Towers - inner peace etc) and this was again repeated in very large feature that appeared today in the Zambia Times, the nations biggest newspaper. Some quotes:

Who is [Paul] Coleman? He is a British on a walking trek round the world planting trees to commemorate the deaths of an estimated 100 million casualties of war during the last century. He is in essence an environmentalist out to restore the depleted natural resources. Coleman became an "Earthwalker" when he walked from Canada to the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit a decade ago promoting awareness of environmental issues...
Largely, Coleman's journey is a peace mission under the aegis of the "We The People's" Initiative (WPI) echoing the opening phrase of the United Nations Charter. The genesis and the purposes of the WPI are intertwined with that of the UN. Since 1983, the initiative has served as a vehicle for bringing forward the previously unseen and unheard voices working towards peace...
He notes that the International Day of Peace was first proclaimed by the UN in 1982 and until 2001 coincided with the opening of the General Assembly when delegates observed a silent moment of peace.
May be there is no better reminder for the need for peace in many lives everywhere than to know the 2001 International Day of Peace was September 11.
"This day forever changed our lives when the planes smashed into the twin towers of New York killing thousands of people, announcing to the world that no nation was safe from the scourge of terrorism and war," Coleman reflects.
It is now time to reclaim and proclaim the desire for peace. Whether it is to develop inner peace in various homes and communities or to connect emotionally with those suffering from war, violence and poverty. The peace crusade has been challenging.

You will see the attention I have raised to the IDP and the We the People's Initiative. Next I request that you send a fax/email to the office of the Vice President and President requesting them to be further involved by planting a special tree for those fallen in the last century of war. Contact has already been established. I hope to move quickly on this and while the iron is hot I want to get the government here to declare this a day on which to do something every year.

I hope that all went well for you on the IDP and send to you all my good wishes.

May the sun shine in your universe,
Paul Coleman

2003 World Peace Prayer Society Compilation

May Peace Prevail On Earth