There is a particular quality to the last gathering of the year. The urgency of the programme calendar has passed. The formality softens. People who have worked alongside each other through events, meetings, and initiatives find themselves simply together — sharing food, sharing stories, and finding in each other’s company the renewal that makes the next year’s work possible.
On Saturday 14 December 2024, more than 50 people gathered at the Peace Embassy, 24 St Stephens Avenue, Parnell for UPF New Zealand’s annual End of Year Celebration. The format was a potluck dinner — everyone contributing a dish from their own cultural tradition, and the table becoming, in miniature, a picture of the community UPF New Zealand has spent the year building.
The evening ran from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm and brought together Ambassadors for Peace, family members, longtime supporters, and new friends — a gathering that was at once a farewell to 2024 and a quiet anticipation of 2025.
A Year Worth Celebrating
Kenji Watanabe, Chairman of UPF New Zealand, and Geoffrey Fyers, Secretary General, offered thanksgiving reflections on the year — a year that, by any measure, had been one of UPF New Zealand’s most active and impactful.
The highlights were many:
- The second Youth and Family Peace Day at the Due Drop Events Centre in November — welcoming over 300 people under the theme “Communities United for Fostering Peace, Strengthening Families, and Empowering Youth”
- The UN International Day of Peace commemoration at Te Tuhi Centre of Art, Pakuranga, marking the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration on a Culture of Peace
- The UN International Day of Families at Te Tuhi Art Centre in May, featuring an interfaith panel and cultural performances from across Auckland’s communities
- The co-organisation of the 2024 World Sport Fishing Tournament in the Waitemata Harbour — 71 teams from 15 nations, with 900 kilograms of the catch donated to a South Auckland marae
- Continued momentum for the National Family Day Petition, with growing community support for the establishment of 11 November as a dedicated national family day
Behind each of these events lay months of planning, partnership-building, and the quiet, unglamorous work of community organisation. The end-of-year dinner was a chance to acknowledge all of that — and the people who had made it possible.
Welcoming a New Ambassador for Peace
The evening included a formal ceremony that stood as one of its most meaningful moments: the recognition of Ms. Reeta Arora as a newly appointed Ambassador for Peace.
The title of Ambassador for Peace carries genuine significance within the UPF community. It is not an honorary title bestowed at a distance — it is a commitment to live by the values of living for the sake of others: promoting universal values, strong family life, and interreligious cooperation in one’s own sphere of influence. Ms. Arora joins a growing network of Ambassadors for Peace across Aotearoa who are carrying that commitment into their communities, their professions, and their families.
Looking Ahead to 2025
As the evening moved toward its close, conversation turned naturally to the year ahead. 2025 would bring major milestones: the World Summit 2025 in Seoul in April; the UN International Day of Families in May; and the third annual Youth and Family Peace Day in November. The National Family Day Petition campaign would be relaunched with new energy and new outreach strategies.
UPF New Zealand’s work continues across six areas of focus: interfaith peacebuilding, peace and security, UN relations, marriage and family, education and human development, and humanitarian and youth programmes. Each area connects to the others. Each is grounded in the same conviction that has driven UPF New Zealand’s work from the beginning: that family building is nation building, and that the foundations of lasting peace are laid not in parliaments or peace conferences, but in the daily life of communities that choose to live for one another.
The potluck dishes were finished, the conversations were still going, and the Peace Embassy was filled — as it is at its best — with the sound of people who like each other, gathered around a shared purpose. It was a good ending. And the beginning of something even better.
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