Our first visit today was to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Cruz County.
At the Live Oak Clubhouse we were greeted by over 50 children and staff members in their beautiful playground.
To introduce ourselves we offer clues to the children as to where we are from. If they guess all of our countries correctly we sing them a song, or two. This imitation of the Statue of Liberty is an easy guess for the children.
Pujari has the children guess where every person comes from, our 'Oneness-Home', the planet Earth.
With one of our songs, called the World Harmony Run, we teach the children to sing with us as well as performing the actions to the song written by the Founder of the song, Sri Chinmoy.
Next we a silent exercise on feeling peace in the heart and imagining it spreading like a flower blossoming all around us.
We also offered short skits for the children and have them decide whether they demonstrate peaceful behavior of not.
Silka Jewell, Director of the Live Oak Boys and Girls Club, holds the tPeace Torch and receives our Certificate of Appreciation and an artwork by Sri Chinmoy on the them of peace and world harmony.
Next was one of the most popular and fun activities among the children, the Peace Train. Arpan and his harmonica blow the 'train whistle' and play the World Harmony Run song which the children now know.
With one of the Counselors, Niko, carrying the Peace Torch as the engine of the train, the children follow behind and stay on the 'track' as they jog around the playground.
At some points they have to pass under the 'railroad bridges' as well.
Waiting for a chance to hold the Peace Torch.
The children get a chance to pass the Peace Torch to one another and make their own wishes for peace.
Amanda, a special Counselor for the children, shares her smile and wishes for peace after the children pass the torch to each other.
Everyone got to hold the torch and make a wish for peace.
Daniel, one of the Counselors, shares the Peace Torch with two happy students.
Amanda, a special Counselor for the children, shares her smile and wishes for peace after the children pass the Peace Torch to each other and wish us well as we move on along the Pacific Coast to our next destination.
We are very grateful to all the children and counselors for their enthusiasm, smiles, and wishes for peace.
We had a great view of the Pacific Coast in some spots as we made our way up the scenic Pacific Coastline once again.
The low misty clouds usually come in from the Pacific in the mornings along the coast.
But the views generally get better as the clouds start to clear.
There has been some sightings of gray whales in this area as they migrate in the Spring north towards Alaska before they return south for the winter, sometimes coming relatively close to the shore. Unfortunately we did not spot any whales today.
We did see a few sharks though, but we managed to escape uninjured.
The views varied from beautiful wildflowers and powerful white capped waves crashing onto the rocky coastline.
Local surfers also love to come here to catch some easy, but very cold waves.
Some of our team members drove up to the San Francisco area earlier to see the great musician, Bobby McFerrin performing at the Freight & Salvage, a concert venue in Berkeley, California. Circlesongs is an audience participation format, where they encourage everyone to bring a spirit of adventure, curiosity, trust, and joy. We discovered that many members of the audience were very talented musicians!
“You get people together and get them singing, and you instantly knock down all the walls – the creeds, the gender, age and race differences, everything. You’re all one at that point, lifting your voices.” – Bobby McFerrin
San Francisco team member, Shubhra, holding a photo of Peace Run founder, Sri Chinmoy, when he met Bobby McFerrin back in 2003 and honored him with the "Lifting Up The World With A Oneness-Heart Award". At that time Sri Chinmoy composed a very difficult-to-sing song, intentionally challenging to reflect Bobby's talent for vocal agility. The words of the song are:
Bobby McFerrin, Bobby McFerrins voice: The Absolute Lord's immediate choice! He is one in many in one. God's Proudest Tro-phy his life has won. "Don't worry, be happy!": The mantra of his soul. None can reach his journey's dream flooded Goal.
When Bobby saw this photo, he immediately recalled the meeting, smiling while commenting that the song sung in his honor was very long!
The atmosphere is very relaxed, and talented musicians extemporaneously perform acapella. Pictured here with Bobby are MOTION: David Worm, Destani Wolf and Tammy Brown.
We were thrilled to present Bobby McFerrin with our Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run Torch-Bearer Award in recognition of his outstanding service dedicated to the upliftment of humanity through music.
We sang a song by Sri Chinmoy entitled "A New World of Peace" for Bobby and all.
Bobby expresses himself through music, so instead of saying anything after receiving the award, he composed a tune and had us all sing along with him. It was a very special and memorable experience!
After we left the stage, to end the performance, Bobby spontaneously composed a beautiful melody having the audience all repeat the word peace!
Our team all thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. It was an outpouring of creativity, joy, love and oneness!
Many people from the audience held the torch and shared their wishes and prayers for peace.
Marc Siegler, a volunteer at Freight and Salvage, took some photos of us
The girl back left is only 10 years old. She is pictured here with her younger sister and friends. She was randomly asked to come on stage during the concert and extemporaneously sang incredibly beautifully! She also spontaneously composed a song for the Peace Run after holding the torch! Thank you! You are destined for greatness!
Egi from Mongolia was thrilled to hold the torch with Bobby.
We were so happy that Bobby was able to hold our lit Peace Torch on his way out. He is a very special person we will never forget and hope to meet again.
A good dinner afterwards adds to our peace and oneness.
Some of the women's team ran along the coast towards San Francisco before meeting up with the small team who went to see Bobby Mc Ferrin.
Stopping at a wonderful farmstand called the Pie Ranch. Virangini offers a book by Sri Chinmoy called, Listen to Nature, to their free library.
Meeting with some of the locals there who wished to share the Peace Torch and offer their smiles and wishes for a more peaceful world.
Moving along we enjoyed some of the beautiful architecture and landscape in Santa Cruz along with a beautiful sky.
We visited the Missionaries of Charity, and dedicated to serving people in need according to the principles set forth by the late, Saint Mother Teresa.
We enjoyed the small gardens there and nuns also came out to greet us and treat us to some wonderful snacks. They prefer not to be photographed, but we did meet with some of the workers there.
it was a blessingful way to end a long day as we continue to move north along the Pacific Coast.
