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SGI-Venezuela in Action
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The
reforestation project members with Environment and
Renewable Natural Resources Minister Ana Elisa Osorio
(second from left, front row)
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In recent months,
SGI-Venezuela has been increasingly active in the sponsorship
of environmental projects as well as awareness-raising
activities in the areas of refugee relief, education and
culture.
At the end of May, SGI-Venezuela participated in a government
reforestation project at Mount Ávila National Park. Some 350
people, including local residents and junior and senior high
school students, participated in the project, planting 1,500
trees in an area covering four hectares. The organizers
expressed their conviction that the participants'
contributions to environmental preservation would benefit not
only their own country but all of humanity. Thanking
SGI-Venezuela for supporting the project, they declared that
efforts for reforestation are as valuable as efforts to end
violence and war.
In cooperation with UNHCR, SGI-Venezuela also promoted public
awareness of the plight of refugees with an exhibition of
photographs held at a gallery in San Cristóbal, near the
Colombian border, which opened on June 19. On the following
day, a parallel exhibition on the status of refugee children
opened at the Institute of Cultural Patrimony in Caracas.
Other recent exhibitions have included an introduction to the
educational ideals of educator and first Soka Gakkai president
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi as well as the "World Boys and
Girls Art Exhibition" and "Symbiosis and Hope: The
Amazon--Its Environment and Development."
SGI-Venezuela's efforts have been widely recognized through
awards from Venezuelan governmental agencies, including the
State Assembly, the Bolívar State Education Ministry, Ciudad
Bolívar city and the National Experimental University of
Guayana.
Following one award ceremony, Ciudad Bolívar's Community
Harmony Radio invited SGI-Venezuela representatives and
General Director Ramón E. Regalado to introduce listeners to
SGI President Ikeda's peace activities, the SGI and the life
philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism. This resulted in a lively
question-and-answer session the following day in which Mr.
Regalado and SGI representatives appeared on Diamond FM Radio
and discussed Soka education and the aims and ideals of the
SGI.
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