The day was beautiful and sunny as the huge tarpaulin was laid out in the middle of the oval ground on February 15, 2010 that signaled the grand opening of the Global Peace Festival UMak-2010. The theme of the Festival was, “UMak for Peace – One Family under God”. The activity formally commenced with the ribbon cutting led by Dr. Edita I. Chan, Executive Vice-President, University of Makati.

The plan was to have ‘Human Hand Printing’ on the gigantic tarpaulin. The activity was called “Thousand Hands for Peace”; a weeklong endeavor to complete the formation of the Global Peace Festival (GPF) logo in consonance with the GPF UMak’s campaign for the promotion of peace, unity and harmony through arts on the campus level. The human hand printing itself was accomplished 3 days earlier by the school officials who made the first handprints, encouraging the student body to take ownership of the GPF’s vision of building “One Family Under God”. The fact that this was completed very quickly only further signified the unity and commitment of UMak’s faculty and its student body. GPF-UMak also aims to impact other colleges and universities to do the same and to proudly be the first to establish this powerful peace initiative.

Kenya’s ethnically diverse Rift Valley province has experienced unrest since the introduction of large-scale colonial farming in the 1950s. The divisions flared into open violence following the disputed presidential elections in 2007. In 2008, the Global Peace Festival arrived in Kenya, bringing a model of interfaith and inter-cultural peacebuilding through cultural celebration and community service that is winning wide acceptance among concerned Kenyans.

In the Rift Valley GPF partners have launched ambitious character education programs addressing the roots of conflict, which have been brought to elementary and high schools as well as presented in home-based settings. The GPF-supported Sports for Peace program adopts a similar perspective, sponsoring athletic competitions that involve all ethnic groups and applying principles of good sportsmanship as a form of peace education.

On February 16, Nairobi Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa joined a coalition of prominent national youth organizations and religious, business, and elected leaders to mark the launch of the 2010 Global Peace Festival and Convention, with a renewed commitment to advance the restoration of the endangered Nairobi River.

“I am proud to support the Convention and will engage the City Council to provide its support,” Mayor Majiwa said at the inaugural event, joining some 300 youth volunteers who planted trees along the Nairobi River as part of the restoration initiative.

Kenya has won the bid to host the 2010 Global Peace Festival and Convention, to be held in Nairobi on November 17-20. International peacemakers including religious, NGO, youth, business, governmental, and other civil society leaders will participate in the Convention on the foundation of regional Global Peace Festivals (GPF) to be convened in Asia, the Americas and Africa.

The announcement was made on February 16 in Nairobi with the strong endorsement of President Hon. Mwai Kibaki in a meeting with Global Peace Festival Foundation Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon and distinguished national host committee members.

President Mwai Kibaki today at his Harambee House office held talks with the Global Peace Festival Foundation Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon who paid him a courtesy call.

During the meeting, Dr. Moon briefed President Kibaki on the activities of his organization particularly the Global Peace Convention set to be held in Nairobi in November this year.