Let’s return to a Mother’s Day for peace

One of the first "Mother’s Day" celebrations was to unite women in the cause of world peace. In 1870 author and poet Julia Ward Howe issued a Mother’s Day proclamation encouraging women to speak out against war.

"We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs" wrote Howe.

This Mother’s Day proclamation was in reaction to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. It recognized the horror of war, something that should never be forgotten in any era.

"From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice" read Howe's proclamation.

While Howe was never able to establish a national Mother’s Day for peace, her idea did inspire future events. It was not until 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed a national Mother's Day holiday. Peace rallies have been held on modern Mother’s Day on numerous occasions.

We should still keep the Mother’s Day for Peace spirit alive in this year's celebration too. For there are millions of mothers right now trapped in war zones in Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, and the D.R. Congo who are praying for that gift of peace.

These mothers are trying to save their children from the violence. These mothers are also watching their children die of starvation. Wars have led to severe food shortages. In Sudan, children are forced to eat leaves or grass to try and stay alive.

Every mother wants their children to grow up in a world free from war and hunger. That is the gift they want on Mother’s Day most of all. Julia Ward Howe was inspired by this dream to start A Mother’s Day for Peace.

We can do more to protect mothers and children from war and it starts by being an advocate for peace. Tell your elected officials to do more to help mothers and children impacted by war.

Mothers and children have the right to basic food to survive, but in war zones they are too often denied. It’s critical that food and other lifesaving aid be allowed to reach all civilians in Gaza, Sudan and other war zones. There can be no peace built upon starvation.

Conflict as well as apathy imperil mothers and their children.

Tragically humanitarian aid that would save mothers and children has been cut back by the Trump administration. The abrupt closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has harmed mothers and children by preventing lifesaving food and medical aid.

Save the Children reported that kids in Akobo County in South Sudan died from cholera after their community health center closed after budget cuts to overseas aid. The ill children were forced to walk 3 hours to find the closest treatment center after the closure, but they perished along the way.

"There should be global moral outrage that the decisions made by powerful people in other countries have led to child deaths in just a matter of weeks “ said Chris Nyamandi, Save the Children Country Director in South Sudan.

Rhode Island based Edesia has seen production lines go idle and payments held up because of the USAID shutdown and budget cuts. Edesia produces the peanut paste Plumpy’Nut that relief agencies use to save children from deadly malnutrition. Edesia needs to be running this food around the clock to keep up supplies for the hungry. But the budget cuts are preventing this. This is devastating to mothers and their starving children around the world.

What should be happening is increased funding of humanitarian aid as more mothers and children are in danger now because of wars. Until peace and reconstruction is established humanitarian aid must be sustained.

Mother’s Day should be about more than giving gifts, it should also be a day to recognize the rights of mothers and their children. Mothers and children must have the basic right to live in a peaceful world, free from war and hunger.

William Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the book “Ending World Hunger.“