A GPFF advance team, led by chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, met last Tuesday 29 June with Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka in Nairobi. The meeting was one of several with political and religious leaders, including President Kibaki, to make preparations for the upcoming Global Peace Festival and Convention in Nairobi this November.

At the meeting, Vice President Musyoka agreed to be chief guest at the International Youth Leadership Conference (IYLC), one of the three major events GPFF is holding in November. The Vice President is especially interested to encourage young Kenyan professionals to look beyond their own career success to contribute to a new Kenya. Kenyans will vote on August 4 in a referendum on a draft constitution that will have huge significance for the country’s future.

President Mwai Kibaki has commended the Global Peace Festival Foundation for promoting peace in the world.

Saying he welcomed the foundation's decision to choose Nairobi as the venue for the biennial global peace convention scheduled for 17 to 20 November this year, President Kibaki assured that the Government will provide all the necessary support to ensure the convention succeeds.

"My Government is pleased to partner with you in hosting this important conference aimed at spreading the message of peace to all humanity," the President said.

The Rivers of Peace project, begun by GPFF in August 2008 with the cleanup of the Nairobi River, entered a new phase Monday 28 June with the kickoff of a major restoration of the Nairobi Dam, in which GPFF is cooperating with the Kenya government.

Before addressing the gathered volunteers and Nairobi media, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and GPFF Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon squeezed into the cab of a back-hoe that scooped up some of the water hyacinth that covers most of the surface of the dam are and dropped it into a waiting truck to be carted away.

"I forgot all that was sacred. I was a broken spirit. Dehumanized, I had no value as a person and I struggled with addictions."

"I survived..."

"Now I see differently, I see the universe. In seeing my own value, I see the value of all."

Chief Joseph, Chief of the Gwa wa enuk First Nation, began to speak with these words at the Global Peace Leadership Forum, held on Tuesday, May 18^th, 2010 at the National Press Club in Washington DC.

San Jose, Costa Rica -- Newly inaugurated Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla offered warm support Tuesday to a visiting GPFF team. “In Costa Rica you will always have an open door. Costa Rica has the moral resolve that is important to promote the work that you are doing,” she told the group.

GPFF chair, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, congratulated the president on her recent inauguration and urged her to continue Costa Rica’s tradition of finding original approaches to peace building. “Costa Rica has done so much to provide innovative leadership in the world. Let’s work together to continue this great tradition and help build models of peace around the world,” he said.