Venue: Japan Pacific ICT Theatre, USP.
72nd Hiroshima Peace Memorial Event
6 August 1945 a day to be remembered in Hiroshima, Japan and across the world as the day a Nuclear Atomic Bomb devastated the lives of thousands. 72 years later and the few surviving members of the horrendous blast can still recollect their memory as if the event happened yesterday.
Members of ACT: Fiji decided to begin their programme for Youth Fest by commemorating this day first as the theme for the International Youth Day 2017 is Youth Building Peace. In collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Fiji, Japan Pacific Alumni Association (JPAA) and the World Peace Initiative (WPI) a Peace event was hosted from 10am - 11.30am at the Japan Pacific ICT Theatre, USP.
The event was opened by a welcome address from the founder and coordinator of ACT: Fiji, Ms. Elisha Bano, who highlighted her experience to Hiroshima last year and shared photos from her visit to the Hiroshima Peace Museum. She spoke about what peace meant to her and the importance of youth working together towards achieving peace.
"We as a youth group decided to begin our celebration for youth by marking this day first. Peace is important. Inner peace is important first. We must be at peace with our self before we can promote peace with others. This Youth Fest is important for us as this is the first of its kind that we are hosting. And we hope to continue with such initiatives and achieve peace with collaboration, tolerance and sharing"
Following this was the address by the First Secretary of Embassy of Japan in Fiji and shared with the audience more details on this event. He also shared information about the JENESYS Exchange programme and scholarship opportunities given to Pacific Island Youth from the Government of Japan. Such diplomacy ties are helping our countries grow together in harmony.
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| Organizers, presenters and some members of the audience at the event |
Furthermore, a Peace and Meditation session was conducted by Mr. Elvis Kumar the Pacific Coordinator of the World Peace Initiative (WPI).
"As the theme for this year's International Youth Day is Youth Building Peace, I urge all young people to work towards finding their inner peace first and have an appropriate mindset to work towards building peace in the society".
Before the vote of thanks was shared the audience from Political activist Mr. Ben Daveta who shared the importance of youth engagement and participation. He stressed; "You dont have to be political to be an activist." He further elaborated on youth needing to engage more in events such these organized for them.
The event marked the opening of Youth Fest and the next event will be help on Thursday at the FSM Pasifika Campus. The Thoughts Aloud event will see a number of youths share their creative pieces in the form of Storytelling, poetry, spoken words and skits.
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| Members of ACT: Fiji; JPAA and WPI after the event |
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