Sharing a Memory of Roots of Peace Joining Forces with UNMAS and MAG to Remove Landmines in a Rural Area of Iraq

On August 19, 2003, a tragic bomb exploded in Baghdad, Iraq, as a Landmine Conference at The Canal Horel was being led by UNMAS Director Martin Barber.  UN Representative to Iraq, Sergio Viera de Mello was instantly killed, along with 20 other UN diplomats. The event shook the world!

Roots of Peace had a strong relationship with UNMAS Director Martin Barber—an advocate of our MINES TO VINES initiative—whose life was miraculously spared.

Immediately, I made a $10,000 donation in the name of Martin Barber to UNMAS, who contracted with MAG to remove the landmines in Mosul, Iraq and plant wheat on former minefields. UNMAS, MAG, and USG/PM-WRA matched this donation making it a $40,000 contribution.

I also remember the Kurdish members of the Iraqi National Orchestra who played a private concert at our Kühn Family home in San Rafael, California on the occasion of UN World Environment Day (June 5, 2005). 

The delegation was led by Ambassador Sichan Siv, former U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia and his wife, Martha Padilla Siv, who worked for The World Bank. President George W. Bush appointed him as his personal representative to attend this UN event hosted in San Francisco, California.

As the concert ended, the Kurdish cellist from Iraq came to the microphone to read a letter from his Mother to ‘thank’ me for demining their family field, as she now ‘bakes fresh bread’ from the former minefields. The seeds of landmines were converted to seeds of wheat.

My husband, Gary, and our four children—Brooks, Tucker, Kyleigh & Christian—watched from the audience on our family backyard lawn overlooking the San Francisco Bay. There was not a ‘dry eye’ in this group of 200 guests, as no one expected this innocent statement on the grounds where the original ‘Mines to Vines’ toast began on September 21, 1997.