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What are your impressions as Messengers of Peace of the fiftieth anniversary of the Peace Bell ceremony?
Ms. Cataldi: I suppose it is somewhat ironic, as today is also the opening of the General Assembly and on this day of peace, most of the debate will focus on war. In that sense, ringing the bell brought the impression of hope to my mind.
Ms. Goodall: For me, the bell symbolizes that ordinary people around the world want peace. Today, it seemed a little chilling to hear the bell ring out at such a dangerous time in the world when there is so much conflict. Today our organization has young people in probably seventy countries flying gigantic peace-dove puppets, and we hope to have several thousands of them. We are trying to keep alive the hope—hope for the future—and the ringing of the bell helps us understand that.
How do you see peace education in conveying a shift in thinking towards a culture of peace?
Ms. Goodall: After 9/11, we pulled together a group of all kinds of young people from disparate backgrounds, including Arabs and Muslims, and initiated the “Peace Initiatives”, which are now spreading to our groups around the world. We are trying to help kids understand people of different cultures, religions and ethnic groups, particularly religion because it’s so divisive.
Ms. Cataldi: I remember being in a refugee camp in the south of Sudan that has a peace and communications programme, which is really effective, because you are on the ground with the people who have been personally affected by war. And I remember I was very impressed by this programme and with the women and people. I just did a three-day conference on women and justice and it made me think of the United Nations. Take the crisis in Darfur right now. The UN feels impotent because as a structure it may have difficulty preventing war. How can you keep peace when there is a war? But this conference made me think that in the post-war situation you need the UN, which is an umbrella organization that can rebuild structure on-sight; it is so important. Maybe the United Nations is ineffective in the Iraqi war situation, but in post-conflict situations it is the only thing we have in this world.
Has your sense of mission changed? Have you refocused your energies into new areas of peacemaking?
Ms. Goodall: We are participating in some sports efforts, particularly in the refugee camps. I’ve refocused on this peace initiative, developing this programme for youth even further, because we have to give them hope. Look at the suicide rate. Young people are kind of in despair because— and it’s a mixture—in some cases of war, in many places environmental degradation, and often crime and drugs. Everywhere there are problems for youth, and if they don’t have hope, they can’t see beyond that or how they can make a difference, and then there isn’t hope. How can we bring young people into this world and not do our utmost? Not only to give them a feeling of hope, but to make that feeling real, to empower them to act, to make change—that is what our programme is actually doing.
Why is your youth programme called Roots and Shoots?
Ms. Goodall: Roots make a firm foundation, and shoots seem tiny but together, and when they reach for the sun, they can build a brick wall. The brick wall is all the problems we humans have inflicted upon the planet. The message is that the individual makes a difference. Every group chooses three kinds of projects—one for people, one for animals, one for the environment—and these are hands-on. You get out there and kids choose something; they’re not told what to do. So in each of the eighty countries, the programmes have completely taken off. It began in the United Republic of Tanzania, where we are very strong, but it is also in the Congo, South Africa, growing in Kenya and starting in Cameroon. I’ve been involved in Africa all my life. One of our programmes, called “Take Care”, is working to improve the lives of villagers living around the wilderness, because you can’t hope to save the wilderness if you are living in abject poverty—you know about it, I know about it. This programme, in a very holistic way, is therefore helping them to help themselves, and it has worked so well in Tanzania. That is the kind of thing we are doing, we are concentrating on scholarships for gifted girls and on micro-credit banks so women can take out small loans and make a start.
How do you see your role in connecting the local to the global? Have your experiences given you ideas on how things could be improved or done differently?
Ms. Goodall: The only way I, as a Messenger of Peace, can operate is by travelling to these countries making links. We call them “partners in understanding” and they work by bringing youth together and giving them authority. There’s an amazing group, Global Youth Action Network, in 170 countries and we link in so that the Roots & Shoots programme is reaching out everywhere, trying to educate and empower the youth to become the spokespersons and have their plans and help spread the goals further. We are providing the fodder that leads to these amazing linkages, but it’s necessary to reach out into these dark corners where nobody sheds the light.
Ms. Cataldi: Another side of my work is trying to encourage the media to shed light on dark spots that have been forgotten. For instance, the media has forgotten Afghanistan. When you walk in Afghanistan today, everyone complains that no one is thinking about them. The other day, I met a reporter who arrived only to cover the election and then she will be gone.
Mr. Ali, you have also visited Afghanistan. How did that trip affect your work as a Messenger of Peace?
Mrs. Ali: I think what Mr. Ali would say is that as a Messenger of Peace you go to places like Afghanistan. Muhammad went right after the war and witnessed the level of devastation there. You look out and all you can see is rubble, and I’m sure it’s still like that; these people are living in rubble and dust. And like Ms. Cataldi said, you go there and hold elections, and then what? You know, these people are sort of forsaken and I think we do that in too many countries. Muhammad’s visits are limited because of his health and his availability, but when he goes he wants to go with purpose, resolution and conviction to bring something to the people that they can hold on to, not just empty promises. Unfortunately, that happens too often. Today, as you said, this role as ambassador of peace is even more important than it was four years ago because of everything that has gone on. We may need to start in our own backyard, here in the United States, and make our views a little more myopic, because with all the work that we are doing overseas, we need to supplant here as well, to build tolerance for people of different ethnic and religious origins to coexist in a country that was founded on this very preface. There’s always more work to be done.
Ms. Goodall: Let me add to that, because in Africa, in our Roots & Shoots programme, when you get to high school and university, young people are going out into the villages and talking in the schools—they’re the ones kids listen to. They talk about HIV/AIDS and can mention things like condoms and “penis”, which adults cannot. Children will just giggle and not listen; but the older ones can, and it’s making a very big difference. We are trying to work with the World Bank to have buses go into the rural areas with medical people who can speak on simple treatments and also talk of prevention.
Ms. Cataldi: I remember when I went to Somalia in 1992 with Audrey Hepburn, people kept asking, “Is Audrey an actress?" A lot of people were unaware that she was famous, but nevertheless she left such an impression that everywhere she went people called out, “Audrey, Audrey, Audrey”. So everybody remembered her, but not because she was famous, but because of what she did.
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