Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<p><em>147 boys and five girls are back home<br /></em></p> <p>Families living in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale are reunited with their children after months or even years apart. The 147 boys and five girls all belonged to armed forces or groups until recently.</p> <p>ICRC (International Committee of Red Cross) staff collected the information they needed to trace their families and have been working with the children in the centre to gradually prepare them to return to their communities.</p>
<p><em><em>2015 Theme: Inspiration, Education & Action</em></em></p> <p>The annual<span style="cursor: pointer;" aria-labelledby="wf_editor_jform_articletext_toggle" class="wf_editor_toggle" role="button"><span id="wf_editor_jform_articletext_toggle">Toggle </span></span> Season for Nonviolence is now in its 18th year. Spiritually guided citizen leaders in 900 cities in 67 countries have participated since the campaign began in 1998, co-founded by Dr. Arun Gandhi and The Association for Global New Thought (AGNT).</p> <p>It's an educational, media and grassroots awareness campaign spanning the January 30th and April 4th, memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.</p>
<p><em>A brief experience recounted by a group of young people in Taipei.</em></p> <p><strong>“</strong><strong>Here in</strong> <strong>Taiwan there has not been much news about the Ebola outbreak</strong>, apart from when there seemed to be some danger that it might spread outside of Africa. For most people, it is a distant problem that has nothing to do with them. But we Youth for a United World (<a href="http://y4uw.org/">Y4UW</a>) – both from Taiwan and some international students who are studying Chinese here – felt differently because we feel that every person in this world is part of the same human family.</p>
<p><em>Freedom of expression is not an end in itself. Opposite extremes of violent fundamentalism and absolute freedom must give way to the "will to live together". The West is becoming a multi-religious society. As in the case of the Holocaust, we must limit anti-religious "negationism". Lebanon is a model. Secularism is dead.</em></p> <p>Beirut (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis took part in the global debate about freedom of expression that followed the <em>Charlie Hebdo</em> massacre. Whilst noting that everyone "not only has the freedom, the right but also the obligation to say what one thinks to help the common good," the pope made it clear that those who provoke or offend can expect a reaction.</p>
<p><em>Shanell’s daughter Kate has autism. On the way home from a trip to Disney, she sat by a stranger on the plane. What happened on that trip is documented in this heart-melting thank-you letter. This post originally appeared on <a href="http://www.goteamkate.com/blog/dear-daddy-in-seat-16c-flight-1850-from-philly">Go Team Kate</a>.</em><a href="http://www.goteamkate.com/1/post/2014/01/dear-daddy-in-seat-16c-flight-1850-from-philly.html" target="_hplink"></a></p> <p>Dear "Daddy",</p> <p>I don't know your name, but <a href="http://www.goteamkate.com/" target="_hplink">Kate</a> called you "daddy" for the entire flight last week and you kindly never corrected her. In fact, you didn't even flinch as you could probably tell that she was not confusing you with her own "daddy," but instead making a judgment regarding your level of "safety" for her. If she calls you "daddy" then you better believe she thinks you are alright.</p>
<p><em>On Tuesday, January 27, 2015, Bishop Raffaello Martinelli will preside at the opening of the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the foundress of the Focolare Movement, at the Cathedral of Frascati, Italy.</em></p> <p><strong>The opening of the Cause was joyfully announced in a letter to</strong> <strong>the Focolare Movement, in which president</strong>, <a href="http://www.focolare.org/en/news/2014/09/15/maria-voce/">Maria Voce</a>, invited all those who live the spirituality of unity to be a “living witness” to what Chiara had lived, proclaimed and shared with so many; that is, the common effort of “becoming saints together.”</p>
<p><em>An initiative created by kids living in the slums of Mumbai and by the friends of Shanti Ashram of Coimbatore also known as Kovai, with the support of the Udisha Project.</em></p> <p><strong>Together with </strong><a href="http://shanthiashram.org/" target="_blank"><strong>Shanti Ashram</strong></a><strong>, a Hindu movement inspired by teachings of Ghandi, the </strong><a href="http://www.udisha.org/" target="_blank">Udisha</a> movement conducts and supports various activities such as the <strong>Piggy Bank</strong>, <strong>with the motto: “The more you give, the more you get.”</strong> «Launched in March 2014, the project draws its inspiration from <a href="http://www.focolare.org/en/chiara-lubich/" target="_blank">Chiara Lubich’s </a>concept called the <strong>“culture of giving,” and which she held very dear </strong><strong>- one of the coordinators, </strong>Valentino Agri, wrote. The project thus expresses the great desire to share with the children and their families, the discovery of God’s immense love for each one of us.»</p>
<p><em>Mgr Ignatius Kaigama talks about the suffering of a country hit by Islamist violence. For the prelate, what is going on "is not a clash between Christians and Muslims", but the result of an increasingly powerful group that is willing to attack anyone who stands in its way. He wants greater international commitment and "determination to halt terrorism."</em></p> <p>Jos (AsiaNews) - "Do not forget that we are here, that we are suffering, that many people have been killed, that many have become displaced, that they do not have a place to live. We need help and practical support to put an end to attacks," said Mgr Ignatius Kaigama, archbishop of Jos, Nigeria, who spoke to <em>AsiaNews</em> about the violence perpetrated by the Islamist group Boko Haram in the Central African nation.His warning comes after three young female suicide bombers, one reportedly aged 10, killed 20 more people in Maiduguri and Potiskum.</p>
Dialogue & Interculture
United World Week
More than 170 events across dozens of countries brought United World Week 2026 to life through initiatives, meetings, and concrete actions dedicated to peace, fraternity, and the building of a more united world.
Dialogue & Interculture
Health, Sport & Ecology
Dialogue & Interculture
Active Citizenship & Politics
After thirty years spent in some of the world's most challenging environments, Marcoluigi Corsi, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon, reflects on child protection, hope and the humanity that endures even in the midst of war.
Active Citizenship & Politics
Stefano Zaffino, author of Fraternità e Profezia (Fraternity and Prophecy): The Thought of Igino Giordani in the Wake of the Encyclical Fratelli tutti, reflects on fraternity as a response to the conflicts and divisions of the contemporary world.
Economy & Work
Anna Granata, professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, reminds us that teaching peace is not an abstract utopia. It is something that happens every day in Italian classrooms among children with diverse stories, languages, and backgrounds.
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