September 8th 'Roots of Peace Day' in NAPA VALLEY
August 31, 2022 marks the one year anniversary of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the tragic death of the late Princess Diana who raised global landmine awareness.
Afghanistan is the most heavily mined country in the world. Yet, it is a country 80% dependent upon agriculture.
Our vision of turning MINES TO VINES—replacing minefields with vineyards and orchards worldwide—was deeply inspired by the footsteps of Princess Diana who bravely walked in the minefields of Angola and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the final year of her life. Her bold footsteps deeply inspired me launch Roots of Peace in September 1997.
Over a quarter of a century later, it is critical that we remain vigilant in our efforts to eradicate landmines from fertile agricultural lands. The perils of landmines are vividly apparent in the fields of Ukraine, as farmers struggle with a lethal harvest on minefields.
In September 1997, my vision to turn MINES TO VINES was turned into reality through generous funding by California vintners who understood the plight of farmers who must cultivate their agricultural lands with the fear of landmines beneath their plow. Robert Mondavi (Canada), Tor Kenward, Eric Wente, joined me to witness the signing of the Ottawa Treaty to Ban Landmines. In 2000, I walked my first minefield with Miljenko ‘Mike’ Grgich in his beloved homeland of Croatia. And, over 100 Napa Valley vintners contributed to our efforts through the Napa Valley Vintners Association.
‘Legends of the Vine’ like Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt Disney, and owner of Silverado Vineyards, stepped forth to help me raise funds to remove over 100,000 landmines/UXO in the Shomali Plains north of Kabul. Roots of Peace, with funding from USAID, trained farmers to grow trellis grapevines on these former battlefields. Millions of trees have been planted on former minefields in all 34 provinces. Today, over one year after the ‘Fall of Kabul’, we have planted over 1.1 million fruit trees in Spring 2022, to provide food security and jobs as families struggle with massive starvation. Our legacy in Afghanistan is the planting of millions of trees--providing sustainable peace through agriculture.
Now, we are focused on a ‘Harvest of Hope’ in Afghanistan with our 400 Afghan employees leading with shovels, not the guns—turning ‘swords into plowshares’ and ‘mines to vines’.
Life goes full circle. The Napa Valley will host Roots of Peace in a series of events to commemorate our 25th Anniversary.
Mayor John Dunbar of Yountville has proclaimed September 8th as Roots of Peace Day.
The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Copia, will host a ceremonial planting of an ‘olive tree’ on their grounds in tribute to our efforts to turn MINES TO VINES at 10:30am/PST. The Roots of Peace MINES TO VINES forum will begin at 11:00am/PST featuring the Consul Generals of Ukraine, Croatia and Vietnam. RSVP required: events@rootsofpeace.org or heidi@rootsofpeace.org
Finally, inaugural World Affairs Napa Valley will feature our Roots of Peace Founder/CEO, Heidi Kuhn. For registration: Click Here
See letters of support and congratulations for these events from Grgich Hills and CIA/COPIA.
Together, may we turn MINES TO VINES and plant the Roots of Peace on Earth…
