Peace is IN #inWilm

Peace Week Delaware

Nine days of peace is almost more than a newsreader could hope for in 2018. Movement for a Culture of Peace, which began organizing annual peace marches in Wilmington in 2014, celebrates the third annual Peace Week Delaware from September 15-23 with events in all three counties. Much like the organization’s monthly public forums on how to achieve peace and address the impact of violence, the statewide events raise awareness and hope for peace in our communities, nation, and world. It coincides with International Peace Day, September 21.

One of the 100+ Peace Week events is “Breaking Bread Together.” It is an interfaith potluck between the Islamic Society of Delaware, the Sikh community and the host church, the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew (Ssam) on September 16 at 5pm.

Rupinder Grewal, a member of the Sikh community involved in this event, says, “For the Sikh community, in particular, this and such events are an extremely important and a very memorable event. These give us an opportunity to put to ease the minds of all those who see a Sikh. It helps to us to explain our articles of faith so when our fellow Americans look at us, they see an American!”

The event honors the timeless quote, “All mankind has sprung from the same fountain and like water falls into different rivers and through them all merge into the same Ocean, so shall all mankind ultimately merge with the timeless God.” It has not gone unnoticed that the event takes place close to 9/11, a time of year when the Sikh community sometimes faces difficult challenges even in sharing the grief of the nation.

Below are a few more of the wide-reaching events, ranging from food events to films to exhibitions, to put on your itINerary.

  • All week, you can donate feminine hygiene products, to help women in our community to maintain their health and dignity, at St. Stephen’s Lutheran, 9am to Noon, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

  • Donate bedding, school supplies, hygiene items, educational toys and easy books, new socks and underwear, heavy-duty shoes, first aid supplies, sewing machines and sewing supplies in support of Syrian refugees at Silverside Church Sunday through Friday mornings; leave donations inside front door

  • Get your “Hare Krishna” on with a peace chant at Krishna Village, on September 15 from 10am to 2pm. There will be joyful dancing an musical accompaniment to this chant of the Holi names of God, meant to release anxiety.

  • Pacem in Terris offers a Youth Peace Art Exhibit at The Delaware Contemporary, with over 500 visual and written answers to the questions, “What does peace look like?” “What does the world look like that you want to live in?”  Opening is Sunday, September 16 at noon and is open through September 23 (Museum is closed on Mondays). Visit after 1pm on the 16th and you can also enjoy the Free Family Sunday program, “Moving Forward, Making Peace,” where visitors can make art in response to the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Wilmington riots and subsequent National Guard occupation.

  • Color or draw for peace at the Claymont or Elsmere libraries all week (through September 22 at Elsmere), during library hours. Elsmere offers additional community-building artistic exercises, including puzzles and games during the week, and the Hockessin library offers origami peace crane instruction on September 17 at 2pm.

Visit peaceweekdelaware.org for more on this year’s peace offerings!