World peace is easier said than done, but the topic recently enlightened a lucky aspiring peacemaker in the City of Peace.
Diksha Mahajan was part of a trio chosen to represent Tasman at the International Youth Conference for Peace in the Future, in Hiroshima, Japan, as part of the Mayors for Peace initiative.
The 16-year-old Nayland College student was united with two of her Tasman Youth Council colleagues for the early August event - Molly McManus, who hails from Waimea College and Angus Forrester from Murchison Area School.
An immigrant from the nation that produced peacemaking luminary Mahātmā Gandhi, Diksha confesses she’s experienced discrimination, but garnering insights on how to end this societal scourge from the conference’s global diplomats and young people uplifted her.
“It was nice that we could hear different people’s thoughts on discrimination and extremism and see how they are growing in some countries, and what the government and the people of the country are doing to mitigate the spread of it,” she says.
“It would help Nelson have global citizens who have gone overseas and learned about different perspectives, and how we could bring those perspectives together to make sure that Nelson is the best that it can be… and to make sure that not many people face discrimination.”
Diksha says her definition of peace is Ebony and Ivory, people with diverse backgrounds living together in harmony, and it was equally gratifying for her to learn and explore avenues to expedite achieving the formidable challenge of world peace.
“Going to Hiroshima that’s so passionate about achieving world peace was really nice… I found out that peace is very different for everyone, and also that achieving world peace wouldn’t be just an overnight thing; it would take decades to reach,” she says.
“I was grateful to attend the 80th A-Bomb dropping anniversary, it just gave me goosebumps sitting there listening to impactful speeches by the Hiroshima mayor and the Prime Minister of Japan.”
Diksha’s excursion also included a ‘peace buddy’-led tour of Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park and a visit to the Peace Memorial Museum.
