PEACE 2000 CARAVAN

Dear members and friends of the Earth Rainbow Network

I would like to share with you all the following information regarding a Peace Caravan that will soon get underway with the participation of Lois Nicolai and one of the first members on the Earth rainbow Network, Peace Pilgrim 2. After extensively touring the USA in the last few years, they are now undertaking the great journey of their life, going around the world as WORLD CITIZEN DIPLOMATS with 6 other people (so far) to carry the dream and message of Peace on Earth to every corner of this beautiful planet. You will find at the very end of this post their Peace 2000 Caravan Itinerary for 1997, but they plan to travel around the world until the year 2000 and plant the seed of One Day of Peace (at least!) on January 1, 2000, everywhere on Earth!!

As I wrote to her today, we need to get the word out as to what they are about to undertake. So I'm sending this to all of you hoping you will take a few minutes to read about all this and even offer some help/support/money/ideas for this wonderful Peace initiative.

In peace and harmony

Jean Hudon Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator

Dear Jean, Marie Francine, and Pierre:)

It is after midnight and Peace Pilgrim, Wachid Ridwan (from Indonesia), and I just arrived home from another exhausting day in NYC -- the third day in a row! I still cannot figure out why NYC tires you out so, but it really does drain a person! We have been meeting with the Consulates -- to obtain visas and to meet personally with the diplomats representing each country.

We hope to kill two birds with one stone -- well, actually three birds with one stone! First, to get visas for those countries we need them for; Two, to inform the consulates of all the countries that we are visiting of our mission; and Three, to get each of these countries interested in our mission to inspire World Peace Day on 1-1-2000 and the Year 2000 as the International Year of Peace & Transition: We are trying to get some of these countries to bring a resolution before the United Nations General Assembly this coming September, to have the United Nations launch a global campaign to start the world working on these two goals together!

It is happening! I am certain you are well aware of it too, that we are in the middle of the greatest global campaign in the history of humanity -- and it is so exciting!

Thank you so very much for putting all these wonderful plans in motion for our visit to Montreal. I cannot thank you enough for all your hard work. We are really excited. We are planning to visit the cities from Montreal to Vancouver as our agenda reads. However, from Vancouver on seems to change almost daily. We will know by Friday if we will be invited to participate in the Japanese Peace Boat, which will travel from Tokyo to Hong Kong, to Viet Nam, to Manilla, to Papau, and back to Okinawa. It is expensive and we are traveling on very limited funds, so we requested scholorships for the Japanese Peace Boat -- and they will know by Friday. This changed our plans somewhat, because we must fly out of LA to Tokyo. However, if the Peace Boat doesn't materialize, we will fly from LA to Jakarta, Indonesia. Wachid is the Director of the Mohamadayah Youth Movement in Indonesia, which is over half a million citizens. We plan to spend a few weeks with them.

As for the flyer, what you drafted is absolutely perfect!

The only other thing I might suggest you add is that we are bringing with us the WORLD PEACE 2000 message that citizens all over the world are joining together to declare World Peace Day on 1-1-2000 -- and to declare the Year 2000 as the International Year of Peace and Transition, as we move from the present war mentality to the new world order -- that of a peace mentality!

Thank you so much for the names and addresses of those you listed. How wonderful that there are others who have been peace pilgrims for years now. They will be marvelous sources of information for us to learn from. I will contact them just as soon as possible!

TIME IS MY BIGGEST ENEMY! I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO YET, AND ONLY 12 DAYS LEFT TO FINISH EVERYTHING.

That is why I cannot thank you all enough for handling Montreal for us. We realize we are in good hands there, so we can move our energy forward to make plans for the other cities.

We still haven't received confirmation that John Ebenezer will be here in time to join us from India -- and we are not certain Feng Ping Chung will be able to get his visa for Canada. He did get the USA visa, but two days ago the Canadian Consulate told us he must obtain his Canadian visa before he leaves Beijing. But you can be certain Peace Pilgrim and I are arriving for certain, and most likely Wachid Ridwan will also be with us. He is experiencing a serious "Culture Shock" at present, but we are hoping he will be ready to travel with us. I will e-mail the DEFINITE COMPLETE LIST OF PARTICIPANTS no later than Monday, May 26th.

Thank you all very much, and we will keep you posted of anything new as it arises!

Warm Regard in Peace and Friendship, Lois Nicolai

Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 12:32:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: LoisPeace@aol.com
To: globalvisionary@cybernaute.com

Good Morning Jean,

I hope you received my letter sent yesterday. I started this out to be a personal letter to you alone, but as it progressed I decided to share my thoughts with those of you in Montreal and Toronto who are making my vision a reality on the International level. I will be forever grateful to all of you for the rest of my life!

I spoke with Julie Morton-Marr in Toronto last night, and between Montreal & Toronto alone the plans are absolutely unbelievable! Ten years ago this past April 14th (on my 50th birthday) I announced to my six bewildered children that I was moving to Princeton to learn International Relations and Peacemaking, so I could do my part for the peace process--on a citizen level.

I had just completed two years of soul-searching as I walked the Jersey beach each morning as the sun rose over the Atlantic ocean, and my vision became bigger and bigger. I could envision this great global crusade of citizens everywhere moving throughout the world spreading peace by the new millennium! When I shared this vision with my wonderful children, they thought I was suffering from "too much sunshine"! But they wished me well, and I packed my bags and moved to Princeton. The whole story is totally mindboggling, because as it progresses -- it is evident the angels -- or God -- or whatever energy and forces you believe we are part of -- laid my path in front of me as I took each step.

The reason I am sharing this with you is that ten years ago my vision was so large and unbelievable that I was totally "high" from just my vision alone! But then the work started, and the first five years I was able to keep that natural high as everything fell into place. Then the reality started to hit me, and the sixth and seventh years became harder and harder.

I confronted so many unbelievable problems, and it took every ounce of energy in me to confront each one and slowly defeat it. I kept telling myself that God had chosen me for this job and had prepared me for 50 years, and that was why my life was so challanging at times. I had learned that first 50 years that I could accomplish any goal I wanted bad enough, if I restructured and rebuilt as I moved forward. So I kept plugging along. Then the eighth year came and went -- and I almost quit a thousand times as the unbelievable beariers had to be confronted. By the end of the eighth year I was totally exhausted from facing so much negativism, internal family challenges, and psychological disarray.

I had given up all my material possessions to my children a few years earlier, which was not difficult because I knew my children were enjoying them. However, now I was totally at the mercy of whatever "landlord" I chose to rent a room from. And I gave up my beautiful new Pontiac Sunbird that I had learned to love dearly the two years I had it -- and bought an old "Peacemobile" for $1,000 so I wouldn't have a car payment and I would have cheaper car insurance. I was doing everything I could to get my personal expenses as low as possible, so I could put every penny into my vision. But at the same time I felt all my family and close friends were loosing total respect for me because now I was living like an absolute fanatic! I kept trying to tell them all that what I am doing was going to change the consciousness of humanity -- and that really made them all think I was crazy! I never realized that this would be so difficult psychologically, but I never stopped believing in my vision and my dream.

Then "1996" came along and my wonderful friends David Woolfson and Pierre Patry worked with me to bring together committed people from five nations to gather at the Univ. for Peace to brainstorm how we could all help our individual visions become reality. While I was putting the pieces together for the meeting in Costa Rica I went to Washington DC to meet with Hillary Clinton as a follow-up to the Beijing Summit -- I flew to Iceland with Yogish Ghandi and met with the lovely President of Iceland -- and we had a very successful meeting here in Princeton to preceed the Costa Rica meeting. Then David and Pierre and I all met in Costa Rica and helped put together the WORLD PEACE 2000 NETWORK. That weekend effected all of us the same way. It was a highlight of energy for each of us, and we went home to our respective cities determined we would make our vision come true............that being to help the citizens of the world create WORLD PEACE DAY on 1-1-2000 and to declare the year 2000 as the INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PEACE AND TRANSITION.

Then I put together the second phase of the Peace 2000 Caravan here in the USA and we drove from Princeton to LA and back as we met in 17 cities along the way. In Santa Barbara, CA we held the second World Peace 2000 Network meeting.

Then I returned the end of July and spent the next six weeks putting together our big World Peace 2000 Network meeting at the United Nations in NYC where 100+ people gathered from 23 nations and finished the final plans to launch globally the plans for peace in the year 2000. A few days after that UN meeting we left for the third and final leg of the Peace Caravan in the USA, driving from Princeton to Sedona and back. When I returned home October 15th we had concluded the USA Tour of the caravan -- sixty days and 32 cities completed!

However, because January thru the middle of October, 1996 had been so successful, exciting and fruitful -- and because I had to fit back into the structured life of a normal citizen again -- it was like falling off a cliff! I had to find a place to live -- start a new job -- and fit back into society again. Consequently, I went thru four very difficult months getting myself functioning again. Of course the whole adjustment problem was because of the lack of money! If I had had an income the whole thing would have been a piece of cake!

Thus, again I really soul-searched whether I wanted to face these immense problems every year, inbetween each leg of the caravan! But then, as always, God stepped in! As I approached my 60th birthday last month, one of my friends asked me if I was filing for Social Security. I said no, that I couldn't apply for Social Security until I was at least 62. However, she said for me to call them to see if I qualified for "Widow" Social Security! So I did, and would you believe that last week I received my first Widow Social Security check! This means that for the rest of my life I now have a monthly income check to survive on. It isn't much, but it is enough to survive on!

Then I received the wonderful e-mail from my new friend, Jean Hudon, informing me of all the plans Marie and Pierre are doing to prepare for us in Montreal -- and then last night I had this most wonderful telephone conversation from Julia in Toronto telling me all she is trying to make happen in Toronto. Thus, the reality has now hit me!!! It is going to be just as big and important as I had envisioned ten years ago. The biggest struggles are now over. The ten years of building the foundation has combined with the technilogical capabilities now in place -- the 100 years progress of the peace building process -- the consciousness level of spirituality that has been growing non-stop for thousands of years -- and the many wars, famines and disasters that have plagued our planet throughout our lifetime alone, not to mention those in our global history!

THE WHOLE WORLD IS READY FOR PEACE TO BLOOM, AND THE UNBELIEVABLE REALITY IS THAT WE -- ALL OF HUMANITY TODAY -- ARE LIVING ON THIS PLANET IN THE ERA OF GREAT TRANSITION NOW TAKING PLACE! THE MOST EXCITING PART OF IT ALL IS THAT YOU AND I HAVE BEEN BLESSED IN REACHING THIS LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS TO KNOWINGLY REALIZE WHERE WE ARE AND WHAT IS HAPPENING! HOW COULD WE EVER BE SO LUCKY? WE ARE BLESSED BEYOND OUR WILDEST DREAMS!

Thank you all for being a part of this process. We are one in our struggle!

Jean, I absolutely cannot believe this letter transpired. I was planning to drop you a note to give you my fax number so you could send me the list of contacts you mentioned and poof...........this letter just plain happened!

My fax is 215-788-7553. Please send me the list of contacts for me to use. And if you know anyone in the other cities we are visiting in Canada, please share their phone number and/or fax # and I will contact them this week.

Thank you, all of you, for helping Peace Pilgrim II and I make this caravan as successful as possible.

Warm Regards in Love and Peace, Lois Nicolai

AND MY RESPONSE TO HER TODAY WAS:

Dear Lois

This is just to reassure you that I did receive and read all your emails. Quite an enthralling story you have!! You and Peace Pilgrim II are a perfect match!

I spoke today with a friend at the Center for Resources on Non-Violence in Montreal and next Monday, Jacques Boucher - the man from this group who is going to respond to me regarding their eventual participation to help make you visit a success in Montreal - will call me back. Marie Francine has made reservation for a large room at the Centre St-Pierre that can accomodate between 30 and 70 people, for a cost of only $75 (and contributions from attending people should easily cover this cost).

Keep up all your Good Work

Jean Hudon

P.S. I will fax you the list of contacts tomorrow. Did you check on PeaceNet and did you make a search on the web for all existing peace groups that could give you a helping hand along the way?

If you want to find a big list of them look at http://www.peaceday.org/peacfrds.htm" - A MOST COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF PEACE RELATED LINKS created by Peaceguy and at http://www.people4peace.com/links/ the World Peace 2000 links on the site created by Bob Silverstein.

While crossing Canada, you might want to connect with THE PRAIRIE PEACE PARK (it is in the US though!) - http://www.igc.apc.org/PeacePark - an educational, environmental, peace park covering 27.5 acres "Where Children's Visions Come to Life.

You may also link with the RAINBOW PEACE CARAVAN at http://www.tortuga.com/caravan.html now traveling in South America.

All peace groups and peace magazines around the world should receive an email from you before you go to know about what you are undertaking, when you will pass in their area, what they can do to support you, and get on the email list of recipients of updates on your journey as you circle the globe.

A media blitz can also be orchestrated at some point to build up momentum towards the vision of a Day of Peace on January 1, 2000 based on your Peace 2000 Caravan and on Bob's and Steve's efforts to gather support for this idea.

Just throwing some ideas...

Subject: Peace 2000 Caravan Information:

Monday, May 12, 1997

Dear Friends,

We would like to introduce ourselves, and tell you a little about World Citizen Diplomats and the Peace 2000 Caravan we are in the process of launching internationally this June. We believe a higher level of consciousness must be attained quickly now, if we are to help life as we know it to continue.

The Peace 2000 Caravan is a project of World Citizen Diplomats, an International non-profit organization. The Peace 2000 Caravan is an International Delegation of six to eight men and women traveling for 4-6 months throughout the Pacific Rim. (Length of time depends on funds!) Enclosed is a brief description of World Citizen Diplomats and the Peace 2000 Caravan.

World Citizen Diplomats is a non-political educational organization designed to promote domestic, international, and intercultural understanding among people worldwide. We seek to demonstrate how ordinary citizens and elected officials can work together to solve global problems and assure the survival of humanity.

World Citizen Diplomats was founded in 1991, after a group of us participated in a two-week Bridges For Peace exchange between New Jersey and Volgograd, Russia. Twenty of us started meeting weekly for a good part of 1991 and put the foundation and bylaws together for what we named World Citizen Diplomats. We received our 501(c)(3) in 1993, and have been very active since. We have made six trips into Russia, Kazakhstan, Kergystan, Uzbeckastan, and Turkey -- and we have hosted six delegations of citizens from these nations.

In 1993 we decided to sponsor an International Peace 2000 Caravan, which is composed of an international delegation of men and women representing many nations and religions.

The main goal of our caravan is to conduct a two-day Dialogue Seminar to listen to the citizens in their part of the world, where we will all brainstorm ways to find solutions to the problems we are all facing. We intend to share our plans to create World Peace Day on 1-1-2000, and declaring the Year 2000 as the International Year of Peace and transition as we move from a war mentality to that of a peace mentality.

In 1992 we conducted a 25-day tour of the USA, and spoke in 17 cities as we traveled from Princeton to San Francisco and back. I took 7 people from Kazakhstan that Olzhas Suleimenov sent to travel with me, one translator from Russia and two citizens from Bulgaria on that trip.

In April, 1996, WCD co-hosted a two-day meeting at the University For Peace in Costa Rica, where 12 men and 11 women worked side-by-side with Honorable Rodrigo Carazo and Dr. Robert Muller as we founded the World Peace 2000 Network. This is a network of people all over the world who are working together to declare peace in the year 2000.

In July, 1996, we took five others with us to Santa Barbara, CA, for our second World Peace 2000 Network meeting, and we traveled 21 days and met people in 12 cities.

In October, 1996, we drove to Sedona, AZ and back for 14 days and met in 7 cities with citizens. Thus, we have completed 60 days tour in the USA, and spoke in a total of 36 cities.

This year we are preparing to leave Princeton and travel the Pacific Rim Tour, starting June 2nd. We plan to drive as much of the way as possible, and then travel by water.

I am enclosing our itinerary, so you can see the cities we will spend three or four nights in.

Recently I spoke with Tatsuya Yoshioka, one of the executive committee members of the Japanese Peace Boat in Tokyo. I met Tatsuya three years ago at a Peace Conference in DC, and he told me then that he would help transport us across all waterways. It turns out that they are sponsoring a Peace Boat trip this summer, and when we compared our itineraries, we both nearly died laughing! His itinerary and ours was almost identical in the Japanese East Asian Sea area.So the Peace 2000 Caravan will team up with the Japanese Peace Boat for one or two months. (We do not have the Peace Boat itinerary, yet) We will continue to Jakarta, Indonesia, after the Peace Boat Tour, where Dr. Cherzien and Muhammad Nadjib are waiting for us. They have one million youth in the Muhammadayah Youth Movement in Indonesia who have been waiting two years to greet us in Indonesia. Their youth movement is going to help us launch our Global Youth Movement that we hope to see get underway.

So far there are 7 of us traveling --

I am concerned as to how hard it will be to get visas for everyone to enter your countries, and how we will get from Anchorage to Vladivostok. We are planning to visit each Consulate in NYC next Monday, May 19th. Also, we are hoping there will be some way we could meet with the new Secretary General. Since he is from Ghana, and the new president of World Citizen Diplomats is from Ghana, and since the Ambassador from Ghana called us wanting to know more about the World Peace 2000 Network -- we are hoping Ghana will be our valuable link at the UN.

We are in need of coordinators for our visit to your city. We need the following help: Maybe two or three people would be willing to share the job as coordinator:

1) Housing in a Host Family home for the three or four nights we will be in your community;

2) Meals either with the Host Families or with the community to be furnished for us;

3) Media coverage of our visit to your community;

4) A meeting room where we could hold a two-day Dialogue Seminar -- free to all those in the community who wish to attend;

5) Publicity that we are coming into the community, so people will turn out for the seminar;

6) We would be happy to address community organizations such as the Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, Lyons Clubs, Optimist Clubs, League of Women Voters, Schools, etc;

7) We wish to meet with your Mayor of the city to suggest that he or she make a Peace Proclamation encouraging the citizens of the community to begin joining in the 1000-Day Countdown to the new millennium - - using this thousand days as a time of forgiveness, healing, and unity within the community -- as we approach the new millennium.

8) We wish to have an opportunity to meet with the youth of your community. This is young people from 13 to 39 in age, for this is the age of the Youth Movement being created globally;

9) We realize this is a lot to squeeze in just two days, so we will split our group up to accommodate everything you plan for us.

10) We are beginning a Citizen Dialogue Video, which we will add to in every city we visit. Many participants within your city who are interested will have the opportunity to present a five minute message personally on our video, and questions will be answered as we travel by other participants in other cities.

Warm Regards in Peace and Friendship, Lois Nicolai

Subject: What is Peace 2000 Caravan

What is the Peace Caravan?

From 1996-2001, a group of citizens from around the world will travel from place to place, beginning in the United States in 1996, moving to Canada, Siberia, Japan, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand in 1997, through East and West Europe and former USSR in 1998, through Central and South America, and Africa in 1999, and from Korea, China, India, through the Middle East in the year 2000.

On January 1, 2000, the new millennium is to be inaugurated by citizens throughout the world as "World Peace Day". Citizens of the world will join together to declare the year 2000 - "The International Year of Peace and Transition" moving humanity from its present war mentality into the era of peace we are all searching for:

The purpose of the Caravan is to hold dialogue with people everywhere to address the problems we face on earth: how to build peace, eliminate hunger and poverty, save the environment, prevent crime and drug abuse, and protect human rights and freedoms.

Every week the Caravan will visit two cities or towns, in each of which the members will hold a 2-day seminar in a public place open to all, lasting from morning until evening. Members of the Caravan will listen to the audience and the problems they face, and all in attendance will search for solutions. Caravan participants will also share knowledge they have accumulated concerning many social and environmental issues facing humanity today. Such an exchange of views can be mutually enriching and promote better understanding and friendship. Wherever possible, the members of the Caravan will stay with volunteer host families.

Members of the Caravan will write articles and editorials for newspapers about their observations, and give interviews on local radio and television stations if given the opportunity.

The goal is to find creative new ideas to solve global problems, and inspire people everywhere to work together for human survival.

Subject: Peace 2000 Caravan Itinerary

WORLD CITIZEN DIPLOMATS:"PEACE 2000 CARAVAN"("1997 Itinerary")

WORLD CITIZEN DIPLOMATS:"PEACE 2000 CARAVAN"("1997 Itinerary")