Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Category: Events

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  • Leadership for Social Change

    One day this past April, my history teacher pointed at me and said, “Lorissa, you can consider yourself busy this Friday!”. Those simple words forever changed my life. My name is Lorissa Rinehard. I am 16 years old and from Santa Barbara, California. Like many teens, I have always wanted to make the world a better place and participate in positive social change; however, I was not certain what I could do. The Friday event to which my history teacher alluded was a peace leadership training hosted by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in collaboration with Free the Children.

    As I learned more about the event and my participation in it, I became more and more excited. The trainings were administered at Westmont College and brought together high school and college youth for a two-day intensive seminar on how we, as young people, could change the world.

    At the sessions, we learned skills which will stay with us for life. We were taught, for example, how to give an effective speech, run a successful meeting, inspire others, work with the media, fundraise and participate in the work of the Foundation. Right from the start of the training session, we were presented with a vast amount of great information and a feeling of empowerment. Not only was the material inspiring, but so was the presentation. It was clear that the organizers were committed to youth and believed that we could make a difference.

    The presenters genuinely listened to what we had to say and valued our opinions. Furthermore, Craig Kielburger, founder of Free the Children, who had traveled to Southeast Asia to meet children involved in child labor at the age of 12, provided us with a real life example of how youth make a change in the world for the better. It was impossible for all the youth not to be motivated! The main speaker at the event was Craig’s 23 year old brother, Marc Kielburger. Marc is committed to educating youth on issues of leadership and making sure they are aware of just how powerful they really can be. As the day progressed he drove home exactly what we needed to do to effect change regarding the causes we felt strongly about.

    We were then informed about the situation of nuclear weapons and what we, as youth, could do to help. Chris Pizzinat and Carah Ong from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation spoke about the estimated 30,000 nuclear weapons which remain in this world, long after the end of the Cold War. The day ended with an impassioned speech by David Krieger, the President of the Foundation, who left us inspired and wanting to take the next steps to the attainment of a nuclear free world. The highlight of the day was a youth peace rally in which we took an hour break from the training and joined 500 other individuals in the large gymnasium at Westmount.

    The guest speaker was none other than Queen Noor of Jordan, who was in Santa Barbara to accept an award from the Foundation. I was selected as one of the speakers to report on the activities of our youth leadership training and to let other young people know how they too can become involved in our activities. I had my speech memorized, but I was still nervous. Fortunately, I had little time to dwell on my stage fright. With new people to meet and conversations to be had, I half forgot my jitters. With an entourage of body guards and public relation managers, Queen Noor, herself, arrived. Upon being introduced to her, I could tell that she was a compassionate person. We spoke about the training sessions and the youth of today. It was apparent that she was genuinely interested in what I had to say. I sat on stage practicing the relaxation techniques I had learned at the leadership seminar. Unfortunately, the techniques did not seem to have the desired effect! But as time passed and I listened to one speaker after another, I realized that there was no need to be nervous. Everyone at the rally shared the goal of creating a more peaceful society.

    When it was my turn to speak, I took a deep breath, smiled and plunged in. It ended up being a lot of fun and we were able to communicate our messages to hundreds of people and the members of the media. After the gathering, I felt like I was on cloud nine. That day, I realized that young people really can change the world! Organizations like the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation include youth in their actions, and this is the first step to creating a more just and humane world. Young people must be involved in all facets of social change. Young people bring new energy, enthusiasm, and perspectives and would only be an asset to any cause.

  • The Responsibilities of World Citizenship

    https://wagingpeace.davidmolinaojeda.com/articles/wagingpeaceseries/queen_noor.pdf

  • Nonviolence: Teacher Explores Finding Peaceful Paths In Life

    Invoking the words of Gandhi and Thoreau, a young Ventura teacher is spreading the message of nonviolence to all who will listen.

    Wearing a pin proclaiming “Victory over Violence,” 23-year-old Leah Wells leads a class in nonviolence at a downtown Ventura church. Her students are young, middle-aged and old, but they share a common goal: making peace.

    Dressed smartly in pearls and a black skirt and sweater, Wells teaches the course after a full day as an English and French teacher at St. Bonaventure High School. She begins one evening with a video decrying violence. Her students, gathered in the basement of the Church of Religious Science, quietly watch it.
    Its message is clear: violence is all around.

    “Everywhere you look, you see it,” the video says. “It’s in the school. It’s in the park. It’s everywhere.”

    Students read a passage written by pacifist and folk singer Joan Baez. They discuss ways to calm angry people. Wells leads them in discussions touching on the death penalty and the economics of war. The evening culminates with a speech by Carol Rosin, a former defense company official who urges their help in keeping weapons out of space.

    The course is structured around “Solutions to Violence,” a book developed by the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington, D.C.

    Two years ago, Wells started working as an intern for the center’s founder, noted writer and teacher Colman McCarthy.

    McCarthy wrote for the Washington Post for several years, but also is known for the nonviolence courses he developed to teach students how to resolve conflicts peacefully. His reach has extended from poor urban schools in East St. Louis to wealthy suburban schools in California, says an article in the nationally published Education Week.

    “We are peace illiterates,” he told Education Week.

    Leah Wells would like to change that in this corner of the world.
    She wants to see courses on nonviolence offered in schools as well as juvenile detention centers in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties.
    “So many of the peace people are working with good kids, but we’ve got to focus on kids that are struggling,” she said.

    The Georgetown University graduate said she was inspired by her own parents. They taught her to do the right thing, that one’s word is one’s bond and that people should fight for justice, she said.
    “Violence comes from fear, fear from misunderstanding, misunderstanding from ignorance,” Wells said. “Ignorance is addressed through education.”

    She has taught nonviolence classes at a high school near the White House and at a juvenile prison in Maryland, she said. Next fall she will be teaching an elective course in nonviolence at St. Bonaventure, assuming that 20 to 25 students at the Catholic school sign up for the semesterlong offering. That will mark the first time St. Bonaventure has offered such a course, said the principal, Brother Paul Horkan.
    Wells said Los Angeles High School is already offering the course, and officials at various juvenile facilities are considering it.

    Such classes, though, are hardly ordinary. California schools offer training in conflict resolution to staff and students, but not usually as the separate courses that Wells envisions.

    Bill White, administrator of the state Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Office, said schools usually offer conflict resolution as an extracurricular activity. Some of these peacemaking skills also are incorporated into other classes, he said.

    “It’s not a stand-alone course,” White said. “I really don’t know how many of those there might be.”

    Dealing with the approvals required by education and government does not seem to sway Wells’ fervor.

    “She keeps pushing for what she wants,” Horkan said.

    Recalling the words of Thoreau, she puts it another way.
    “You are your own majority of one,” she said.

  • First Annual Sadako Peace Day

    Mayor Harriet Miller declared August 6, 1996 as “The First Annual Sadako Peace Day.” In making this proclamation, she called “for efforts in our community and throughout the world to abolish nuclear weapons and to prevent people everywhere, particularly children, from suffering the horrors of war.”

    Sadako Sasaki was a two-year old girl in Hiroshima, who was exposed to radiation when the atomic bomb was dropped on her city on August 6, 1945. She developed radiation-induced leukemia ten years later. Japanese legend has it that one’s wish will come true if one folds a thousand paper cranes. Sadako began folding paper cranes with the wish to get well and achieve world peace. She wrote a poem, “I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.” Sadako died with 646 cranes folded, and her classmates finished folding the paper cranes. Sadako’s story has become known to people all over the world, and the folding of paper cranes has become a symbol of world peace.

    To commemorate Sadako Peace Day, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and La Casa de Maria hosted an outdoor ceremony at Sadako Peace Garden at La Casa de Maria. The ceremony, with some 100 people in attendance, included a musical program arranged by Harry Sargous of The Music Academy of the West, and poetry read by several Santa Barbara poets, including Gene Knudsen Hoffman and Sojourner Kincaid-Rolle.

    Foundation president David Krieger summarized the importance of the event and the day: “This day August 6th has many names. For some, looking back in history, it is Hiroshima Day, a time to recall the terrible devastation that took place when a single nuclear weapon was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. For some, looking to the future, it is Abolition Day, a time to rededicate one’s efforts to the elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world. These are important perspectives. For us here today, the day is also Sadako Peace Day, a commemoration of the loss of an innocent child’s life as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima, and a rededication to preventing other children from being injured and killed as a result of war, any war.”

     

  • Sadako Peace Garden

    The Sadako Peace Garden in Santa Barbara was dedicated on August 6, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima tragedy, as a project of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, in cooperation with La Casa de Maria. It honors all who work for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons.

    Two distinguished Santa Barbara artists, Isabelle Greene and Irma Cavat, gave of their time and skills to create the landscaping and the artistry of this magic location.

    “I ask you to come up and submerge your hands into the water and then bless this space before you leave.”

    -Don George, Director, La Casa de Maria.

    “Hundreds of residents and visitors of Santa Barbara, young and old, have come to the Sadako Peace Garden to reflect and to commit, or recommit themselves to the task of peacemaking.

    The Garden is open to the public. Please feel free to come back at any time, and spread the word among your friends.”

    — Walter Kohn, Co-Chair, Education Committee, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

    Sadako Peace Garden, La Casa de Maria, 800 El Bosque Road, Santa Barbara CA 93108-2794