By Rotary Action Group for Peace: India Chapter, December 5, 2024
On November 26, 2024, World Citizen Peace Board Chair and author Caren Stelson and World BEYOND War Education Director Dr. Phill Gittins were invited to speak on Zoom to a wide-ranging international audience promoted by the Rotary Action Group for Peace (RAGP): India Chapter.
RAGP India Chapter member and Peace Ambassador for WCP, Vivek Goyal invited Caren to share her award-winning young adult book, Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story with the audience followed by Dr. Phill Gittins who provided a detailed description of World BEYOND War’s Peace Education and Action for Impact initiative.
Paired together, both talks made for a clarion call for international youth education and involvement in the work for peace and the abolition of war. Sachiko Yasui’s vivid story of survival of nuclear war at the end of WWII makes it clear that nuclear war creates an existential crisis as does climate change and the on-going destabilization of the war system world-wide. War is the underlining cause of the refugee crisis, environmental degradation, death, injury, and economic poverty. There can be no true peace without the elimination of war.
Underscoring these themes, the non-profit organization, World BEYOND War and its program, Peace Education and Action for Impact (PEAI), supported by RAGP, Rotarians and peace partners around the world, have created a concrete program for both peace education and peace action in nineteen countries. Spanning 14 weeks, PEAI participants ages 18-35 explore the “knowing,” “being,” and “doing” of peacebuilding.” Six weeks of online peace education followed by eight weeks of peace action invite youth-led groups to experience intergenerational cross-cultural learning, dialogue, and action to bridge generational and cultural divides. Sachiko Yasui asks: “What is peace? What kind of person should I be? Keep pursuing answers to these questions.” World BEYOND War’s Peace Education Action for Impact help youth address these central questions as young people become our next critical and much needed generation of peacebuilders.
For more information about World BEYOND War and Peace Education and Action for Impact: https://worldbeyondwar.org/action-for-impact
For more information about Rotary Action Group for Peace: https://rotaryactiongroupforpeace.org
