Peace and Development

The Peace and Development Committee is involved in working the UK and also the Middle East.

The Holy Land Medical Project is a partnership of Saving Lives, a Rotarian Medical Aid Agency, and the Universal Peace Federation’s Middle East Peace Initiative. It is following a successful model of collaborative health care in parts of India that furthered dialogue and reconciliation between two communities in tension. We will establish a Board of Trustees of the three faith leaders, Israeli and Palestinian Doctors and business managers from both communities to oversee proposed training health centres. With support from the Saving Lives network, UK volunteer Doctors and an international network of Ambassadors for Peace, medical training courses, telemedicine, exchange visits, and twinning of hospitals etc. are envisaged.

Mother ‘Saving Lives’ joins hands with the ‘Middle East Peace Initiative’

[Jerusalem]

In explaining the role the of a UK charity called ‘Saving Lives’ it’s Director, Peter Patel said, "In disaster areas of the world, many aid organisations tend to walk away prematurely and without building the capacity for victims to look after their own affairs and so we essentially do the post-disaster intermediate term work by providing advanced training to local medical personnel and monitoring their progress. Basically, we identify a project we want to deliver; we collect the money, find appropriate NGO partners, adopt that project, build it, deliver it, and oversee the rehabilitation period over two to three years."

Since 1992 Saving Lives has set up successful projects in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka following major cyclones, earthquakes and a tsunami. The organisation has built healthcare centres, rebuilt schools and provided clean drinking water and public health facilities.

A group of veterans travelled for a one week visit to Korea in July 2005. They had been chosen to represent each participating nation in the United Nations forces effort to defend South Korea between 1950 – 53. Sixteen war veterans participated from the UK with the support of the British Korean Veteran’s Association.

Over the weekend of 2-4th February 2007 in Stratford Upon Avon, the veterans, some with their wives, met again to share their own highlights of the trip to a land many had not returned to since the war in the early 1950’s.

Birmingham Peace Council Formation Meeting The first steps towards the formation of a Birmingham Peace Council were taken this evening. Adopting a theme of ‘Religions Working Together’, some sixty people and Ambassadors for Peace gathered at Dr David and Patricia Earle’s Birmingham home for a presentation about some of the activities of the International and Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace and the International Peace Federation including examples from the United Nations.

Held at “The Thomas Wall Centre”, Sutton, London on March 31st 2006, fifteen ladies and one gentleman, gathered together to prayer for peace and justice in our society.