The Mayor and City Council conducted a restoration unveiling ceremony of the Peace Pole in the compound of
The restored Peace Pole
City Hall on Monday.
The restored structure was unveiled by the Mayor of Georgetown Patricia Chase Green, President of the American University of Research, Dr Eton Simon, Imaam Shaheed Mohamed, Prabhupada Deva Parabhu and Pastor Ronald McGarrell.
Addressing the small gathering, Simon said: “When I came here in 2001, I met with the Mayor Hamilton Green and we spoke about planting a Peace Pole in the compound of City Hall. He agreed and we got support from many other members of the Mayor and City Council.”
Simon stated that upon his return to Guyana this year, he suggested to the present Mayor Patricia Chase Green, to have the Peace Pole restored and within 15 days, it was complete.
In his peace pilgrim’s message, Simon relayed: “People in their immaturity, attempt to overcome evil with more evil and that multiplies the evil. Only good can overcome evil. There is within the hearts of people, deep desire for peace and they would speak for peace if they were not bound by apathy, by ignorance, by fear. It is the job of the peacemakers to inspire them from their apathy. To dispel their ignorance with truth. To allay their fear with faith and work for good.” Mayor Chase Green expressed appreciation towards the refurbished concrete structure and highlighted that Peace Poles were planted around the City of Georgetown in 2004. “Over the years, we noticed that the one at City Hall had started to deteriorate, and I sometimes wonder if the deterioration of the pole was a deterioration of the peace at City Hall, but now its restored and I’m certain that peace, peace perfect peace, will be restored at City Hall.”Chase Green further stated that in the journey to restore Georgetown to the former Garden City, she aimed to advocate peace, adding that “peace is a light that we will always need to make our differences find common ground and to make our diverse goals into a single purpose.”
