How I Became a Peace Activist

I wanted to make a positive impact during my 18 month sojourn in Nepal. However, the myriad of needs and projects to meet them were overwhelming. How could one prioritize? I found myself trying to help everyone who asked - a task that was at the same time fulfilling, frustrating and exhausting.

Upon my return to the United Sates I decided to homeschool my three children - another fulfilling, frustrating and exhausting task. I was desperately in need of a break when I received an email about the Third Annual Peace Alliance Conference in Washington DC. The name of one of the guest speakers, former Ambassador John W. McDonald, caught my eye. I had never met Ambassador McDonald - founder of the Institute for Multi-track Diplomacy - but I had met Dr. Eileen Borris, the Director of Training for that organization. In fact, I had met her for tea at the Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu! Curious about the connection and justifying the expense of registration by reasoning that I could avoid the cost of airfare and a hotel to attend the conference, since it was practically in my backyard, I registered.

The Peace Alliance, I learned, supports a grassroots movement to pass legislation in the U.S. congress that would implement a cabinet level, federally funded Department of Peace and Non-Violence. Not only that, but eight other nations including Nepal, have initiatives to install Ministries of Peace. You might think that diplomatic missions already serve this purpose, but the fact is that the focus of embassies is to promote the interests of their nations and protect the rights of their citizens abroad.

I have always been a pacifist at heart, but I am also a practical person. As I listened to one speaker after another outline specific strategies for combating domestic violence, school shootings, international conflicts, gang violence, and prison recidivism, I found myself wondering why no one was using these creative and effective methods.

I learned that the answer was twofold: lack of funding and lack of publicity. While governments spend untold amounts of money to train, equip, and deploy their armed forces, there are no such expenditures for professional peacemakers. While the news constantly highlights atrocities, successful efforts to prevent conflict are totally under the media radar.

Right then and there I approached the operations manager of the Peace Alliance and said that I wanted to help. I knew exactly how I wanted to volunteer too. Since my husband's profession involves moving from country to country every few years, and I have a family of five (plus a dog that we adopted in Nepal) to care for, I wanted to work via the internet. That is how I became manager of the Peace Registry.

The Peace Registry is an interactive database of peace organizations and projects all over the world. Now, instead of letting world news depress me, I spend my time inspired by the small and large efforts of people everywhere to "wage" peace. In the course of my volunteer work, I have made an important realization - the fight for universal education, human rights, women's empowerment, poverty eradication and saving the environment are all secondary to the need for peace. It is the umbrella under which all other efforts are gathered. Thus I found my priority, and that is how I became a peace activist.