The Gambia Christian Council on Friday launched a “Give Peace A Chance” campaign which seeks to nurture the peaceful co-existence between people of different faith in the Gambia.
The campaign seeks to include a nation wide school competition on “Give Peace A Chance” to plant seeds of peace and religious tolerance among the young people. The set by the Gambia Christian Council in partnership with inter-church and inter-faith sub-committee and in collaboration with UK Aid, MOBSE, and the British High Commission in the Gambia
Mrs. Jean Able -Thomas Vice Chairman of the Gambia Christian Council said:
“We are all human beings with different faith and ideologies, let’s respect each other. We fail these children because we have not done our responsibility as parents and guidance. “
“This is a challenge for the students because they are the future. So we have to inculcate in them that we have to live as a family and be each other’s keepers. We have to tolerate and love one another. We need to train our children to have the fear of God and respect to each other no matter their faith, so there would not be a case of a teenager killing a mother .”
The Very Rev. Canon James S. Cole, giving an open remark, said this campaign is important to the Gambia Christian and Islamic councils as a major milestone in the drive to build a peaceful social cohesion for religious tolerance in the Gambia.
Adding that if there is no peace and religious tolerance in the Gambia then there will be no smiling coast of Africa. Rev. Canon urged all religious leaders to join hands in building a more resilient Gambia for continuous peaceful coexistence for a lasting religious tolerance.
Pa Daniel Mendy, member of the working group and senior program officer of the Gambia Teachers Union, said there is no doubt that there is a greater need to create a culture of peace and a free society for all…
“Peace needs a concerted effort to ensure that every citizen can live without fear of being robbed or harmed in any way. The murder cases in the country are alarming and most of the perpetrators and victims are mostly young peoples we must speak about giving peace a chance.
We sit and watch hatred spread as it slips through our hands into the world. Therefore we need to meaningfully engage our youths by ensuring youths’ specific programming and guaranteeing their inclusion in all national issues so they live a more productive and worthy life,” he said.
He argues students to participate in the campaign to inculcate peace in the future generations and enjoy the power of togetherness.
The school campaign competition across the regions includes esay writing, painting, poetry and posters.
