Richland College Path for Peace
Peace Pole Dedications
Richland College currently has seventeen peace poles. Richland plants two peace poles each year, one in the fall semester and one in the spring semester. The peace poles are made of western red cedar which has a natural resistance to decay and insect attack. The messages are on plexiglas plaques. When planted they are about 6 ½ feet tall. The message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" is written in English on one side and in three other languages, one per side.
- First Pole: Spanish, Swahili, Vietnamese, English
- Second Pole: Chinese, French, Navajo, English
- Third Pole: Philipino, Portuguese, Russian, English
- Fourth Pole: Japanese, German, Arabic, English
- Fifth Pole: Italian, Zulu, Urdu, English
- Sixth Pole: Hindi, Korean, Swedish, English
- Seventh Pole: Greek, Somali, Thai, and English
- Eighth Pole: Cherokee, Hebrew, Serbo-Croatian, and English
- Ninth Pole: Creole, Czech, Norwegian, and English
- Tenth Pole: Finnish, Sign Language, Ukrainian, and English
- Eleventh Pole: Dutch, Hopi, Yiddish, and English
- Twelfth Pole: Aramaic, Danish, Hmong, and English
- Thirteenth Pole: Pole Farsi, Malay, Polish, and English
- Fourteenth Pole: Amharic, Lithuanian, Nepalese, and English
- Fifteenth Pole: Bengali, Turkish, Wolof, and English
- Sixteenth Pole: Hausa, Kurdish, Mongolian, and English
- Seventeenth Pole: Cambodian, Magyar, Tigrinya, and English
- Eighteenth Pole (Coming April 16, 2008): Estonian, Māori, Pashto, and English
Over 200,000 peace poles are planted in more than 180 countries around the world. Peace poles have been purchased and planted by elementary school children, college students, and civic and religious groups. You will find a peace pole at the magnetic North Pole, the Pyramids of El Giza in Egypt, Confucius Burial Site in Taiwan, Gorky Park in Russia, the Allenby Bridge on the border between Israel and Jordan, and the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan.
The Peace Pole Project was started by the World Peace Prayer Society, a nonprofit, member-supported, non-sectarian organization. Founded in Japan in 1955 by Masahisa Goi, the Society has its world headquarters in New York City, and is recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization associated with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations.