Ambassadors for Peace in Sydney Hold Forum on Service

In Soung Kwun
April 7, 2014

Sydney, Australia -- The bi-monthly Ambassadors for Peace meeting was held on April 7, 2014, at the Oceania Peace Embassy in Sydney, with some 40 Ambassadors for Peace, UPF supporters, members and guests attending.

Jynene Helland was MC, and she introduced and welcomed Rev. In Soung Kwun, President of UPF-Oceania, who recently arrived in Australia and could attend the first part of the meeting.

The evening began with a short video from UPF International: "What Is an Ambassador for Peace?"

Secretary General of UPF-Oceania Greg Stone gave an insightful presentation based on the evening's theme, "Service and Peace."

This was followed by a beautiful rendition of the Bob Dylan song, "Make You Feel My Love" sung by KaYeon Noh accompanied on guitar and with back-up vocals by Chihiro Midorikawa.

Then guest speaker Cheryl Johnstone shared an overview of some of the tremendous and transformative work of "Youth off the Street," a charity established in 2000 by Father Chris Riley to assist homeless and vulnerable young people -- now operating with 250 staff plus 200 volunteers, and a budget exceeding $20M from donations, corporate sponsors and the government.

A new Ambassador for Peace, Sheik Dr. Moustafa Rashed was appointed. Dr Rashed is a passionate advocate on issues of interfaith harmony.

UPF-Australia Secretary Mark Burfield gave a brief report of the successful Children's Festival held for the first time in Sydney City at Belmore Park on March 30, for which he was co-chair, and to which UPF and several Ambassadors for Peace contributed significantly. In fact the Children's Festival president and founder, also an Ambassador for Peace, is Thuat Nguyen OAM, who has been running Children's Festivals in suburban Sydney since 1999; he was the driving force for this festival.

The evening as usual was a pleasant experience for all who attended and included the sharing of food and good company with like-minded people of goodwill irrespective of backgrounds, ethnicity and religion.