As we head into Martin Luther King Weekend, it is so perfect that STARS is working with Belmont University and the Tennessean this Sunday to highlight the upcoming PeaceJam on January 25-27 on Belmont’s campus. This will be Nashville’s first-ever PeaceJam and we are thrilled to be partnering with Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi with around 250 Mid-South youth participating.
Dr. Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work to protect women’s and children’s rights in Iran and the Middle East. She was the first female judge in Iran at the age of 24, and, despite death threats and imprisonment, continued to work tirelessly on these efforts being forced from the country in 2009 and unable to return home to see her husband. Read more of her heroic peace efforts at www.peacejam.org.
Check out the Sunday, January 20, Tennessean editorial section for guest columns on PeaceJam by STARS CEO Rodger Dinwiddie, Belmont University’s Assistant Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies and Global Education Dr. Mimi Bernard and Beech High School STARS student Bethany Strother.
![Rodger Dinwiddie Head Shot[1]](https://starsnashville.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Rodger-Dinwiddie-Head-Shot1-150x150.jpg)
Next week, Dr. Ebadi arrives in Nashville to help lead the PeaceJam where youth, along with their Belmont University student mentors, will take on a Global Call To Action. Students will be exploring issues of peace, violence, social oppression and injustice to determine what they are passionate about and hope to convert into a peace project for their own schools and communities. It could take on the form of anything from bullying prevention to building wells in Africa. In addition, the community is invited to Dr. Ebadi’s talk at 7:00 p.m. Friday night at the Curb Center with free admission. Attendees must have a ticket to enter and go to www.belmont.edu and click on “Events at BU” for ticket information.
Saturday afternoon, January 26, students will head to eight sites across the Nashville area from Habitat for Humanity to the East Nashville Cooperative Ministry to help in a variety of hands-on ways. And, on Sunday, January 27, stay tuned as we report on the exciting PeaceJam Global Call To Action. Lives are being transformed through a variety of incredible community partnerships!
