International Day of Peace organizers create 'treasure hunt' and go digital

Photo: Brendan Kergin

With the international Day of Peace coming up, organizers with Interfaith Kamloops wanted to do something, but the pandemic shelved a repeat of last year's event at Waterfront Park.

So this year, like many others, they're going digital, while organizing a sort of treasure hunt as well. On Monday, Sept. 21, the day the United Nations declared the International Day of Peace, Interfaith Kamloops will be releasing a series of videos with messages of peace from a broad spectrum of local spiritual leaders says Lutheran pastor Jane Gingrich.

"As we’re not able to gather ... each of the leaders will have a brief intro on how we can engage in peace," she says. "(There'll be) readings from sacred texts or leaders of their tradition."

The different messages will allow people to reflect on peace and what it means to approach peace from different directions, Gingrich says.

The videos, including one extended version stitching each of the messages together, will be released Monday morning on the Interfaith Kamloops Facebook page. 

At the same time they'll be posting a sort of 'treasure hunt' Gingrich says, guiding locals to a different points related to peace in Kamloops.

"While we wish we could get together we don’t have the opportunity to be gathering," she explains. "This is a non-contact yet connecting and interactive way to participate in the International Day of Peace."

"We’ve organized a peace tour around town."

Most of the sites are close together and could be covered in about 30 minutes walking. To do the full tour Gingrich estimates it'll take 45 minutes and the use of a car.

The sites are mostly plaques and monuments that relate to peace in someway. Sometimes it's explicit, while other times there's an explanation how a certain person or community discussed on a plaque relates to encouraging a more peaceful world.

"Primarily they are plaques and memorials around the city that have historical recognition of challenges," she says.

For more information on the videos and tour (which go live at 9 a.m. on Sept. 21), click here.

Interfaith Kamloops isn't the only local group celebrating International Peace Day, TRU is holding a virtual peace day dialogue.