What a week we’ve had this week – not only have we been partners of the EBU for UNESCO’s World Radio Day which sent our messages and music to more than 2,000 radio stations – but, as a result of this, we now have the most incredible new ODOC supporters who we are really excited about and truly grateful for.
Last year’s joint Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad has added her voice for peace to ours. An inspiring and incredibly brave young Yazidi woman, Nadia suffered terribly after watching most of the male members of her family be murdered before being kidnapped herself and then being tortured and raped by her captors before finally escaping and then finding the courage to raise her voice for peace.
The Elders, an amazing group of world leaders for peace who we have long admired, have also become ODOC supporters. Founded by Nelson Mandela and now chaired and co-chaired by Mary Robinson (ex President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for human rights) and Ban Ki-moon (the last Secretary General to the United Nations General Assembly), they are a powerful and truly inspiring group of world leaders who work together for peace, justice and human rights. They also shared with us a wonderful short film about peace for World Radio Day which we will be posting on our Facebook page next week.
And, last but absolutely not least – in fact most wonderfully – His Holiness the Dalai Lama has also agreed to be a supporter of One Day One Choir, something we are really thrilled about. He has shared with us the lovely image you see with this post as well as his wonderful short lecture on the importance of dialogue and peace from Washington, which we will also be sharing on our Facebook page in the near future.
The messages of all three of these wonderful new supporters is the same in essence – which is that we need to be brave, strong and proactive enough to find peace within ourselves as well as taking responsibility for stepping up, speaking up and taking action for peace – personal, local and global peace.
How lucky are we to have the wisdom, experience, words and kudos of these incredible world leaders for peace – please let them inspire you to keep raising your voices for peace in the coming year, by singing with us on Peace Day and working throughout the year to keep peace making and peace building on your personal and local agenda.
(We’d like to say huge thanks too to our lovely web lady, Kelly Drewett of Kaydee Web, for her constant support and updating of our ODOC website).