Itaugua, Paraguay -- Norma Mendoza could not hold back the tears as she surveyed the park designed to help her students walk unassisted. Her voice broke with emotion as she thanked all those who had brought her dream to fruition.

Norma is the principal of the Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Itaugua, a small town about 45 minutes drive from downtown Asuncion. It cares for 55 children from Itaugua and the surrounding area.

The park is a first for Paraguay and perhaps for Latin America designed with curving paths, curbs, and minor obstacles to help the students to learn to navigate the outdoors with the use of a cane. This is an important breakthrough in a country where the blind are traditionally thought incapable of coping outdoors alone.

Asuncion, Paraguay – In his keynote speech at the Global Peace Leadership Conference Paraguay 2010, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, chairman of the Global Peace Festival Foundation, urged the creation of a Latin American union of nations to meet the challenges of globalization and the rise of Asia. He proposed that the headquarters for such a union be located in Paraguay.

The suggestion was enthusiastically received by the participants. Five hundred attended the opening session, including high level public officials and civil society leaders from around the region. Vice President Federico Franco of Paraguay attended the opening and former presidents from Uruguay, Guatemala, and Bolivia were at the conference as featured speakers.

The Global Peace Leadership Conference held in Jakarta, Indonesia from October 15-18, 2010 gathered faith and civic leaders from the Asia Pacific region and beyond to address the theme: "One Family under God: New Interfaith Paradigm for the 21st Century." This significant gathering, sponsored by the Global Peace Festival Foundation and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), convened some 300 delegates from nearly 20 nations and most major faith traditions to discuss the need for interfaith partnerships based on universal principles and values. At the conclusion, conference delegates adopted a Declaration that expresses their consensus and collective commitment for ongoing collaboration, as follows:

DECLARATION
Unifying Vision of One Family Under God
Jakarta, Indonesia - October 18, 2010

Jakarta – Clouds of dragonflies spiraled upward in the sticky afternoon air at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno stadium Sunday as thousands of young Indonesians streamed through the entrances and into their seats. An estimated ten thousand gathered to celebrate the Global Peace Festival Asia Pacific 2010.

They came from area campuses that had been engaged in GPFF sponsored service projects for peace in the run-up to the festival, and from the youth branch of Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), the Muslim civic organization partnering with GPFF in the festival.