‘May Peace Prevail On Earth:’ Oxford solidifies commitment to peace, relationship with sister city

In celebration of the Dubno delegation’s visit, the Oxford Rotary Club held a ceremony on Sept. 19 at the Oxford Lane Library to unveil a peace pole. The pole reads “May Peace Prevail On Earth.”

Tetyana Simchuk, the delegation’s facilitator and the principal officer for the Department for International Cooperation and European Integration of the Rivne Regional State Administration in Dubno, Ukraine, spoke during the ceremony as the voice of the delegation.

“Peace starts with people … our friendship is our trust,” Simchuk said. “I believe that we are here to make (that) friendship and we are here to make this relationship longstanding and bring peace to all of us. Let peace prevail in the world.”

Jonathan James, Rotary Club director of club service and member of the Peacebuilder Committee, spoke to attendees about the project and the goal to create a visible reminder of peace. This was the first official project that the Peacebuilder Committee worked on.

“We want it to represent Oxford,” James said. “We wanted the pole to reflect the people who live, work, study and serve in and around Oxford.” James said the Rotary Club and the Peacebuilder Committee were very selective when deciding which languages to include on the peace pole. The languages chosen were English, French, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Myaamia, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

The peace pole also features a braille plate “extending that message to people who experience the world differently,” James said.

Additionally, the peace pole features a QR code that directs visitors to other peace-building efforts by the Rotary Club.

Rotary Club President and Oxford Lane Library Public Services Director Rebecca Smith said that the peace pole aims to help bring the people of Oxford and its sister city, Dubno, Ukraine, closer together. She hopes the peace pole will serve as a “reminder of the connections we share and the peace we hope to foster.”

Smith said the placement of the peace pole in front of the library was an intentional choice.

“The public library is for everyone, no exclusions,” Smith said. “Everyone is welcome, and they are invited to explore, to learn, to grow and (to) connect.”

Emily Greenberg, president-elect for the Rotary Club, said while peace may be easy to say, it is much harder to live. 

“Peace begins with the choices we make, the relationships we build and the way we treat one another,” Greenberg said. 

Greenberg shared that peace meant a lot to her, saying her grandmother had lived through the London Blitz during World War II. 

“Hearing her stories and growing up with her perspective gave me an early understanding that peace is not simply an idea,” Greenberg said, “it is something we recognize most deeply when we understand what happens when it is lost.”

Representatives from the Oxford Rotary Club, the Rotary Peacebuilder Committee, the Rotary district governor from District 667, the Oxford City Council and the Dubno delegation were also present at the ceremony.