El Paso Celebration of the International Day of Peace

Unity Through Creativity Foundation and the Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest hosted a celebration of the International Day of Peace Keystone Heritage Park and Botanical Garden on Sept. 21st, 2022. It was attended by 120 people. This event was part of over 4500 celebrations of the 40th anniversary of this international holiday.

The Unity Through Creativity (UTC) Foundation is a visual arts organization dedicated to bringing connection, compassion, and creativity to address discord in community. The Singing Tree™ Mural Project is UTC’s flagship program, with over 110 murals completed over the last 20 years.

The Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest is part of the nationwide Interfaith Alliance. The Interfaith Alliance seeks to offer opportunities to promote mutual understanding and respect through education and dialogue. They are celebrating their tenth anniversary on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 23rd.

Grandma Bea Villegas and Maria Cadillo hold the opening ceremony. Photo by Patricia Delgado

The International Day of Peace featured nine speakers and performers and 18 vendors. Television and radio broadcaster Monica Gomez emceed. Grandma Beatriz Villegas gave the ceremonial opening to the day. The speakers included:

• Neema Soratgar, a guest Scholar in Women Studies at University of Texas in El Paso, spoke about her experience narrowly escaping with her children from Afghanistan in 2021. She was the first woman to drive in Afghanistan in 2001 when the Taliban first fell and carried the Afghanistan flag in the Olympics in 2004.

• The Rev. Michael Grady spoke about "Ending Racism, Building Peace" and the recovery of his daughter from the Walmart massacre in August, 2019.

• Jacklyn Correan, 16, of Loretto High School, won the essay contest sponsored by Unity Through Creativity and the Interfaith Alliance. She read her essay, "One Must Work AtIt", about Eleanor Roosevelt's writing of the Declaration of Human Rights.

• Bettina Escudero led a guided meditation, accompanied by the cello playing of ProMusica.

• Laurie Marshall, the founder of Unity Through Creativity and the Singing Tree Mural Project, spoke about the neurobiology of creating peace.

• Fernanda Lugo led the attendees in Yoga throughout the day.

• Young Tigua men shared the Eagle dance, and the Grupo Folklorico Valle del Sol invited everyone to join in the dancing.

• The day closed with songs of Anna Maria Rosales, a native of El Paso whose works have been featured on Grey's Anatomy.

Nectarine Singing Tree Mural of Peace in process. Photo by Laurie Marshall

Other presenters and vendors included Rainbow Borderland; Pax Christi; the Veterans’ Administration Care Giver Support;Annunciation House; Abara Frontera; Quakers of El Paso;The League of Women Voters; Dialogue Institute Southwest; Volar (serving those who are differently-abled), and the St. Columban Mission for Justice, Peace and Ecology, who sold handbags embroidered by women trapped in Juarez; the Desert Bloom Healing Collective; and artist Pamela Vigo Sanchez.

Raindrop Turkish House contributed meals to all the vendors and offered Turkish savory and sweet food to the public.

Participants expressed surprise at the number of peacebuilding organizations that are working in the El Paso area. Takeaways included:

• There are many amazing, interconnected organizations in El Paso working towards Peace.

People who attended commented,: “I loved meeting many positive, committed, serious and fun-loving people.” “ It gives me hopefulness for peace in this city and in the world.”

“I need to become aware of my local charities and pick some to be active in.””All different communities came together for good and to make a difference..”

Women trapped in Juarez make handbags sold by St. Columban Mission.

The attendees identified these issues now confronting El Paso that can be addressed through the peacebuilding effort of Unity Through Creativity, the Interfaith Alliance, and the other many peacebuilding organizations in and around El Paso:

• Racism and prejudice

• Food deserts (areas devoid of groceries stores)

• Housing instability

• Environmental degradation

• Distribution of wealth and opportunity

• Migration

• Gender equity

The public can add their voice and vision to the Nectarine Singing Tree of Peace at this free,

fun family event on Sunday, Oct. 23rd, 3:00 – 5:00 pm at Keystone Heritage Park.

International Day of Peace

In 2001, my mentor, Avon Mattison, saw the proposal she made to the United Nations come true - the establishment of the International Day of Peace. Since then, on September 21st each year, there are worldwide cease fires and increased efforts to make peace a reality. Avon, whose name rhymes with Heaven, made that happen. Whenever she talked with me, I felt bathed in Divine Love. She always inquired enthusiastically about Singing Tree Project, which gave me strength to keep going in the face of obstacles.

Avon saw the United Nations' as a "Divine Plan for the Unified Souls of all Nations to move from a culture of war, violence and separation to one of regeneration and peace." She also said "Peace is a verb. It includes actions for the benefit of ALL life... We don't know what the future holds. We cannot be attached to the outcome."

Avon passed away at the age of 80 on Oct. 13, 2021, leaving Pathways to Peace to carry on her work. I have kept her last message on my phone. When I am struggling, I raise my vibration by listening to her angelic voice.

This time last year, Unity Through Creativity celebrated 20 years of the Singing Tree Project - on-line. What a gathering of Peace Leaders that was! It affirmed the power of creativity and collaboration to pro-actively build a culture of peace. Thank you to everyone who joined us for that rich dialogue.

This year, we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the International Day of Peace at Keystone Heritage Park in El Paso, Texas - in-person. We will be remembering Avon Mattison, the visionary founder of this international holiday. We will also be exploring the UN's 2022 goal of the day: End Racism, Build Peace. We are proud to partner with the Interfaith Alliance of the Southwest, whose extensive network in El Paso is helping us bring together the multi-cultural, mutli-racial, multi-generational Village that is the basis of a healthy democracy.

Here's the beginning of the Singing Tree Mural that will be unveiled and contributed to at our celebration. Our focus is on Peace with the Earth, Peace with Each Other and Peace Within Ourselves. Please share what you are doing to celebrate the Fall Equinox and the International Day of Peace. Let us amplify the waves of Peace - doing conflict well - as an alternative to letting our differences destroy our planet and each other. We'd love to hear from you...

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8a4b11_837238950ed649458d6885ef70fe528a/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

To end, I'd like share another commentary in El Paso Matters on-line newspaper about the power of Connection, Purpose and Creativity to help end gun violence. Please share your ideas and actions to heal, regenerate and transform the disfunction and harm we are witnessing. We are in this together.

With Gratitude,

Laurie

Liberty and Justice for All

Five words.The United States is based on these five words. A mission statement of 5 words is memorable. Everyone in our country knows them. Really our only task is to test whether or not our actions contribute to liberty and justice for all people on the planet. The idea is that one person's liberty is balanced by the justice of the action they have chosen. And all means ALL, even if it didn't in our country's founding. ALL means a multi-racial democracy with men and women, rich and poor, having Liberty and Justice. It's brilliant. Yes, it's also messy, painful, complex and difficult beyond our wildest dreams - loggers and environmentalists, unborn children and endangered or over-burdened mothers, short term energy needs and preventing the collapse of eco-systems, to name a few. I see closing the gap between our vision of Liberty and Justice for All and our reality to be a clear goal for all of us to work on in every sphere of our society.

The Singing Tree Mural of What Makes America Great wasmade in 2017 by an intergenerational, inter-political group of people, exploring a positive future for our country. It also honors our ancestors. The tear in Lady Liberty's eye is for the suffering in our country and our world as we fail to guarantee Liberty and Justice for All.

Unity Through Creativity Foundation seeks to demonstrate the beauty of our nation's mission. In the Singing Tree Mural Project, the whole world is invited to make a painting together, envisioned by an 8 year old girl. While making collaborative murals inspired by the mutualism of trees and forests, each person is free to express their vision of a positive future with just treatment for people and planet. The daunting goal is achieved one mural at a time, and the training of Singing Tree Mural facilitators.

A remarkable organization that is bringing Liberty and Justice to All is Education Cannot Wait, the Global Fund hosted by UNICEF for children in emergencies. It has brought education to 30 million children who have experienced upheaval and displacement. If the children traumatized by loss of their state, natural disaster and violent conflict can receive support for their natural creativity, compassion and curiosity, the world will have more Peace Leaders and collaborators than terrorists, rogue militias and lone wolves. It is such important work. Unity Through Creativity will be cross-marketing with Education Cannot Wait as we begin to explore how "Peace Buliding Through Art" might play a role in their Multi-Year Resilience programs.

Our work in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement is ready to launch as soon as we raise the last $10,500. You can support the pilot Singing Tree to Heal the Trauma of War here.

Facilitators of the Month

This month we recognize Gabi Lipska and Bobbie Rae Jones, the first two certified Singing Tree Facilitators. Gabi is an artist, social worker, mother and Polish immigrant living in Cumbria, England. She is in the middle of her third Singing Tree. Her first is called The Willow Singing Tree of Celebrating Our True Value, co-created with immigrant women in rural England.

The second was made with elementary school students when they first came back from Covid. It's called The Singing Ash Tree of Abundance and Protection.

Bobbie Rae, the second Facilitator we are honoring, is an artist, educator, mother and Disaster Recovery Worker whose family has lived in northern California since the Gold Rush in 1849. People who lost their homes to fires in Northern California helped design and paint The Magnolia Singing Tree of Our Inner Wellspring.

In these short videos, Gabi describes the magic of collaborative art and Bobbie Rae shares the process and symbolism of the mural.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL_Li_c3Pnc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Z5T-IZGR4

To end, I'd like share another commentary in El Paso Matters on-line newspaper about the power of Connection, Purpose and Creativity to help end gun violence. Please share your ideas and actions to heal, regenerate and transform the disfunction and harm we are witnessing. We are in this together.

With Gratitude,

Laurie