Oneness-Arrival-Shore – 1988 Sep 28, OAS/88-02 publication

Filed under Moments peace - story collection

OAS-1988-02 28 September 1988

If peace is to be found in Manhattan, it will most likely be at 5:00 AM. So some forty UN and mission staff and other early-rising peace-lovers chose 5 AM to embark on a meditative seven-mile walk through Manhattan on 20 September to celebrate the opening of the General Assembly and the International Day of Peace. In the uncommon pre-dawn stillness, the walkers offered a moment of silent prayer for peace as they stood before the gates of the UN, then headed north on First Avenue, bearing miniature UN and national flags and singing songs dedicated to world peace.

This third annual peace walk was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of the Bahamas, Belize, Burkina Faso, China, Mauritius, Nigeria, St Kitts and Nevis, Sri Lanka and Yugoslavia, and by Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations in co-operation with the Sri Chinmoy Centre of New York.

More walkers joined the group at various meeting points on the route and, by the time they returned to UN headquarters at 8:00 AM, almost 100 individuals had participated, including five members of the Permanent Mission of China who went the whole distance.

Televsion crews traced the progress of the walkers as they made their way through the wakening New York streets, and the event was seen on the evening news. Following the walk, a prayer breakfast Was held in the Church Center across the street from the Secretariat

In an eloquent tribute to the spirit of the United Nations, Ambassador Douglas Roche of Canada, host of the breakfast, reflected on his thirty years of service around the world in this way: “On the one hand there is an indescribable beauty to the world; on the other hand, there is immense suffering. We must be sure that our work will result in elevating the beauty of the world and diminishing the suffering.”

Mr. Jaap Ramaker, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands, noted that ”Man used to be an enemy to his fellow man,” but more and more, out of the necessity of interdependence, “these conditions have ceased to exist” as we learn to “work together to the benefit of all.”

Prayers from several religious traditions concluded the breakfast ceremony.

PEACE LIFTS

“Now that peace is breaking out everywhere, we have to help push it up,” said James Grant, Executive Director of UNICEF, before he was physically lifted on a special apparatus by Sri Chinmoy, leader of the Peace Meditation at the United Nations. The 20 September lifts of Mr. Grant and other members of the UN community came at the end of an early morning seven mile peace walk (see Peace Walk) which celebrated the opening of the General Assembly.

The one-arm lift is part of a series of programmes entitled “Lifting Up the World with a Oneness-Heart” which honours individuals from various fields of endeavour. Under Mr. Grant’s stewardship,

Peace Lifts [Continued from previous page.]

practical approaches towards peace including the ”Days of Tranquility” in El Salvador, when adversaries ceased hostilities so that children throughout the country could be inoculated against common diseases. Similar days have also taken place in Beirut and Afghanistan. Sri Chinmoy also had the honour of lifting Lester B. Korn, Ambassador of the United States; Jaap Ramaker, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands; Zhou Zbongxing, First Secretary of China; Nana Apeadu, Chairperson of the Pan African Human Rights Committee; and 16 others from various offices in the United Nations Community as the GA’s 43rd session began. What a way to start the day!

UN CELEBRATES AFRICAN SPIRIT

UN staff, delegates and NGO representatives celebrated the spirit of the African people on 14 September.

The lunchtime programme, sponsored by Sri Chinmoy: the Peace Meditation at the United Nations, began with an introduction to the economic situation in Africa by Salim Lone of DPIs Africa Recovery office. Mr. Lone recounted how widespread drought and famine on the continent prompted the 1986 Special Session on African Recovery, which adopted the UN Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UNPAAERD). Under the programme African Governments pledged to make wide-ranging economic changes while donor Governments sought to increase resource flows to the continent.

Changes and sacrifices did take place, said Mr. Lone. Many African nations devalued their currency by as much as 70-80 per cent, forcing many senior civil servants, who now made 30 per cent of their former salary, to take second jobs as taxi drivers or labourers.

Mr. Lone pointed out why national or regional reforms alone could not alleviate the depressed situation. In Tanzania, for instance, increased national efforts raised cotton production by more than 50 per cent However, since the world market price for cotton fell by more than 50 per cent, Tanzania actually received less for its cotton production than it had previously.

”In spite of all limitations”, the African people have the “courage, strength and vitality to live”, noted featured speaker Nana Apeadu, a Ghanaian and Chairperson of the PanAfrican Human Rights Organization.

With anecdotes that brought smiles of acknowledgement to many faces in the audience, Mrs. Apeadu described the sharing spirit, especially in the extended family, that supports many Africans through ongoing crises. She also emphasized the role of African women and the “inner belief in a higher power”.

Mrs. Apeadu noted that there are more refugees in Africa than any-where else m the world Almost SIX million people, musty women and children cut off from family and other support groups, are now “wasted” in African refugee camps. She emphasized the all-important role the proper observance of human rights has in alleviating the refugee problem and preventing the loss of crucial human resources from Africa through the brain drain.

Commenting from the audience, Banke Akerele of UNIFEM said, ‘1t takes real spirit to live under these conditions and not be part of the exodus. It is this spirit that keeps the continent alive.”

LUNCHTIME

Music and Art

FALL MUSICALE IN THE PLAZA

Secretariat Building staff are cordially invited to join their DC colleagues for outdoor musical entertainment during the lunch hours in the Plaza at UNICEF House (DC-3), Monday through Fridays, 12:15-2:15. Eating in the Plaza is permitted.

The music, performed by students from the Mannes College of Music, is provided courtesy of the UN Development Corporation (UNDC). It will be offered through-out the Fall, weather permitting.

PAINTING DISPLAY AND STAFF RECEPTION

All staff are cordially invited to a special exhibition and reception to view the paintings of Sri Chinmoy on Thursday, 29 September at 12:30 PM. A complimentary buffet luncheon will be served.

The exhibition of the largely abstract “paintings for meditation” is at Buchman Hall, 432 East 91st Street (between First and York Avenues). Regular viewing hours are: Monday through Friday. 10 a.m. -6 p.m Thursdays until 9 p.m. and Saturdays, noon – 5 p.m