Children from Kikuyu, Kisii, and Kalenjin tribes at the new GPFF-supported school in Molo.

Molo is a town in Kenya’s Rift Valley. In 2007, it experienced the brunt of the ethnic violence that followed the presidential election. Thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Today in Molo grass grows over the remains of a school that was burnt to the ground by rival tribes. Next to it stands a new school. Its sponsor had one condition, that the school teach members of all tribes.

In the same classroom, children of former enemy tribes, Kikuyu, Luos, Kisii and Kalnjin, sit side by side working together towards the future. They serve as a reminder that young people have an astounding capacity to dream big, to see beyond past enmities, and reach for something better.

No matter where they come from, whether it is Africa, Malaysia, the United States, or Korea, young people have shown hope and possibility even if they have nothing. Their most valuable resource is their future and their dreams for a better world.

It shows the enduring vision and dream that lives on in the human spirit. And it is inspiring to continue investing in the youth of our world. Each generation possesses the seeds of the vision of peace to plant for the next generation to carry on.

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My wife, Junsook Moon, spoke on women’s role in peacebuilding at the recent Global Peace Women Awards Ceremony in Paraguay.

Yesterday, May 10, my wife spoke at the 4^th Annual Global Peace Festival Foundation awards ceremony in Paraguay. This year we recognized outstanding women peace leaders. The event and her address reaffirmed that peace needs the involvement of such exemplary women. They are the mothers, wives, sisters and daughters that contribute and complete our human family.

I wanted to share this excerpt from her address.

“Women have increasingly important roles to play today in our communities and nations.  In fact, many today talk about this being the “age of women.” I believe you will also agree that women bring unique qualities to whatever roles we play. In fact, it has been said that women hold up one-half of heaven.

But for women to fully realize this potential – and for humankind to truly become “One Family under God,”  the innate, God-given, dignity and value of women must be recognized and respected. In this age of globalization, we hear much about the need for resources – energy resources, mineral resources, and so on. But the most important resources for the future of our planet are human resources – not only for material progress – but also, and more importantly, for moral advance and social harmony.

Women, as a little over half of the world’s people, represent a great and often untapped resource, that humanity can no longer afford to ignore. It is time to set this “woman resource” free for the sake of peace in families, communities, and the world.”

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