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Lions Clubs International, District 418 Ghana celebrates International Day of Peace …with an awareness on District 418 Peace Poster Contest 2022
• Lion Diane Novis Zukowski MJF, Chairperson of District 418 Peace Poster
Contest and 2nd Lady of Republic of Ghana, Samira Bawumia in a photograph.
The District 418 Ghana of Lions Clubs International; a charity organisation that supports and serves humanity, joins the world in commemorating the International Day of Peace by highlighting on the importance of promoting the Peace Poster Contest for children in Ghana as a means of maintaining, sustaining peace and security.
Annually on September 21, the world marks the day to underscore the need in ensuring peace and the year 2022 is of no exception, and the theme slated for this year’s celebration is “End Racism. Build Peace”.
Governor’s Speech on Peace and Stability
As part of the celebration, the District Governor of District 418, Lion Emmanuel Kojo Gyimah PMJF, District Peace Poster Chairperson, Lion Diane Novis Zukowski MJF, in partnership with Rev. Dr. Lawrence Tetteh, International Peace Ambassador and the entire Ghana Lions Club Members are using the opportunity to create and increase awareness about the club’s efforts towards this year’s edition of Peace Poster Contest which begins next month.
International Day of Peace, globally celebrated, was established by the United Nations General Assembly for strengthening the standards of peace, and the day is devoted to observing 24 hours of cease-fire and non-violence, hence we need to be actors of peace and ensuring stability among all.
The District Governor, has continually exhibited quality traits of promoting peace throughout all Lions Club International missions where peace remains a vital part of the organisation’s role, and peace is an element that cannot be overemphasised in our current dispensation because it is a possible tool for development.
District 418 Peace Poster Contest Chairperson’s remark
In this limelight, Lions Clubs International Peace Poster Contest is open for registration now and over 600,000 children would be sharing their visions on peace through the art of painting.
Children between 11 and 13 years from various schools can take part in this contest and there is also a prize to be won by the overall winner with some consolation prizes for all participants in the Peace Poster Contest
As the Chairperson of the Peace Poster Contest, I am Lion Diane Novis-Zukowski MJF, and would like to stress on the need for children to be given the opportunity to express themselves freely through art in the propagating for peace in the society and the nation as a whole.
That notwithstanding, the International Day of Peace celebration is timely, apt and totally sync with what the Lions Clubs seeks to achieve with its contest by harnessing the talents of children to live harmoniously among themselves and become agents of peace in their various communities.
This year’s theme for the Peace Poster Contest which is ‘Lead With Compassion” works perfectly with the theme for International Peace Day, and in a world where there are so much fight, racial comments in every aspect of our lives ranging from politics, sports, entertainment, among others, it is imperative that we make our voices heard in curbing such a global canker and a better way to do it is through these children who are willing to lead this campaign through arts.
The Peace Poster Contest needs collaborations from individuals and corporate institutions to embark on initiatives at schools and community and for more information about the contest, individuals could visit and know more about Peace Poster Contest on social media pages at district418Peacepostercontest on Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube.
End Racism. Build Peace (A Global Perspective on the theme)
It is very prudent to always underscore the need to stop racism at all levels and foster peace and harmony in our various society because it serves as a catalyst for mankind’s survival.
However, racism is not a healthy tool for restructuring the world’s aim of building global peace and integrating harmony among all levels of individuals irrespective of skin colour, religion, language among other discriminatory acts.
One cannot choose to play gimmicks with the peace and stability enjoyed at home, in a community and country as a whole, because peace cannot be compromised for anything and can never be replaced.
It is very disturbing there is still prevalence of racism in some parts of our communities and in our current dispensation, we need to tackle racism by ending this menace to stop and build peace as a yardstick for economic development.
A peaceful economy is considered to be a thriving economy and John Lewis statement that says “Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division”, must be a foundation for ending racism because the act has tendencies to generate war and the genocide issue in Rwanda could be a case of study in this scenario.
Connecting Peace in a multi-sectoral approach and dealing with racism
As one people, we should not tamper with the peace we enjoy in a nation and also never underestimate the power and essence of bilateral relations among nations because peace is a symbol of economic power that reflects the beauty of an economy.
Racism, must be dealt with by ending the menace in order to create an enabling environment for a harmonious coexistence without fear and it all depends on how we relate with one another in society by accepting all persons of skin colour, religion among others.
Peace starts at home and everyone must be involved in ensuring peace, hence, children, parents, religious leaders, political actors among others must contribute their quota in ensuring in building peace in the community and nation as a whole.
Statistics gathered in March 2022, by a Diversity Council Report connotes that 43 per cent of non-white employees commonly experience racism at work, while only 18 per cent of “racially privileged” workers reported racism as a problem.
Interventions to end racism and building a long-lasting peace
We can collectively end racism by constantly condemning the act and the woes associated with, as it poses a dangerous risk of putting individuals, families, communities and nations in disarray.
Every skin colour is precious and valuable and we must understand diversities of culture and religion to enable a peaceful coexistence devoid of racism at all levels.
Education and awareness creation about the canker must be intensified at all levels and at various institutions which include schools, faith-based organisations and at national levels to enhance civic education on the issue of racism.
It is time we all considered ourselves one people and fought towards achieving one agenda which is an ultimate peace that cannot be taken for granted regardless of political affiliations, religion and skin colour.
By Emmanuel Kojo Gyimah
[The writer is the District Governor of Lions Club District 418 and Chairperson of the Peace Poster Contest]
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
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