Peace Day will be celebrated on Tuesday, March 2 under the theme ‘Let’s Shape Peace Together’. The day will be marked with a series of activities organised by the Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA) in collaboration with Peace and Love in Society (PALS) and its other partners.
One of the activities is a virtual Peace Day concert organised by PALS in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and the VPA.
Janilee Abrikian, general manager of PALS said that the concert will be held on March 2 at 10:00 a.m. and will feature special school performances across the island.
“The concert will be moderated by story teller, Blakka Ellis. Students will be engaged as they view performances by their peers and learn about peace building skills from messages from peace advocates,” she said. The concert will be streamed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B55VNuV654 .
Professor Elizabeth Ward, chair of the VPA said that other activities planned for the day include a webinar, which will be hosted by the St. James Ministers Fraternal, under the theme ‘Dealing with the Root of the Tree’. The webinar will examine the relevant and actionable biblical principles for crime reduction in Jamaica.
The VPA chair said that there will also be a midday meditation, which will be aired on Radio Jamaica and will be dedicated to peace.
Meanwhile, the VPA will launch its Trees for Peace Competition 2021 during the concert to engage at least 200 schools to create and maintain a peace garden as a therapeutic space to resolve conflicts and deliver peace building sessions/activities for students.
“In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition will include students creating and maintaining a back yard garden as an additional feature of this year’s competition. Online registration will commence on March 15, 2021,” she informed.
