IRVINGTON, NJ — Mayor Tony Vauss hosted a Peace Conference in Council Chambers on Saturday, Sept. 30, in conjunction with the Universal Peace Federation, in honor of Peace Day, which was established by the United Nations and is celebrated annually around the world Sept. 21.
Ricardo de Sena, the UPF secretary general and director of the Office of Latin American Relations, also presented Vauss with the 2017 Ambassador for Peace Award and the Leadership and Good Governance Award, which recognizes those who have demonstrated outstanding leadership principles, including fairness, honesty, accountability, transparency and inclusiveness.
“I have not been involved with the group at all. Apparently, they have been watching the work that I’ve been doing here in Irvington from afar,” said Vauss on Tuesday, Oct. 3. “They reached out to me. We’ve had several meetings and they expressed to me that they wanted to come in and present me with this award. You can check them out at www.upf.org. It’s a very big organization.”
De Sena could not be reached for comment about the event and awards ceremony, but members of the Nigerian contingent that attended the event in Council Chambers described it as “the first steps on the road to peace” in the United States and around the world.
“I’m a member of the Universal Peace Federation. I’m also a U.S. ambassador for peace,” Pastor Henry Forsal of Light of God Ministries International Church of East Orange said Saturday, Sept. 30. “We just finished meeting with the mayor of Irvington, Tony Vauss. We discussed peace in the community and peace in the whole world. We had some beautiful lectures and interactions. Among the participants and witnesses today were the lady mayor of Hillside, Angela Garretson, and the other mayor from Orange (Dwayne Warren) was supposed to share with us, too.”
Forsal acknowledged that Vauss “was issued a certificate and inducted into the Universal Federation as an ambassador for peace.”
“This is was an important event at this time, because of the situation you have in the country right now,” Forsal said. “There’s crises all over the world. It’s a good thing we see what we have and know how to tackle it. They say ‘problem identified is problem half-solved.’”
Andy Ogbonna, who was part of the Nigerian contingent with Forsal, said he hopes his friend and colleague is right about identifying the problem being the first step in finding a solution to that problem, because the problem itself, which is war and violence, requires all hands on deck, ready to take it on by any means necessary.
“As someone who’s concerned about what’s happening in my environment — but not only in my environment, all around the world, because the world is a global village — the beauty of this organization (is) joining together, talking about peace and that peace will begin within us,” said Ogbonna on Saturday, Sept. 30.
“I appreciate the support of the mayor of Irvington, that of Orange and Hillside. I’m asking — I’m wishing — that this peace that’s beginning with us will spread from the city of Irvington to Newark to Hillside to Orange, across America, and in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, where they’re killing people. People are dying in the eastern part of Nigeria, just because they’re asking for peace.”
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