HOP ON THE PEACE TRAIN! July 31 - August 2, 2009

Det börjar redan 19:00 ikväll svensk tid på Music Island.



PeaceFest '09, a benefit event for worldwide peace, will take place on July 31st, August 1st and 2nd. Starting at 10AM SLT on the 31st and ending at 11:59 PM on the 2nd, and covering multiple sims this festival will feature live music, theatre and dance performances, art exhibitions, panel discussions and more. Master schedules for these exciting events will be posted at http://slpeacefest.wordpress.com.

PeaceFest '09 is a global, interfaith, cross-cultural effort to create lasting peace through mobilizing support and learning for RL Peace organizations. All proceeds from this year's PeaceFest will go to benefit the following organizations:

The Edith Benson Babies Home in South Africa - a home for orphaned children, some HIV positive.
- Come hear directly from Erica d'Aquila, a Master's student and volunteer who spent significant time in Durban and at the Babies Home last year. She will be interviewed on June 21st, and will take questions from the attendees related to the great works going on in the most impoverished regions of South Africa. It's simple: these are children being cared for by volunteers who need our help.

Amnesty International's work to end child soldiering. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of children under 18 have been affected by armed conflict. They are recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia and a variety of other armed groups. Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home. Others enlist “voluntarily”, usually because they see few alternatives. Yet international law prohibits the participation in armed conflict of children aged under 18. Come learn more about the realities of these child soldiers during PeaceFest 09, and what you can do to help stop this.

Peace Direct - the Escuela for peacebuilders, in Cali, Colombia - South America. The Escuela was established by Martha, Julieth and other women from the Colectivo de Mujeres Pazificas, a womens' peace network. They wanted to create an Escuela -a school - that would empower and educate hundreds of women from Cali and the surrounding villages in non-violent resistance and for a small organisation, the Women's Escuela in Cali has already had incredible impact. For a country that ranks in the top 20 in terms of violence, let's give these peacebuilders, some of our help.

This event represents a true cross-over from RL to SL and back again as we bring RL speakers in-world to discuss peace related initiatives in our global, open and free SL forum. Musicians and speakers will be streamed into SL, and our donations and efforts will move from virtual aspiration and generosity to real-world giving and impact.

Comments and suggestions are welcome (please send in notecard form). Planning meetings are currently in progress, usually on Mondays somewhere around 2-6 pm SLT. If you are interested in this project, please consider donating some of your time and effort. Our group in SL is "Peace Train" and this is our second PeaceFest!

Dream. Care. Do.

The Peace Train Engineers
Cotton Thorne, Siri Vita
Coordinators of Peace Fest and fellow dreamer/workers for peace