Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers tell their ‘love story’ to the United Nations
August 31, 2010 by
Filed under Journey Updates
Please read the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers tell their ‘love-story’ amidst a UN article of Japanese cranes, Afghan cycling and the return of Afghan music.
http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/2010/asia.shtml
“Fighting cannot bring peace is the message we want to send to our Afghan country men and women, and to the world. As we say in Afghanistan: blood can not wash away blood,” said Mohammad Jan
The Head of United Nations in Hiroshima
On the wings of paper cranes, UN staffers aim to spread message of peace
6 August 2010 – In 1955, 12-year-old Sadako Sasaki began folding a thousand paper cranes to try to heal her leukaemia, in accordance with a Japanese tradition. Despite surviving the bombing of Hiroshima a decade earlier, she had developed the “atom bomb disease.” Over half a century later, United Nations staff members hope to harness that same spirit to remind the world of the horrors wrought by nuclear weapons.
Sadako died on 25 October 1955, having completed 644 origami cranes. Her friends completed the remaining cranes and she was buried with them in Hiroshima, where the Children’s Peace Monument now stands in her honour and children from all over the world send more than 10 million cranes each year.
To commemorate the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, dozens of UN workers at the Organization’s Headquarters in New York and at its offices in Tokyo have worked together to fold a thousand origami cranes. The cranes were then assembled into a garland that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented today to the Mayor of Hiroshima at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony. This marks the first ever trip by a Secretary-General to the annual ceremony.
“We expect that his presence at the [ceremony] as the first UN Secretary-General… will further develop international momentum to abolish nuclear weapons… and lead to consolidate political will of national governments that have been working for a world without nuclear weapons,” Kazuaki Oku, a Hiroshima municipal official heading atomic bomb commemoration activities, told the UN News Centre.
He commended the Secretary-General for showing “strong will toward the abolition of nuclear weapons by proposing a five-point plan to rid the world of [them].”
The paper cranes presented by the UN are highly significant, Mr. Oku said. “We believe that paper cranes could help forge the momentum for world peace and strengthen public opinion seeking a world without nuclear weapons, through conveying this episode to the world.”
Cranes, which symbolize longevity, are considered mystical creatures in many parts of Asia. In Japan, it is said that folding 1,000 origami cranes grants that person one wish, and people often send these cranes to those who suffer from illness or ill fortune in hope that their lives will improve. Through Sadako’s story, the folding of cranes has also become a symbol of world peace.
The UN cranes project was spearheaded by Kiyo Akasaka, a Japanese national and the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. Mr. Akasaka said “this will be a very special commemorative gift for the Secretary-General to present during his visit to Hiroshima, symbolizing the strong wishes of the UN staff for world peace without nuclear weapons.”
UN staff members folded the cranes in their spare time, with two or three made by each person. “The message we’re trying to send to the Japanese people is we want peace. That’s what the UN is about, peace and stability, and we want to prevent things like [the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki] from happening anywhere in the future,” said staff member Natalia Samoilova, who worked on the project in New York.
The cranes also helped to bridge the gap between the UN and Japanese citizens, says Shinichi Kushima, another UN staff member who participated in the project in New York. “For me, as a Japanese, it’s great that the UN cares about us,” he said.
Moreover, the project engendered wide-ranging emotions in the UN staff members who helped fold paper cranes.
In addition to being “honoured to be invited to participate,” Ms. Samoilova said that “it was much fun. I never did origami before. I admire people who are very skilful at origami and at least to [learn] how to fold a crane – especially if it’s going to be part of this big garland – oh, I felt so happy.”
Edita Zulic, another staff member who folded cranes, said that “it was interesting how it made me contemplate what we can do in our daily life to send out these messages of peace, to spread positive energy. This is a really small, small, undertaking, folding one crane. But I think when we all get together you see we make 500 or 1,000 cranes. It symbolises that one person can really make a difference.”
The Peace Sign put up by the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers at the Bamiyan Buddhas
“We want peace,” Afghan students grouped near a white dove sculpture in Bamyan Peace Park in the central province of Afghanistan chanted into a phone linking them with youth groups in other parts of the country.
“Peace is friendship and love and that’s how we are campaigning for peace – by making more friends and more volunteers,” said Zikrullah, a 15-year-old second grader and a member of the Bamyan Peace Volunteers, a group of school students who campaign for peace in Afghanistan.
Zikrullah dropped out of school for economic reasons a few years ago but made a commitment last year to continue his studies. He now goes to school in the mornings and in the afternoons helps his father run a shop in Bamyan city.
In his spare time, he volunteers with the peace group which helped build the park where the group is now gathered.
“We worked for nearly two years to build this recreational area close to our school, now our school friends can come here to study and play,” said Zikrullah, who along with his friends persuaded hundreds of schoolmates to volunteer to build the park to mark International Peace Day.
In addition, the group was involved in a trekking for peace event organized by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
More recently, the group illuminated the site of the renowned Bamyan Buddhas with the word “Sulh,” which means peace in Dari, to send a message of peace to the world on the occasion of Kabul Conference on 20 July.
“Fighting cannot bring peace is the message we want to send to our Afghan country men and women, and to the world. As we say in Afghanistan: blood can not wash away blood,” said Mohammad Jan, an 11th grade student with the Volunteers.
Zikrullah and his friends have been visiting other youth groups around the province to persuade them to volunteer for change.
“I am happy with the result, we are making many peace friends,” he said.
Building relations with youth groups in other provinces of the country is a priority for them.
They sent handmade mobile phone covers to a youth group in Kandahar province a few months ago as peace souvenirs to build a stronger friendship with youths in difficult parts of the country.
“We regularly contact our friends in Kandahar, Kabul and Dai Kundi provinces to discuss problems and issues, and to plan joint programmes with them,” Jan said.
This year, the group plans to expand its Peace Day activities to its partner volunteer groups in the United States, Iraq, Palestine and Singapore.
The group members believe their work is crucial for their country.
“I work for peace because I know this is the biggest need of our country,” Jan said.
In the distance, the group was closing the telephone meeting by again chanting its slogan: “Why not love? Why not peace?”
By Jaffar Rahim, UNAMA
How do we bring peace to war?
Afghanistan’s world cyclist preparing for next tour
His 13-year-old son, Feroz Khan, will join him and the tour will be filmed by an Afghan film crew. Shah, 43 and a father of seven (three boys and four girls), who hails from Surkhod district in the eastern part of the country near Jalalabad, told UNAMA: “I want to show the world, once again, our wish and desire for peace.”
The dentist-turned-cyclist said he plans to tour about 20 countries this time.
The tour is supported by the Government of Afghanistan and by Abdul Satar Khawasi, Secretary of the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House). The Afghan Film Department of the Ministry of Culture and Information has assigned cameraman Jawanshir Haidari to film the tour.
In 2003, Shah’s tour took him across the Middle East, Europe and the United States over 371 days. President Hamid Karzai asked him to donate his bicycle to the Kabul Museum in December last year where it is on display, highlighting his efforts to promote peace in Afghanistan.
Nadir Shah told UNAMA that he is very worried about the escalating violence. “It’s very painful for me. I want to ask strongly all the countries to bring peace here. First of all, the Afghans themselves should work for peace. Then the international community, especially the United Nations, should help us,” he said.
One thing Nadir Shah liked about his earlier tour is that he noticed that all the countries he crossed in Europe were living like a family even if Europe was at war 60 years ago.
“When I was entering Holland from Germany, I thought I had lost my way and asked the locals which way would lead me to Holland. They said I was already 20 kilometres into Holland. It looked all the same. I want to see my country like this.”
By Tilak Pokharel and Shafiqullah Waak, UNAMA
Afghanistan’s top singer uses voice for national harmony
19 July 2010 – Afghan singer Farhad Darya entertains fans of all ages at a peace concert on the eve of the Kabul Conference. The Kabul-born artist said he wants to remind Afghan leaders and the international community to think of the people of Afghanistan tomorrow when making their decisions.
Darya has said that music is a constant inspiration for Afghans and allows them to communicate through ethnic and tribal boundaries. Darya has written and sung in most of Afghanistan’s many languages, including Farsi-Dari, Pashto, Uzbek, Hazaragi, and Urdu, among others. He is a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador.
