Nina Lynn Meyerhof, EdD, president and founder of Children of the Earth

My intent and focus is to acknowledge diversity and at the same time help bring the human family into holistic communication and mutual understanding. It is through educational processes that we may all learn to live a more ethically responsive and harmonious life. Towards this end, I have been active on the very local community level, the local-global level and the international world level.

I recently worked in a salaried position on the local community level as a Special Education Coordinator, managing Vermont’s W.S.E.S.U. school district's special education programs. I was responsible for the administration of all aspects of the special education programs. The goal was to create programs of excellence in a caring atmosphere to further healthy communication among parents, children and teachers.

On the local-global level, I developed and operated international youth leadership programs at my Center in Vermont. Young people from all around the world came together to learn about each other and to develop meaningful projects for their home communities.

On the international world level, I am often considered a spokesperson on Peace. As President of Children of the Earth, I have been a guest presenter in Brazil on the New Education, invited to Thailand as networker and educational consultant, to Switzerland on Children Rights concerns, in Italy on spirituality and tourism, in Taiwan as a representative for a conference on World Religions, in India on peace and non-violence, in Nepal as presenter on the Spiritual Forum and in Ghana to develop the Apeadu Children's Peace Center. I traveled to other countries representing and meeting with professionals and political representatives who are active in deliberating better methods for human coexistence.

Peace is more than the absence of war. It is a state of Being. To accomplish this state of being, new educational models must evolve that further character development, conscious living skills and mutual understanding.

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During these past five years I have worked within the United Nations arena, actively participating in education programs, human rights forums, the spirituality caucus and other relevant meetings for the elimination of poverty and establishment of equity for all.

I orchestrated the Spiritual Forum that met at the UN on a monthly basis. It brought together individuals and representatives of many groups who wished to look at issues from a spiritual perspective. To this end, I hosted the Round Table at the State of the World Forum, a forum founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. This spiritual work, inspired by Lama Gangchen, led me to many parts of the world. After meeting the Dhammamakaya Foundation staff at a NGO meeting and discussing spirituality, I was invited as their guest to Thailand - one of my many trips. They then asked me to go to Nepal and locate Lama Gangchen and bring him back for one of their celebrations. It was the beginning of the marriage of Thervada and Mayanna Buddhism in Thailand. Part of my work is uniting diverse entities and helping to find common ground.

In certain circles I became recognized as a peace education teacher and was invited to their international meetings. I worked with children's organizations and youth peace groups on the premise of founding a Young People's General Assembly. I was at the Hague Appeal for Peace in Holland, the largest gathering of NGOs for peace. There I recognized an African youth, Vandy Kanyako, whom I had first encountered when he came to the 1990 Children’s Global Seminar at Heart’s Bend, my home. He had survived the war in Sierre Leone and now on stage, he was presented the Human Rights Award for organizing youth to drop their weapons and seek peace. He is presently a university student sponsored by a small foundation. Teaching has meaning for changing lives.

This is the declared decade for the Culture of Peace. To further this I was in Madrid as the representative of an organization to develop educational material that stresses building new cultural dimensions. The program continues through telecommunications with an evolving common software program on the Culture of Peace.

In Ghana I met with the local community members and during my stay became anointed honorary Queen Mother and a formal representative of that region. I am in the process of helping to develop a summer program for international and African youth.

I was sponsored to travel with Chief Nana Apeadu of Ghana, a renowned human rights worker. We met with Asian delegates to define their common concerns re colonialism and to learn and share in their struggle to maintain respect for their own historical culture.

On September 11th, 2001, the day of endings and new beginnings, I happened to be in New York City. I was inspired to take action and worked with a few friends to create a Kids Korner at the Red Cross Armory and the Pier---a safe haven for the children of all the victims. It is reported that approximately 100,000 children were affected in the pain of this tragedy. Their thoughts will be the grains of tomorrow's culture. It is through education that hope and new possibilities can be restored.

My heart directs my mind that directs my actions. Education is to draw out and to examine and to build the future. Education creates meaning so that life can be fulfilling and possibilities can become realities. To this end, I would like to help young people discover their individual and cultural potential while creating a sustaining global unity.