COLORADO VOICES OF PEACE

On March 12th, the Colorado chapter of WFWP launched a new initiative: "Colorado Voices of Peace." This is a tri-monthly program that will allow women as well as men from all walks of life and of all races, religions and cultures to articulate their unique contributions to peace. They will be encouraged to express their personal insights and understanding of how peace can be put into practice within their personal spheres of influence.

Donna Gisi, a college student as well as a full-time nurse practitioner, was our first presenter for "Colorado Voices of Peace." She is also an award winning photographer who is assembling a "Photographs of Peace" montage that she hopes will be a visual stimulation and reminder for people that a peaceful world is longed for by everyone, by people in small countries as well as in large ones.

And the photographs wonderfully depict the beauty of each culture and the strong family ties within.

Donna shared through a PowerPoint pictorial, her experiences in India and Africa as a volunteer nurse on a medical team. She fell in love with the children and told of the lack of basic health care and the poverty. Donna was able to put her pictures on a website and through that, a woman stepped forward to financially support a child in need, allowing her to attend school.

Donna believes that her personal experiences with the people of India and Africa opened her own heart to people of different races and cultures and religions, and she then naturally shares with her fellow students on campus, helping them to break their own preconceived notions about these countries. This is how Donna contributes to peace - by uplifting the good each culture has to offer and showing through her photographs how much we all have in common.