JEDDAH, 22 September 2006 — Over 200 teachers, children and parents from the British International School in Jeddah (Conti) joined hands to play their part in making history in Jeddah yesterday. Learning, singing and recording a song written for the United Nations International Day of Peace, they joined the community of all 192 UN member nations around the globe marking the day. It is the first time all member nations have marked the day together.

“It’s a unique and exciting experience,” said Simon Horsey, director of music at the Conti School. “Everyone here is part of history in a significant way now, simply by taking an hour or so out of their year to say ‘Listen to me.’”

He said that the very act of taking part was important not only for the effect that it might have on lawmakers or governments, but also on the participants themselves. “Thirty or more nationalities joined hands today in this hall for a common purpose: Peace,” he said. “No one will leave here unaffected by that.”

In an expectant atmosphere, Horsey marshaled the motley assembly into order. Abayas and hijabs interspersed with jeans and dresses characterized the diversity of the group. Embarrassed smiles soon changed to enthusiastic grins as children and adults from widely diverse cultures began to get caught up with the infectious good will that pervaded the assembly.

To increase the effect of working together, the rapidly relaxing group moved in a series of quickly learned — and in some cases almost learned — rhythmic movements which like the song, increased in its effectiveness as the tentative first steps of the first attempts became more practiced.

The song, written for the day by Dave Stewart, former member of the Eurythmics, and reggae legend Jimmy Cliff was an easy refrain that the group picked up at differing rates. Repetition and patient persistence — much the same process behind getting the day recognized by the UN according to the documentary film that preceded the event — gradually produced harmony by the time the recording was made.

At precisely 11 a.m. local time, the proceedings were called to a halt. The entire group stood in complete silence for one minute — as did thousands of people young and old around the world — to reflect for one minute on how and why they wanted to achieve peace.

Comments from the children — whose names have been changed — showed real understanding of the reasons behind the day and a perceptiveness that resulted in some difficult questions.

“Why do people fight to get peace?” asked 15-year-old Omar. “Just don’t fight in the first place.”

The effect of working together as a group with a purpose — even for a relatively short time — seemed to have a powerful effect on the children.

“Everyone talks about peace,” said 12-year-old Sarah, “but there is still a lot of war. Why? We aren’t fighting and we’re all from different places.”

A perceptive observation; with over 60 nationalities at the Conti School, the opportunities for conflict would seem to be legion. As School Director Bruce Gamwell pointed out, the answer lies in knowing and respecting members of the community.

“Within the school, our community coexists with mutual respect and with students from different ethnic and religious backgrounds working and interacting extremely well,” he said.

At the end of the 90-minute event, the atmosphere was charged with energy as the children chatted excitedly about the video recording of the event to be shown in the school later in the year.

Eyeing the empty hall and the small mountain of recording equipment after the event, Horsey was in buoyant mood. “Good this year; even better next year.”