Atlanta, GA
Soka Gakkai International – USA (SGI-USA) along with Morehouse College extends a cordial invitation for you to join us at the fourth annual Gandhi – King – Ikeda Community Builders Prize award ceremony, on April 3, 2004 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.
The Gandhi – King – Ikeda Community Builders Prize, founded by Dr. Lawrence E. Carter Sr., Dean of the Chapel, is given in recognition of current efforts toward building peace in our world’s communities. SGI-USA teams with the King Chapel each year to award the prize and celebrate a culture of peace.
This year’s award recipients are F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. Mr. de Klerk is the former President of South Africa, co-recipient of 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, recipient of the UNESCO Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize, and Philadelphia Liberty Medal. He initiated and implemented the first non-apartheid government in South Africa, and contrasting his predecessors, released Nelson Mandela from 27 years of prison without preconditions. He served as Executive Deputy President in South Africa's Government of National Unity under President Nelson Mandela - leading a peaceful transition of power. Mr. de Klerk has now established the F W de Klerk Foundation to work for peace in societies that are divided on cultural, ethnic, religious or linguistic lines. He will be the keynote speaker at this year’s award ceremony. Mr. Mandela will receive his award in absentia, which will be presented by Dean Carter later this year in South Africa. Mr. Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994. Nelson Mandela retired from Public life in June 1999, he currently resides in his birth place - Qunu, Transkei, and is founder of the Nelson Mandela Foundation which is committed to conflict resolution, to the removal of poverty as well as improving the health of the public, especially in regard to terminal diseases; to bring hope to the people of South Africa and of the world.
Previous award winners include H.R.H. Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, President of the Club of Rome; Dr. Michael Nobel, board chair of the Nobel Family Society and the Nonviolence Project; and Ms. Betty Williams, internationally renowned advocate for women and children, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Ireland's Community of Peace People.
This year’s event will include two traveling exhibits; the Gandhi – King – Ikeda: A Legacy of Building Peace and Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World. The exhibits will be on display from March 28th through April 4th in a special exhibit tent on the King International Plaza, in front of the chapel. Exhibit hours are from 10:00am to 6:00pm Monday - Friday; 9:00am to 9:00pm Saturday and 9:00am to 2:00pm Sunday.
Sponsors who have joined hands for this event are: Morehouse College – Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel, The Gandhi Institute for Reconciliation and Soka Gakkai International USA (SGI-USA). SGI-USA is a culturally diverse Buddhist association with more than 80 centers located throughout the country. Its community-based activities invite a shared commitment to the values of peace, culture and education. The reason we team with Morehouse College is best stated by SGI-USA Southeast Region Leader, Brad Yates; “The GKI exhibit message is about empowering individuals to take responsibility for creating a peaceful world.”