FROM THE BASEMENT TO THE BATTLEFIELD
On September 21, 1997, following the tragic death of the late Princess Diana, I raised a prophetic toast from the living room of our Kuhn Family home: ‘May the world go from Mines to Vines’…
The vision of cultivating peace through agriculture– by turning landmines into grapevines– seemed to come through me rather than from me. The calling was clear.
We soon made the vision a reality, launching Roots of Peace at The World Trade Center in San Francisco, California with Mrs. Kofi Annan, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Bobby Muller/VVAF, and Jerry White, a landmine survivor who had escorted the late Princess Diana through the minefields of Bosnia-Herzegovina only a few weeks prior to her passing.
Legendary Napa Valley vintners respected the plight of farmers who cultivated crops on war-torn lands, and generously funded the initial efforts in Croatia. These included Robert Mondavi, Miljenko Grgich, Diane Disney Miller and Spiriterra Vineyards. During the first month of the New Millennium in January 2000, I began my footsteps in the minefields of Dragalic, Croatia, where we removed landmines and planted grapevines. We knew we had given peace a business model– restoring farmland once held hostage by landmines across the world. We planted rice in Cambodia, grapes in Afghanistan, orchards in Croatia, wheat in Iraq, olive trees in Israel/Palestine, and black pepper in Vietnam.
Thousands of donors embraced the concept, and we ultimately won the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006. The award provided seed capital of $1 million to invest in our vision.
Through the support of Skoll and so many other generous donors, we have grown our non-profit to over $200 million in grants from U.S. Department of State/INL, USAID, DOD, EU, DOD, ADB and The World Bank. Bay Area ABC7 News Anchor Cheryl Jennings and other media greatly helped us to ‘tell’ this story to global citizens, as we continued to raise awareness and funds. (See: ABC7 News story - Afghanistan Evacuation)
Today, we have planted over six million fruit trees and impacted millions of farmers and families worldwide. We have recently extended our work to Guatemala, where we are striving to provide dignity and income for poor rural farmers who may not be able to provide for their families on former war-torn lands.
Instead of building higher walls, we seek to build longer tables so that farmers may build livelihoods at home, near their families, rather than becoming economic refugees and seeking work in other countries. (See: ABC7 News Video—Guatemala).
PEACE THROUGH AGRICULTURE is our battle cry! And, as I reflect upon the past 25 years, we have truly turned MINES TO VINES—replacing the scourge of landmines with bountiful vineyards and orchards worldwide. This is a challenging time in our world, and yet we must focus on restoring the one earth we share. Removing a landmine and planting a grapevine is an incredible ‘act’ of peace.
One by one, we will restore our soil and rebuild the world's soul by replacing seeds of hatred with seeds of love.
Join me, as we continue our quest to plant the Roots of Peace on Earth…