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MISSION The Silk Road originated as a series of intersecting caravan trails in southwest China that traversed Central Asia, crossed the lowlands of Mesopotamia onward to Jerusalem and the Mediterranean, and ultimately arrived in Rome. Along these ancient paths, merchants laden with silk from China, spices from India and furs from the steppes of Kazakhstan, exchanged goods and materials. The Silk Road’s significance to religion is eloquently stated by author Richard C. Foltz, “The Silk Road is more than just a conduit along which religions hitched rides . . . . It constituted a formative and transformative rite of passage. No religion emerges unchanged at the end of that arduous journey” (Religions of the Silk Road, St. Martin’s Griffin, NY 1999, page13). Hebrew scholar Samuel Kurinsky in his essays on the “Jewish Traders of the Diaspora” writes of the discovery of rare Judaic glass beads found in several locations amongst the ruins of ancient synagogues suggesting the Silk Road was integral to the Diaspora of the first Jews to Central Asia in the Fifth Century BCE. Today precarious political situations exist in many of the Silk Road nations— Afghanistan, the Middle East, Pakistan and India are all involved in local wars that are on the brink of escalation. There is an urgent need and awareness from people around the world for openness and cultural exchange to help gain the mutual respect and cooperation necessary for world peace. The mission of Marla Mossmann and the Peace Caravan Project aims to nourish the principles of international co-operation, exchange cultural values, share understanding of the environment, and foster the equality of all peoples including women and children. |
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