MINES TO VINES bottle to His Holiness Pope Francis – October 2013-The Vatican.
Dear Friends of Al-Bushra,
Please let me take a few minutes of your time to tell you about a movement that I support wholeheartedly: Roots of Peace.
Founder Heidi Kuhn became gravely aware of landmines, and their lasting effects on economies, upon the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997. Motivated by the Princess’s compassion and commitment to global demining, Kuhn began Roots of Peace in honor of Diana’s memory and to ensure that her work would continue. Heidi’s vision was to turn MINES TO VINES by replacing the scourge of landmines with bountiful vineyards worldwide. Initial support from the California wine industry helped turn Heidi’s dreams were turned into reality.
Roots of Peace is making land safe for children in many countries. Here is a report on Israel and Palestine.
Children from the Fields of Bethlehem celebrate the upcoming deming of their village.
There’s no secret as to what these countries suffer from. For thousands of years it seems this area of the world has been fought-over, taken, retaken, redesigned and relocated so much it is hard to even determine where to begin to make progress. For ROP the starting point was an 11-year-old boy named Daniel Yuval who stepped on a landmine on Golan Heights on February 6 2010 resulting in the loss of his leg. Joining with Daniel, ROP worked with the Israeli and Palestinian governments to heal the wounds of war and to plant the roots of peace
Using this historical coalition, ROP has demined numerous areas of the The West Bank, including Bethlehem and Qasr El-yahud (A place believed to be where Jesus was baptized). With a spirit of cooperation existing between two governments that don’t seem to agree on anything else, the potential exists to achieve something truly remarkable in this region. Now in development is a vineyard, grown from soil once contaminated with mines, that is being built with the help of Muslims, Jews and Christians alike.
I urge you to visit the Roots of Peace website to learn more about this organization that is at work in the vineyards of the Lord and see how you can be involved whether by making a donation, buying wine, or volunteering.
With love and compassion,
Abouna Labib Kobti
http://rootsofpeace.org/
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