Dr. Karambu Ringera of Meru, Kenya, will visit Champlain Valley Union High School on April 19-20 to speak with the community and students at CVU about her work related to the international peace movement.

Ringera will give a free, public talk about her work on Monday, April 19 at 6 p.m. in the CVU auditorium, followed by a question and answer session. She will speak to classes, student groups, and faculty at the school on Tuesday, April 20.

Sponsored by two CVU seniors, Molly Vatis of Shelburne, and Ditra Backup of Williston, Karumbu's visit to Vermont is one of several across the nation, and is designed to acquaint Americans with her work as a peace activist and founder of International Peace Initiatives (IPI). Based in Kenya, with an American center in Denver, IPI has been conceived with a broad service-based and community-building mission. For more information on IPI visit www.ipeacei.org.

Vatis and Backup traveled to Kenya last summer for a month-long visit, under the auspices of IPI. They participated in the opening of a community-supported Amani (Peace) Home, an orphanage and school for children who have lost parents to AIDS and afflictions related to poverty.

While there, the two students assisted in the presentation of the second IPI Women's International Grassroots Peace Congress, in Meru, Kenya. Drawing women from several African countries, this conference helped to address and to promote the role of grassroots women's peace-building in Africa. Keynote speaker at the conference was Naomi Tutu, daughter of Reverend Desmond Tutu.

For more information, contact Ditra Backup or MollyVatis, mollybackup@aol.com, 872-0936.