Oregon Peace Conference to be brought to MHCC

It’s been 40 years since the start of the tragic Killing Fields massacres in Cambodia, an anniversary Mt Hood will recognize by hosting the second annual Oregon Peace Conference on April 17.

Roseann Kennett, adviser to MHCC’s TRIO program, is in charge of running the conference and exhibit this year. “It’s a pretty full packed day, it’s going to be really good,” said Kennett.

The conference is open all day, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. The exhibit will be on display on both the 16th and 17th.

The exhibit and conference are free for Mt. Hood students and staff, but conference officials are asking for a $5 donation from community members, considering this entire event has no budget support.

Kennett predicts a visit will be worth everyone’s while, having arranged an impressive lineup of speakers.

The event will start with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. The conference kicks off at 9 a.m., with an introduction and dedication ceremony by a panel of students from MHCC, Maitripa College, Portland Community College, and WSU-Vancouver; a Quaker peace program intern also will be there.

After the dedication, two doctors will talk about nonviolent communication and its method, as pioneered by Marshall Rosenberg.

An Interactive Theater will event will follow, hosted by Marcia McReynolds, an improv and playback actress. “She is going to teach the principles of nonviolence using theater. It’ll be fun,” Kennett said.

The International Sufi school of Peace and Service is giving a couple of sessions. One is “Nonviolence is a Choice: the Initiatory Way to Peace,” and the other is an “Eco Peace Seminar” based on teaching people sustainable agriculture and how to sell their products.

A Cambodian genocide survivor will give a personal dedication to the Killing Fields victims, and then hold his own session for guests who wish to hear his testimony.

Rachel Hestmark, another speaker, was a victim of human trafficking for most of her teen years but finally got out at the age of 19. According to Kennett, she will talk about her “experiences of healing and forgiveness, that got her where she is today.”

There will be a group leading the universal dances of peace, which are multicultural dances from many different traditions, with live music. “You don’t need to know how to dance; they are really simple dances,” said Kennett.

Mt. Hood’s own Heather White, library technical services coordinator, is going to do a session on mindfulness.

The day will end with free food samples given out during the edible landscapes session.

Many of the selected speakers were inspired by comments from the Arun Gandhi event held at MHCC on Jan. 22. Kennett said that after Gandhi presented the Mahatma’s message, “People kept asking, ‘How do we practice this in this crazy world of violence?’ This (the conference) is kind of giving people the tools to practice it in their lives.

“With all the negative things going on in the world we need reminders of some of the good things,” she said.