Peace, at its most basic, is a practice. It is something we do — in our homes, our conversations, our choices — not just something we declare. On Saturday 16 September 2023, UPF New Zealand gave that conviction a very literal expression: more than 30 people walked together through the streets of Parnell to mark the United Nations International Day of Peace, embodying in movement what they believed in word.
The Peace Road Walk was a reunion of sorts. After a couple of years without an in-person UN Peace Day gathering, the return to a shared public act of peacemaking felt meaningful to all who participated. The mood as people gathered at the Peace Embassy, 24 St Stephens Avenue, Parnell at 10:30 am was one of quiet joy — the particular warmth that comes from doing something simple and good, together.
Opening Programme at the Peace Embassy
Before the walk began, participants gathered inside the Peace Embassy for a 30-minute opening programme — grounding the morning in the spiritual and civic values that give peacebuilding its depth.
The programme was co-emceed by two young members of the UPF New Zealand community: Deogsoo Pogoni, representing FFWPU youth, and Do Hie Kim, who guided the group with warmth and clarity throughout the morning. Their presence as co-emcees was itself a statement — that the next generation is not merely the beneficiary of peace work, but its active practitioner.
A video presentation showcased Peace Road events happening worldwide in 2023 — a reminder that what was happening in Parnell that morning was part of a global movement of communities choosing to walk toward peace rather than away from it.
Kenji Watanabe, Chairman of UPF New Zealand, offered opening remarks, setting the day’s walk in the context of UPF’s broader mission and the particular significance of the UN International Day of Peace.
Daniel Rubin: The Power of Walking for Peace
The guest speaker of the morning was Daniel Rubin, an organiser of Peace Run programmes both in New Zealand and internationally. Daniel has spent years channelling the simple act of running — and walking — into a vehicle for community and connection across cultural, national, and religious divides.
He spoke with genuine enthusiasm about the power of movement as a form of advocacy — about what it means to carry a message of peace through public space, and the conversations that happen along the way. His own work and UPF’s Peace Road Walk, he noted, were driven by the same conviction: that peace is contagious, and that it spreads most readily when people see it, in person, moving through their neighbourhood.
Amon Watanabe, another youth representative, then shared reflections from his own experience of travelling the world — and the surprising ways in which a commitment to peace can open doors and build friendships across the most unlikely divides.
The Walk to the Museum
With the opening programme complete, the group set off into the Parnell sunshine — a procession of around 30 people moving through the leafy streets toward the Auckland War Memorial Museum, approximately a 20-minute walk away.
Several people on the streets offered their support as the group passed — a small but encouraging sign that peace walks do not happen in a vacuum. The presence of a purposeful, peaceful gathering in public space invites curiosity, conversation, and occasionally, quiet solidarity from strangers.
At the Auckland War Memorial Museum
The group gathered in the square in front of the museum — a building whose very purpose is to hold the memory of those lost to war, making it a fitting destination for a day dedicated to peace. The formal programme at the museum included four acts:
- A group photograph — a shared image of community united in purpose
- The UPF Peace Statement for the International Day of Peace 2023, read by Geoffrey Fyers, Secretary General of UPF New Zealand
- A one-minute silence — offered in memory of all those who have lost their lives to conflict, and in solidarity with communities living with war today
- A communal singing of the New Zealand National Anthem, “God Defend New Zealand” — a prayer as much as a patriotic declaration
The silence, in particular, held a weight that words cannot easily describe. In 2023, the world had watched the war in Ukraine grind into its second year, and news of the Hamas attacks on Israel would break just weeks later. The minute of quiet at the Auckland War Memorial Museum was a small but sincere act of solidarity with all who suffer under violence.
Closing Karakia and Community BBQ
The group returned to the Peace Embassy, where Matapa Shelley, President of WFWP New Zealand, offered a closing karakia — grounding the morning’s walk back in the spiritual soil of Aotearoa and the Māori tradition of prayer as both opening and closing of gathered community.
Then came the BBQ. In the backyard of the Embassy, amid the smell of food and the sound of conversation, the Peace Road Walk found its natural conclusion — not in formality, but in fellowship. It was, as one participant described it, “delightful.” The scale was small. The impact, in the lives of those who walked and talked and ate together, was not.
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