THIS year's Winchester peace conference has been postponed.
The Peacejam Conference scheduled for Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17 at the University of Winchester has been rescheduled.
This is due to the main speaker, who was going to talk about his development of the use of drones to diffuse mines, being called away to assist in the Russia/Ukraine conflict. The conference will now take place on Thursday, July 4 with further details to be announced.
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However, Peacejam co-ordinators Luke Addison and Nick Bell have said that they will still be holding some talks on March 16.
In an email to supporters, the pair said: “We are not wasting the opportunity as two speakers already have their flights booked and so we have reserved a room at the University from 10am on Saturday, March 16 - we will confirm location of the room to those interested.
“We will start with coffee and biscuits and then hear from Salim Mbusa who is a volunteer with Great Lakes Peace Centre, Kasese, Uganda and is presently volunteering in Aalen Germany for “Act for Transformation” a charity assisting refugees and asylum seekers. A young man of 24, he will tell us about his numerous experiences in his relatively short life of changing others’ lives.
“This will then be followed by a talk by Mea Gurgenidze from Tbilisi, Georgia (Head of the Georgia Peacejam Youth Team) who has just returned from a week’s scholarship programme in Washington and will talk about that as well as her life in Georgia.
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“We will then have a Workshop talking about the aims and aspirations of Peacejam. At 12.30am we will take a break for sandwiches and coffee after which you may leave if you wish.
“However, there will then be the screening of a film featuring a Nobel Laureate, Betty Williams from Northern Ireland entitled Contagious Courage as to how she dealt with the troubles in the 1970s and 1980s. Betty, who has now unfortunately passed away, was our Nobel Laureate at the 2019 Conference. It is anticipated the session will finish at around 2.30pm.
“There is no charge for attending so why not come along and find out more about Peacejam and listen to an eclectic mix of international Speakers as well as chatting to some very enthusiastic young people.”
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