1 January: Global Family Day (GFD)
In 1996, a children’s book, One Day in Peace, January 1, 2000, by Steve Diamond and Robert Alan Silverstein, was published and translated into twenty-two languages. As a result, nearly 140 nations responded to the November 1997 declaration of the UN General Assembly that the first year of the new millennium should launch an “International Decade for the Culture of Peace & Nonviolence for the Children of the World,” which would be ushered in by “One Day of Peace.” Finally, in November 1999, the UN issued a formal invitation for world participation. To date, more than thirty heads of state and many ambassadors have endorsed it. GFD is celebrated by two-thirds of the world’s population as a “Day of Peace and sharing.”
The first GFD celebration was held on January 1, 2000, between Palestinian and Israeli families at a West Bank refugee camp, with subsequent youth-led ceremonies at the South Pole in 2001, and in several major cities in 2002.
Reasons to Celebrate Global Family Day:
- We learn the most from our family
The family unit is like a university; the one place where we learn about leadership, guidance, get mutual support and prepare for adulthood—good and bad; a training ground for life.
- Let us appreciate our family; it is the only one we will ever have!
We not only celebrate our natural family. We are also part of the global family, and GFD recognizes this fact. If we start with our own families, this is the first step to live in harmony as a global family
- “We don’t choose our family; They are God’s gift to us, just as we are God’s gift to them.”(Desmond Tutu)
So, celebrate this first day of the year as a unique occasion to promote global peace and sharing, irrespective of differences of language, religion, country, race, political affiliation.
Make it a celebration with a purpose, to help unite our local, national and global families!
6 January: World Day of War Orphans (WDWO)
This special day remembers his suffering in war faced by civilians, especially the orphans. It was initiated by the French organization, SOS Enfants en Detresses.
Most orphans across the globe face severe hardships as they have no one to protect them. They are most likely to suffer from hunger and disease, emotional, social and physical handicaps. According to UNICEF, there are roughly 153 million orphans worldwide.
Governments do something for them, depending on the country you are in. But, as a rule, their prospects are poor. Many end up homeless, a smaller number turn to crime, and a still smaller number commit suicide.
Here is the example of just one country. After nearly thirty years of fighting in Afghanistan, there are now over two million orphaned children, with over 600,000 sleeping on the streets. Over a million suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome and over 400,000 children have been maimed by land mines.
In Africa over thirty-four million children are orphans. either as a result of war or epidemics such as AIDS.
In recent years the proportion of civilian casualties in armed conflicts has increased dramatically. This is now estimated to be about 90%, half of whom are children. Many of these have witnessed parents and relatives being butchered in the most appalling circumstances.
An estimated twenty million children have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict or human rights violations and are living as refugees in neighbouring countries or are internally displaced within their own national borders. It is estimated that 300,000 boys and girls under the age of eighteen are involved in more than thirty conflicts worldwide. At least six million children have been permanently disabled or seriously injured. We must not let these horrendous facts become just cold statistics.
In several places, warring group force minors to become soldiers. These child soldiers are used as combatants, messengers, porters, cooks and to provide sexual services. Some are forcibly recruited or abducted, others are driven to join by poverty, abuse and discrimination.
The World Day of War Orphans is a day to remember these children. Every one of them is precious. Every one of them deserves a better future.
Sr Esme da Cunha FDCC
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