Custodians of the hearth, careful mothers, yarn-spinners and silent companions, women from all times have had the fundamental role of preserving and transmitting traditions and rituals of everyday life in manifold cultures.

In this work they contributed to keep balance and harmony between human beings and nature and to preserve peace. Since antiquity, their spirituality has preserved the ancestral relationship with our primordial source of life: Mother Earth. Their knowledge of Nature secrets and of healing as a sacred art contributed to alleviate humanity from diseases, and their devoted work, close to the humble and outcasts, has brought a light even in the most suffering hearts. The importance of their role is confirmed, nowadays, in the moments of disorientation, in the spread of violence, it is they, women and mothers, who protest against war, death and the abuses of power, mothers of the desaparecidos, brave mothers, victims of the attacks of mafia and terrorism.

Once again they are the ones who play upon the feelings of the whole Humanity, in the effort of awakening consciences.

Now, at the beginning of the new millennium, marked by the emergence of old ethnic tensions and the perpetration of fratricidal and religious wars, the need to give a contribution to world peace becomes predominant. However, this time it is not the voice of the heads of state, it is not the voice of political interests, but a different voice, a voice that is softer but as strong, helping us to look at reality in a different way. It is the voice of Women of Peace.

Women of Peace is an inter-religious meeting with important women representatives of different religious traditions. They help us to learn how to share the profound messages that every religion gives us, going beyond ancient cultural and racial barriers. During the meeting, each of them introduces us to her own life experience and rituality and helps us understand how the love message, which every creed carries within, can be realised on the common ground of solidarity, through social engagement.

Women of Peace 2001 raised funds for the Unicef-Zonta International project to help eliminate Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus in Nepal (see: www.zonta.org)

Women of Peace 2002 raised funds for the water system of the Holy Family Hospital in Paida-Nyaffa - Uganda

Women of Peace 2003 raised funds for Roumanian abandoned street children