Afomya Tibebu is an award-winning student at ‘loving peace art contest’ from Nazareth School in Addis Ababa. She and the other two students among 200 schools in Addis Ababa have won the contest of presenting peace through their art. The contest was hosted by International Women Peace Group (IWPG) and the Ministry of Peace.
Afomya’s award-winning picture was the world map and people knitting hands together on it. The picture stands for peace throughout the globe. It comprehends the need to work in a coalition to safeguard peace. This picture of her won an award art contest among 200 students in Addis Ababa, as to Afomya.
“Peace is a vital matter to our world, thus, all need to work towards achieving it. It is needed in our country and the rest of the world. Tolerance and respecting differences are important manifestations of peace”, said Afomya.
IWPG is a global organization based in Korea. It aims at restoring order and instability to our globe. It has 100 branches and 700 thousand members in 130 nations worldwide.
The organization works to leave the legacy of peace for the next generation.
Esther Kim, IWPG Ethiopia Branch Coordinator, told The Ethiopian Herald that ‘loving peace art contest’ was hosted by IWPG to instigate peace all over the world. The organization uses the power of women to harmonize the different peoples of our world.
Kim said about 200 students from the different schools in Addis Ababa have contested on the ‘loving art peace’ competition. The drawings by the students comprehend the value of peace and how to keep it.
The coordinator uncovered that ‘plant peace’ is also a project to plant the culture of peace in the global village, where a culture of discrimination, violence, conflict, and war prevails. Activities spreading peace such as the culture campaign, art, commemoration events have been held in local communities as part of the Plant Peace Project, as to her.
She stated that women leaders around the world are gathered together to discuss the practical ways of achieving global peace every year in September. According to Kim, the symposium has become the premier event of IWPG and a place of impressive harmony and solidarity.
She added that since its foundation in 2013, IWPG has formed a global network that transcends national borders, races, religions, and ideologies to realize world peace. Currently, there are over 100 branches around the world with more than 280 cooperative groups, pointed out Kim.
IWPG’s ‘peace education’ is another project aimed at uniting the 3.7 billion women as one and helps them practice the spirit of peace worldwide. Peace education allows people to realize the peace from oneself can be extended to home, society, nation, and the world, the Coordinator said.
Any woman, transcending the boundaries of nationality, ethnicity, and religion can become one with IWPG and work for peace.
Honorable Mrs. TsigeTadele, Advisor to Minister of Women and Children,on her part, noted that peace is crucial to all things. Humans, animals, and plants need peace, hence, needs to be cultivated, nurtured and safeguarded. “We should commemorate peace, but not war”, she said.
Tsigesays IWPG works with Women’s Day which is celebrated on March 8. It works to stop the violations of women’s rights due to war and instability, as to her. She also demonstrated the approaches to safeguarding peace as conflict prevention,conflict mediation, and securing sustainable peace. These strategies help prevent and solve conflicts, expressed Tsige.
Alhamdu Badu, another winning student from Hadis Alemayehu Secondary School, explained that equality is crucial for the prevalence of peace. People usually discriminate based on blood, race, ethnic, and color background. Moreover, this act of them plants conflict in the mind of people, Badu said.
Alhamdu Badu drew a dove sitting on a beam balance. The picture conveys the message of fairness. Peace and equality go hand in hand. If there is equality, there would also be peace; hence, all need to be treated impartially, as to him.
The student further elaborated that the absence of peace threatens all things on earth since almost all things need peace for their survival though women and children are the prime victims. Therefore, we all need to work to stand against the war in this modern time, he said.
The Ethiopian Herald July 13/2019
BY GETAHUN LEGESSE
