The Waves of Change PRACTICE PEACE Forum hosted on INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 21st SEPTEMBER in CROYDON

On the International Day of Peace, Saturday 21st September, some 70 people from various backgrounds and organisations attended the Waves of Change ‘Practice Peace’ forum at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls in South London. The day long event was hosted by Peace Partners in association with The Tutu Foundation UK and Youth Futures.

The aims of the event were summarised by Dr. Mitesh Desai, the day’s chair person, as “to reflect on how peace can become a reality for us as individuals, for our families, in our communities, and indeed for countries across the world”.

In partnership with PeaceCast.tv the entire event was streamed live and formed a part of PeaceCast.tv’s annual Peace Day global webcast. This had the effect of increasing the event audience several times over.

There were presentations on The Prem Rawat Foundation’s Peace Education Programme and the Tutu Foundation’s Ubuntu Youth Project, as well as from a number of groups from the Croydon area with an active focus on youth well being and conflict resolution. A signing of the Pledge to Peace and a Meditation vigil were held, and invited guests included Shaniqua Benjamin, Croydon's Deputy Mayor and the Iman of Croydon Mosque. Also included were videos, live music and poetry, a panel debate with audience participation, and a Youth Futures workshop.

Measured by the reactions from presenters, attendees (even from some of the venue staff) and by the new connections established, this Peace Day celebration event, in preparation for several months, was a wonderful success! It seems that the remote audience viewing via the internet felt the benefit too, one viewer from Australia commenting  “I watched for hours last night simultaneously with my son, over 1000 kilometres away. We had our phones on so could comment and enjoy together. Fantastic. Thank you Peacecast.tv team and Peace Partners UK and everyone who contributed.“

Comments from attendees included these: “an amazing event” “an awesome day” “a brilliant feeling event” “it was a pleasure to be there” “a wonderful event”.

An edited recording of the livestream video from the event is already available (it is best played on a mobile device). You can view it here https://youtu.be/Gw2AL5AD31Y
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We hope to produce very good quality video from the event in due course - please keep an eye out on our website and social media for more.

View a brief slide show from the event.

With our thanks and gratitude to all our collaborators who helped make the event so successful!