Ronnie Cray, Peace Partners' Peace Education Programme lead volunteer, describes some collaborations with Celebrate Life in recent months.
Peace Partners has established an ongoing partnership with Celebrate Life. They are the community interest company, and the filmmakers who produced the ‘Power to Change’ documentary film. We work in collaboration with them to screen the documentary film, bringing it to various places all around the country. The documentary film helps in the promotion of The Prem Rawat Foundation’s (TPRF) non-religious, non-political, media-based Peace Education Programme (PEP), through which people can find their own inner resources and the possibility of personal peace. It tells the real stories of five Londoners who go through loss and violence. The PEP is highlighted in the documentary film as instrumental in their transformation to find resilience and hope. The screening of the documentary film in St. Austell and Redruth, Cornwall, in May, led to a PEP ‘taster’ session being done in June. A screening in Manchester in July, led to a senior manager for the children's and young people's charity Power 2 asking for a PEP taster session. This was arranged for her whole team, and this led to the full 10-week PEP sessions beginning early in December 2023. In October, the film was screened at Catford Mews, a community hub in Catford, South East London. Peace Partners provided the funding to make this event possible. The event was attended by over 30 people, including the makers of the documentary and the director of Celebrate Life. Volunteers from Peace Partners and several other long-term TPRF supporters attended the screening. A PEP information table was provided, and several PEP folding cards and leaflets were given out to attendees. One member of the cast performed two of his poems, including the one seen in the documentary film. He also participated in the Q&A that followed, answering questions from the audience, alongside the film makers. Also in October, the documentary was screened at Exeter University at their Tremough Campus in Cornwall. Six students expressed their interest in the PEP for schools and universities afterwards at the information table, six more students were interviewed by Celebrate Life, and one student expressed an interest in helping with PEP. A separate report on the event has been included in this eBulletin (see above). Our partnering with Celebrate Life has made it possible for Peace Partners to work towards obtaining Exeter University’s permission to start the in-person PEP for schools and universities sessions on their campus in Cornwall in the early months of 2024. We are looking forward to even more opportunities to continue the ongoing collaboration with Celebrate Life in the new year.
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A report from co-organiser Kathy Miller. Peace Partners, in partnership with Croydon College in South London, hosted International Peace Day on 21st September with guest speakers Mayor Jason Perry in the morning session and Shaniqua Benjamin, poet, writer and community activist in the afternoon. Over 110 students attended in the morning and over 65 in the afternoon. Shaniqua read some of her wonderful poetry, as well as speaking eloquently about her role in the community and the work she does bringing groups together in a variety of ways. I reflected recently that peace is like an iceberg - you see what can be seen but underneath there is a large mass no one ‘sees’ but it is definitely there. The event took weeks of planning and the team, who all helped on the day, made for a beautiful event. Mayor Jason Perry and Principal Caireen Mitchell were both presented with a copy of ‘Hear Yourself’ by renowned Peace Ambassador, Prem Rawat, and excerpts from students talking about how they have benefitted from the Peace Education Programme were screened too. Students could sign up for a forthcoming Peace Education Programme and ask any questions. Wouldn’t it be great if every day was International Peace Day for everyone? But at least one day a year is a start ...
On behalf of our key partner, The Prem Rawat Foundation, and fellow partner, Celebrate Life, a screening of Celebrate Life’s film, Power to Change, was presented by Peace Partners at the University of Exeter, Tremough Campus in Cornwall, on the 23rd October ‘23. The film was well received by the students and staff who attended. Power to Change was produced in 2021 by Wendy Lewis, Roni Redmond and filmmaker Rob Dunford. This documentary film shows the transformation in the lives of five Londoners, who reflect on the challenges of finding their own personal peace after being on one end or the other of violence and personal loss. The characters in the film include two teachers, as well as gang members and previous offender, Errol McGlashan, now a performance poet and artist. The film also features the story of Pastor Lorraine Jones, who has expressed on national media her heartfelt concerns for the youth of today, as she herself has been affected by the murder of her son Dwayne through knife crime.
How the University film event came about: after seeing a trailer of Power to Change, Exeter University's Humanities professor became enthusiastic to show the film to her students as she saw how it reflects essential themes of citizenship and empowerment, which she would be teaching throughout the coming semester. Also, their Student Experience Officer at the University also expressed her opinion that Power to Change was is a ‘very important’ film that would be valuable content for the law students. This resulted in the University kindly agreeing to host the event, providing a welcoming venue at their main Lecture Hall. They liaised with Celebrate Life and Peace Partners to put on the event, with Wallee McDonnell, from Celebrate Life, agreeing to come to Cornwall as main speaker. Peace Partners helped with funding and provided information cards about the Peace Education Programme, which is mentioned in the documentary during Wallee McDonnell’s conversation with Errol McGlashan. During his time in prison, Errol had been a participant of in the Peace Education Programme, and this was it was here where he had first met Wallee, who was facilitating the programme. Prem Rawat, founder of the Peace Education Programme and international author, is featured in Power to Change, where he speaks to young people at an event in Lambeth College and also shown in conversation with Ben Eine who created the ‘Peace is Possible’ mural in Shoreditch: it is this subject of ‘Peace’ which is a prominent theme throughout the Power to Change film. Afterwards, all enjoyed a buffet provided by the University. Some of the students expressed their responses to Power to Change on camera to Rob Dunford from Celebrate Life and this will be shared once edited. One student said, ‘Prem Rawat really affected me as soon as he started talking’. Another attendee, who had been given Prem Rawat’s book, ‘Hear Yourself’, expressed that she ‘felt it in her heart’. There will be a follow up after this event with a presentation of The Prem Rawat Foundation’s Peace Education Programme for High Schools and Universities. Peace Partners is helping with the UK piloting and development of this course. |
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