A Dance of Faith
Peta Jones Pellach, Women Wage Peace
Since my childhood, I have had faith. I believe that this world can be healed and that if I do my part, we will have human dignity and peace for all. That’s why I do what I do.
I was part of the movements to free Soviet Jewry, against Apartheid, to end the Vietnam War and for Aboriginal land rights. These campaigns reinforced my faith that justice will prevail if good people work together.
I have faith that peace will come. We pray for it every day. What we pray for, we should work for.
My prayers are the match to light the flame, or the seeds from which grows the tree.
Faith makes me do what I do.
So, I dance, in faith.
I am inspired by women past and present, who broke through limitations to find their voice. I learn and teach their stories. I have faith that I, too, was put on this earth for a purpose. Each of us is unique and we alone can accomplish the unique tasks for which we were created. My mission was to join my sisters in Women Wage Peace and to found Praying Together in Jerusalem.
My faith is like a fire inside me, driving me and inspiring me and pushing me to aim higher, the flame intense and knowing no limits. My faith also is like an oak or a cypress, firmly rooted in the ground but reaching heavenward. My flame gives me passion. My tree-of-faith gives me strength and confidence.
Peta Jones Pellach, educator, activist, journalist. Director of Education, Elijah Interfaith Institute ("Sharing Wisdom, Fostering Peace"); Senior Fellow, Kiverstein Institute ("Proudly Feminist"); co-founder, Praying Together in Jerusalem; active member of Women Wage Peace; radio reporter (SBS Australia).