The Peace Project

Last updated April 30, 2024

The Peace Project is a non-profit organization based in Culver City that was founded in 2010 by marketing and new media entrepreneur Lisa Schultz. The Peace Project's mission is to promote peace in its most tangible form: helping people in need.^[1] The Peace Project's initiatives include education, personal mobility, housing, vocational skills training and micro-lending.

History

The Peace Project, powered by the social networking site TheWhole9.com, was launched in 2010. Sierra Leone was identified as the starting point for their work which has since expanded to include disaster relief and community building work in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.

Immediately after launching, artists from around the world were mobilized to submit their art to The Peace Project's 1st Annual Call for Artists via TheWhole9.com. Since then, artists from around the world have submitted peace-related art which results in an annual art exhibit that travels throughout the United States. The Call for Artists and traveling exhibits have helped to provide funding for The Peace Project's work including Operation Rise.^[2]

Projects

Operation Rise, Sierra Leone

Operation Rise was Peace Project's inaugural endeavor which was carried out on September 11, 2011 in Sierra Leone. The group provided 10,000 pairs of crutches to people, many of whom, due to the loss of limbs through amputation during the civil war as well as disabilities, had little personal mobility. Beneficiaries of the group's undertaking also include amputees, polio survivors and women and children.^[3]^[4] According to Mahimbo Mdoe, the country representative for UNICEF which supported The Peace Project, a pair of crutches can change someone's life:

"For these people, it will mean they are able to move around," he said, adding that it will allow men and women to hold jobs, while children will be able to get to and from school. "To the person who gets a pair, it will be everything." ^[5]

Family to Family, Philippines

The Peace Project sought a way to assist people in the Philippines who have been left homeless after Typhoon Haiyan devastated many parts of the country on November 8, 2013. Working with a team of architects and engineers, the group designed a small house that can be built with roughly $500 in building materials and can be built within a day. Utilizing this design and a unique model whereby for a donation of $500, individuals or organizations can select a family and sponsor the building of their house, and with the support of local tradesmen and community volunteers, The Peace Project completed their first community of forty houses in Bantayan Island on November 8, 2014 which coincides with the anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan.^[6]^[7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of the Philippines</span>

The Philippines is an archipelago that comprises 7,641 islands, and with a total land area of 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi), it is the world's fifth largest island country. The eleven largest islands contain 95% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon at about 105,000 square kilometers (40,541 sq mi). The next largest island is Mindanao at about 95,000 square kilometers (36,680 sq mi). The archipelago is around 800 kilometers (500 mi) from the Asian mainland and is located between Taiwan and Borneo.

The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surviving leaders, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, were convicted in February 2009 of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Tropical Storm Thelma, known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Uring, was one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in Philippine history, killing at least 5,081 people. Forming out of a tropical disturbance on November 1, 1991, several hundred kilometers north-northeast of Palau, the depression that would become Thelma tracked generally westward. After turning southwestward in response to a cold front, the system intensified into a tropical storm on November 4 as it approached the Philippines. Hours before moving over the Visayas, Thelma attained its peak intensity with estimated ten-minute sustained winds of 75 km/h (45 mph) and a barometric pressure of 992 mbar. Despite moving over land, the system weakened only slightly, emerging over the South China Sea on November 6 while retaining gale-force winds. Thelma ultimately succumbed to wind shear and degraded to a tropical depression. On November 8, the depression made landfall in Southern Vietnam before dissipating hours later.

A disability pretender is a subculture term meaning a person who behaves as if they were disabled. It may be classified as a type of factitious disorder or as a medical fetishism.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), formerly known as the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) until August 2011, is a working group of various government, non-government, civil sector and private sector organizations of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines established on June 11, 1978 by Presidential Decree 1566. It is administered by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) under the Department of National Defense (DND). The council is responsible for ensuring the protection and welfare of the people during disasters or emergencies. The NDRRMC plans and leads the guiding activities in the field of communication, warning signals, emergency, transportation, evacuation, rescue, engineering, health and rehabilitation, public education and auxiliary services such as fire fighting and the police in the country. The Council utilizes the UN Cluster Approach in disaster management. It is the country's focal for the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) and many other related international commitments.

The Philippines has five types of climates: tropical rainforest, tropical monsoon, tropical savanna, humid subtropical and oceanic. The country overall is characterized by relatively high temperature, oppressive humidity and plenty of rainfall. There are two seasons in the country: the wet season and the dry season, based upon the amount of rainfall. This is also dependent on location in the country as some areas experience rain all throughout the year. The warm months of the year are March through October; the winter monsoon brings cooler air from November to February. May is the warmest month, and January, the coolest.

Tropical Depression Winnie was a weak, but catastrophic tropical cyclone that killed nearly 1,600 people after triggering widespread flooding in the Philippines. It was the second deadliest tropical cyclone of 2004 worldwide, only surpassed by Hurricane Jeanne. A depression, which formed east of Samar, brought heavy rain to areas where it passed through, and affecting many areas, owing to Winnie’s large cloudiness.

Daishan Dao is a Type 920 hospital ship of the People's Liberation Army Navy of the People's Republic of China. Daishan Dao is also known as Peace Ark during peacetime, and has received NATO reporting name Anwei class.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 15% of the world's population experience some form of disability or impairment. The proportion of disabled people is much higher in Sierra Leone, a West African country which had emerged from a decade-long civil war back in 2002 where the trademark of the rebel groups was to hack off the limbs of civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amputee football</span> Association football for disabled players

Amputee football is a disabled sport played with seven players on each team. Outfield players have lower extremity amputations, and goalkeepers have an upper extremity amputation. Outfield players use loftstrand (forearm) crutches, and play without their prosthesis.

The European Union and the Philippines share diplomatic, economic, cultural and political relations. The European Union has provided millions of euros to the Philippines to fight poverty and counter-terrorism against terrorist groups in the Southern Philippines. The European Union is also the third largest trading partner of the Philippines. There are more than 30,000 Europeans living in the Philippines not including Spaniards.

Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Upon making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the deadliest Philippine typhoons on record, killing at least 6,300 people in that country alone. In terms of JTWC-estimated 1-minute sustained winds, Haiyan is tied with Meranti in 2016 for being the second strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record, only behind Goni of 2020. As of January 2014, bodies were still being found. Haiyan was also the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide in 2013.

In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines received numerous messages of condolence and offers of assistance from a range of international leaders.

The Philippines Charitable Giving Assistance Act allowed Americans to retroactively claim tax deductions for charitable donations made between January 1, 2014 and April 15, 2014 as donations made in the year 2013, which were made for the relief of victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and nearby areas, after the Federal Trade Commission and State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs published advisories concerning Typhoon Haiyan charity scams. Under the law, the Internal Revenue Service accepted phone bills in lieu of documentation from 501(c)3 organizations for those donations made for the relief of victims of the typhoon. The typhoon did an estimated $1 billion in damage and killed thousands of people.

The effects of the 2013 Pacific typhoon season in the Philippines were considered some of the worst in decades. Throughout the year, a series of typhoons impacted the country, with the worst impacts coming from Typhoon Haiyan, especially in death toll, during November.

Lisa Schultz is an American new media and arts entrepreneur and founder of the non-profit organization, The Peace Project, as well as TheWhole9.com, an international social networking site for artists and other creatives, and The Whole 9 Gallery, an art gallery located in Culver City, California.

Climate change is having serious impacts in the Philippines such as increased frequency and severity of natural disasters, sea level rise, extreme rainfall, resource shortages, and environmental degradation. All of these impacts together have greatly affected the Philippines' agriculture, water, infrastructure, human health, and coastal ecosystems and they are projected to continue having devastating damages to the economy and society of the Philippines.

Typhoon Phanfone, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ursula, was a strong and deadly tropical cyclone which traversed the Philippines on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 2019, the first typhoon to do so since Nock-ten in 2016.

Typhoon Goni, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Rolly, was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that made landfall as a Category 5 equivalent super typhoon on Catanduanes in the Philippines, and in Vietnam as a tropical storm. It is the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record by 1-minute maximum sustained winds. The name "Goni" means swan in Korean. The nineteenth named storm, ninth typhoon, and second super typhoon of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season, Goni originated as a tropical depression south portion of Guam on October 26. It was then named as Tropical Storm Goni on October 27. On the next day, Goni explosively intensified over the Philippine Sea, becoming a Category 5–equivalent super typhoon on October 30. Goni maintained Category 5 strength for over a day, before making landfall on Catanduanes at peak intensity, with 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph), and 1-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph), with a minimum central pressure of 905 hPa. It was the most intense tropical cyclone observed worldwide in 2020.

References

↑ Devon Wilke, Lorraine. "Some People Talk About Change, Lisa Schultz of The Peace Project Makes It". Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
↑ Haas, Cherie. "2011 Peace Project: A Call for Artists". Artists Network. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
↑ Morris, Lynn. "Disabled in Sierra Leone make gains". Global Post. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
↑ Morris, Lynn. "Operation Rise: Hope from the Ashes for Amputees". Eco Salon. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
↑ Lynch, Renee. "Culver City gallery owner gives crutches to Sierra Leone disabled". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
↑ "Peace Project Helps Rebuild Village in Philippines Devastated by Typhoon Haiyan". Asian Week. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
↑ Take Two. "The Peace Project builds homes in areas still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan". NPR, KPCC. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Devon Wilke, Lorraine. "Some People Talk About Change, Lisa Schultz of The Peace Project Makes It". Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

[2] Haas, Cherie. "2011 Peace Project: A Call for Artists". Artists Network. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

[3] Morris, Lynn. "Disabled in Sierra Leone make gains". Global Post. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

[4] Morris, Lynn. "Operation Rise: Hope from the Ashes for Amputees". Eco Salon. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

[5] Lynch, Renee. "Culver City gallery owner gives crutches to Sierra Leone disabled". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

[6] "Peace Project Helps Rebuild Village in Philippines Devastated by Typhoon Haiyan". Asian Week. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

[7] Take Two. "The Peace Project builds homes in areas still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan". NPR, KPCC. Retrieved 27 July 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]