Preparations got under way for “The
Children’s World Seminar” to be held at
Heart’s Bend in September, 1990. Ellen founded
PEACEWAYS, a non-profit organization promoting inner and global
peace. In January, 1990, over 500 letters to 93 different
countries were sent out from the PEACEWAYS office. Applicants
were invited to write an essay in English about their views on
World Peace and submit three adult recommendations. Forty
applicants who evidenced a strong willingness to act for World
Peace were invited. Because of lack of funding, only 32
of the original 40 were able to come.
On September 14, 1990, one by one they came
from airports in New York to gather at the United Nations
International School. During the bus trip from NYC to
Vermont, they quickly recognized a strong bond transcending the
cultural extremes and other differences among them.
During the week at Heart’s Bend there was a
remarkable sense of unity: a common love for life and
commitment to world peace. They were brothers and
sisters, children of the earth. At Heart’s Bend it
was as if they were held together in the arms of their mother.
Their hearts and minds were open.
At left, in the closing ceremony around the
peace pole at Heart’s Bend, Nina holds the torch which
had been carried around the world for The First Earth Run,
while a young Tibetan reads the central statement composed by
the entire group, THE CHILDREN’S DECLARATION FOR PEACE.
As each youth held the torch during the
ceremony, he or she made a personal commitment to the future
and signed the declaration.
The seminar was finalized in an audience
with his holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, winner of the
1990 Nobel Peace Prize. The meeting included a reading of
THE
CHILDREN’S DECLARATION FOR PEACE, songs and dance, laughter, hugs, and blessings.
Afterwards, nine delegates took an active
part in the International Children’s World Congress.
Six delegates presented a seminar report to hundreds of
people in front of the U.N. Building at The Children’s
Open Forum.
The name of Nina’s organization,
PARTNERS IN PEACE, was later changed to CHILDREN OF THE EARTH
in recognition of the children’s vital awareness that all
the world’s people are one people and “part of the
earth’s living system.”
The Children-of-the-Earth logo was designed
by participants in the 1991 International Youth Leadership
Program at Heart’s Bend. It is derived from a
Native American concept, the Medicine Wheel.
