 Hi, I'm Cynthia Lee Sinclair and this is Finding Respect in the Chaos and I'm so glad that you've joined us today because I have a very special show. I have brought on one of the girls that I went to high school with. I want to welcome you Heidi to my show. Thank you for coming. You have an amazing story. I know that Walt Disney's daughter said about you that you reminded her of her dad. That's a cool thing to be told I would think right. So you have written an amazing book about what you do and I think the whole world needs to hear it. And most of my viewers, they come on to see the show has been really sort of focused on bringing survivor stories and advocate stories to the airwaves so people can get them. Since I've come back on camera now I'm trying to really just look for inspiring stories and positive things that people can hold on to in these days of confusion and unrest and worry and boy do I have one for everybody today because this story everybody has got to get breaking ground and read it. It is a story of minds to vines. Everybody has been taking landmines out of the ground and replacing it with agribusiness that is absolutely serving so many people countless countless numbers of farmers are back with that and ability to use their lands. They're kids are able to go out and play because of Heidi Kuhn and the work that she has done and so go out and get this book for sure. I know that Cheryl Jennings had a big part in working with you to get this book together and for the last 20 years you guys have been working on it and it is a bestseller already and it just came out right. I'm so you must be so proud and we don't even have any bookstores open and still it made the bestseller list that's really saying a lot I think. So there's so many amazing things that are you know letters of praise in the front of this book there's there's one from Nancy Pelosi and from what I understand she does not ever endorse people's books, but she endorsed this one. And it's important you're going to hear a little bit more about about Nancy Pelosi and her involvement in this program in a little while. Jane Goodall the late copy and I'm Judy Collins Cheryl Jennings I could go on and on and on at the just countless numbers of people that big by partisan people that have come together to endorse this book and to endorse your program. And I think that it's just so exciting. And I'm so grateful that you decided to come on my show to talk about it. So I want to I'm going to start some some slides that we're going to go through and I want to start talking about them. So tell us about us about your your mission and your vision and how it all started for you. Well Cindy it's such an honor first of all to be on your show you know we were both teenagers together during the 1970s and that was an era of peace and love. And we were going attending San Rafael High School in the heart of Marin County across from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and really were witnesses to the peace movement and I when I was an exchange student to Utsunomiya Japan and came back through Rotary Hawaii when I was 17 years old I saw the fact that that former enemies could be friends. And and I came back to my senior year at high school and told my parents I'm going to go to Berkeley. I'm going to learn about peace I'm going to get an education. And I'll be it I graduated from political economics of industrial societies in three years because I wanted to get out there and get on running. So, you know 1979 I graduated and and we peace and love cannot be more important now Cindy to our generation than it has ever ever been. And to be conscious observers to the fact that in Vietnam today were 45 years after the Vietnam War ended on April 30th 1975. As a junior, you were a senior at San Rafael High School, San Rafael namesake for the angel of healing. And how dare we not think boldly to heal the wounds of war by removing the eradicating the the seeds of hatred and violence caused by landmines and planting the roots of peace in Vietnam this month starting in July marks the 25th anniversary of the normalization of relations bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam. And I cannot think of a more friendly thing to do as called forth by President Bill Clinton in 1995 to be a true friend and to eradicate those landmines. Cynthia since the Vietnam War ended in 1975 over 100,000 innocent farmers and families footsteps have been either maimed or killed by explosive remnants of war left behind so I cannot thank you enough. As, as a, you know, Santa fell bulldog, you know, to really take that bulldog spirit, not just blah, blah, rah, rah, rah, but it's time for us in our proud 60s. You know, I was diagnosed with malignant cancer when I was 30, given last rights and and told I wasn't going to live. And when I you make, you know, you go under anesthesia you look up with one three and five year old child and my prayer my deepest prayer, Dear God grant me the gift of life, and I will do something special with it. Well that was manifested following the tragic death of the late Princess Diana. You know, on Labor Day weekend today is would have been her actual 59th birthday she was born July 1. And, and this would have been her 59th birthday so I think she would be very proud that her legacy to eradicate the remnants of war from the face of this earth as a mother, not as a princess but as a mother, and two mothers from Santa fall high on this date to honor her legacy. You know, when to show gather in his name and and you know I don't know much more than that Cindy but just to say thank you to you. You are a survivor on so many levels, I am a survivor, and let's let's join forces, you know aloha spirit Pacifica from the heart of San Francisco. Spirit of St. Francis the Gardener. It's not that hard. Our generation of peace and love has never been more important than it is today, right now. And Cynthia the the I call you Cindy because I need that from high school but endearingly today is July 1 and I began the first steps of this year on this new decade with conscious footsteps to to Vietnam and January 1 2020. You know, I joined with Ambassador Kenneth Quinn the President of the Emeritus of the World Food Prize, and together he fought in Vietnam war and 68. And I put our thumbs and detonated one landline as as a conscious symbol of peace it was my birthday January 6, and I cannot think of a better way to spend and honor the years of my life to get just one more landline out of a world where we live with 60 million landmines, 60 million landmines silently poised in 60 countries. And as we we go through this pandemic. Now, which I never would have expected in in January, you know today is half time it's halfway through the year it's half time. What is the legacy and we're going to leave for our children. And to me it is planting the roots of peace like never before taking bold footsteps across from San Francisco San Rafael in fact to Hawaii and in that aloha spirit to heal the wounds of war and be true to the roots of peace on the one planet that we share. I think the aloha spirit would be proud of us today Cindy. What do you think I think so too and I'm going to be hard pressed to make it through the show without crying tears of love tears of love. And, and maybe a little bit of just admiration to I so admire you for for sticking to it and for following through and for working as hard as you do. In the front of everything that you do, and it shows, it shows through your book, it shows through your actions. It, it shows the way you even the way you talk to people the way you talk to me you speak you have such a loving voice, and such a loving way of being. I'm sort of a bull in the china chap crashing around everywhere. So I appreciate that calm after remind myself to be quiet. My enthusiasm kind of gets me through things I don't always wouldn't get through otherwise. So listen I want to see the launch picture because really important people in that launch picture. Eric, could you show us the launch picture should be number three. There you are. Excellent. Oh my gosh, tell us about this. Tell us about. Well, Cindy, as I say it was three weeks after the tragic death of the late Princess Diana with Dodie alfayette I must say it wasn't just she who died in that car on that papal Labor Day weekend it was also here dear friend Dodie. And that is also documented in the book later on in the terms of the full circle honoring the princess Diana and having Dodie's sister come to me full circle and give me the dress that was worn the famous Versace off the shoulder blue dress of Diana to include to continue her spirit to eradicate land mines. But it, you know, it really was a vision, three weeks after dying. But I want to see the picture again please Eric if you would bring up that. Yes, yes, let me go to that so so there was the late. Yeah, late. Well, current Mrs. Kofi Ann on her late husband, Kofi and, and our Congresswoman when I launched roots of peace I didn't have the penny to my name, just vision and turning minds to vines blood and wine killing fields and division vineyards and orchards worldwide and our Congresswoman a very humble nobody knew her name sat next to me to my right as I hosted Mrs. Kofi Ann on to the bottom right and Bobby Mueller and she whispered my ears. He said I will be with you as long as this takes and unbeknownst to any of us in the room at the World Trade Club in San Francisco on April 20, 1998. Six months after you know we pulled it together to bring the women of the world. And, and dear Nancy Pelosi became of course unbeknownst the speaker of the house. And when she put her gavel down not once, but twice, I was honored in 2006 to be invited to Washington DC to witness, you know her being sworn in as the first woman's speaker of the house. And I'm very clear Cindy as you know the bipartisan respect that I have as an American mother and at the back of the book is also a beautiful quote from Cindy McCain the wife of the late Senator John McCain and I think on the advent of this fourth of July weekend. The honor of having had speaker Congresswoman Pelosi support me just as a woman, you know again with not a penny to my name in fact I was in the negative unbeknownst and I've been very honest in that book how hard it was to turn a vision into reality, because we step on many political landmines don't we in life sometimes. Oh yeah, it's how we handle those those those landmines in our life, and how we overcome them, you know with faith leading with faith and not fear. And, you know, at just, I am so grateful to speak for Pelosi for her long term support on the many endeavors that we've had, both in Afghanistan and Vietnam, and that promise that she made just again is our respected esteemed Congresswoman but who would ever believed on two occasions, speaker of the House of the United States of America. Okay now I wish I had a two hour show but I don't. Okay, so we got to get moving because I really want to get all of these things in, because otherwise you're just going to have to come on again in a couple weeks we'll have to do part or something. So the next one is with you and copy and and, and he actually, and I'm going to read this okay for you says you have turned minds into vines by replacing the seeds of destruction with the seeds of life. You have shown the world that even with modest beginnings, a partnership backed up by persistence can make a real difference. And that's a quote from him that's just incredible okay so the next one where we're going next is one of my favorite things right. And that's the penny campaign that your daughter started I just that just touched me so much when I was reading about it. So tell us about that. It was, I took the first month of the new millennium January 2000 and I walked a minefield. I think half my friends wondered what, what in the world happened to me. I was touched they were going off to Tahiti Hawaii and I'm going to the minefields the Balkans and with my wonderful husband watching our children I saw what I could never even imagine on a television seat. I've seen children who couldn't hike the mountains or walk the beaches without the fear of landmines little boy 10 years old looked at my hand and said Mrs. Cune is it true that the children have this type of freedom. And I said yes and he looked at me and he said it must be heaven. And I came back with a sense of deep appreciation for what we are blessed with. And my five months later I decided to go back to Croatia and I took my daughter was the really an outright of passage it was her 13th birthday and she too saw children who not only could wear you know the newest pair of jeans as we had in Marin County but children who were struggling just to have a pair of jeans and to put their prosthetic leg into that article of clothing. And it touched her heart deeply and when she met with ABC news anchors Cheryl Jennings. It would be the three of us realized that we had all three California women and walk the minefield what was our responsibility to future generations so it came from the hearts of babes it was my daughter who launched the penny campaign the roots piece pennies for peace campaign and raise 50 million American pennies to build schools and soccer fields for girls in Afghanistan and those schools stand strong today in places called bomb Sarai you know mere boat to coach and and she built a soccer field on the former minefield in Angola with a late princess Diana took her final footsteps so you know it's what children can do it's what all of us can do when we pass that torch and inspire people and with COVID-19 right now the people who live in minefield Cindy have to shelter in place every day because they don't know going out that front door where their child will kick a soccer ball out of bounds or chase a butterfly across the field and boom lose a limb to a landline or a life even a life a limb site a brother a sister you know it's they know no flags they know no color they know no politics but we live in a world Cindy where 60 million landmines are silently poised and in 60 countries can you imagine in Hawaii beautiful Hawaii my mother was six months pregnant with me I think I have that aloha spirit in my heart forever and I visited I've had the honor and privilege of that aloha spirit that has always been with me and it's one of healing as those waves beautifully come in and come out it is the flow and the nature of the one earth that we share and and when we you know create landmines as stupidly as we did in the civil war you know and leave them behind it's it's as women we need to come together and remove the violence that this cause and I know you're such an advocate of removing violence in the home in the heart and on the face of the earth so once again kudos to you Cindy we are united on that front but now I want to talk about my favorite slide and my favorite story almost because this this is nothing for this home and so if you would show the next slide it's the fields of Bethlehem slide. There you go now I'll explain just exactly who it is that you're walking in. Well this was the impossible dream that that's all I can say to live the impossible dream but a little boy. Daniel you've all aged 10 stepped on a landmine tragically when the snow covered the sign warning of landmines the Golan Heights of Israel and when he lost his leg at age 10 he called me to his bedside and said Mrs. Cune you help me create a mind-free world and and what what would have I said you know it's interesting that you say that because today is July 1 and coincidence is a miracle in which God prefers to remain anonymous but I spent fourth of July in in the minefields I left my family and that's a pretty big holiday in America and I left my family to go to the bedside of this little boy and to answer his call was my greatest honor and it was hard we lobbied at the Knessets which is the governing body of Israel and help bring forth together with Jerry White the first ever historical unanimous legislation at the Knesset and through dear friends of ours who own Spiritara Winery, Shirley and Paul Dean we raised half a million dollars to demine the fields of Bethlehem and and that to me you know unites three faiths it's four miles from where Jesus Christ was born it was in a Muslim village Husan and it was governed by Israel and at the moment ABC7 news anchor Cheryl Jennings accompanied me just a few weeks prior to that and her dear husband was by my side Rick Pettibone who also went to Santa Fe High School it was a frozen moment because I insisted that Palestinians and Israelis demine that land together or I wasn't going to have a deal and they froze and there was the Palestinian who was the shepherd in that photo you could see lost his arm to a landmine at age 10 because those mines were planted in 1948 during the war and he was a 10 year old child and when the Jordanian Palestinian soldier stepped on the mind a little 10 year old went to help him he lost his right arm so that photo is so poignant to me because it was the Palestinian shepherd you think of a little town of Bethlehem how dare we not but think of today the reality of the shepherd without the arm due to the landmines we left behind and the Israeli soldier wasn't going to walk so I got in between them in that photo and said we're going to walk together and they said they're going to shoot you and I said well then let them shoot a mother and and I don't know those words just came from me I'm not you know I'm not rambunctious I'm not one to put my life at risk as a mother of four and a grandmother of three but it just that picture was so powerful because I said okay let's join arms Palestinian Israelis and let's march up that hill and demine the fields of Bethlehem and those yeah I still can't believe it's really not okay so I'm crying I knew I wouldn't make it through the screen but I'm crying we have an interfaith picture a slide too and I know we're going to be starting to run short of time here pretty soon so I don't and I want to I definitely want to get through some more I mean get at least a little bit further I want to get to the guns and grapes picture because I love that yeah go Bulldogs so I'll turbo through this one this is I've had the honor of beating many faiths you know as the forward to the book is by Her Majesty Queen Noor and and poignantly states Her Majesty states we are all daughters and sons of Abraham and I think that's the beginning from where we need to start today with all the challenges of Black Lives Matter landmines in our world the landmines in our hearts the political landmines surrounding us we are human beings and hopefully we come out of this COVID-19 with a sense of empathy and understanding and truly the aloha spirit that we are all one so so I am very very grateful to have been blessed by many faiths you know I was raised Catholic at St. Rayfield's but to have had the the and you see in the photo not only Pope Francis but the Grand Mufti of the Golden Dome which is the most sacred site you can see to the right he presented me with his holy beads and it was the first time I was told a woman has ever been invited to his office because you know and but so those beads as well as rosary beads holy beads it's one God in my heart and and we are all divine you know creatures to respect each other and we are all on the face of this earth facing the challenge of the COVID-19 and and hopefully we can you know come together really as a world right now get down on our knees which we are humbled you know the the San Francisco Bay Area is upticking with COVID-19 and we need to leave with faith not fear absolutely I agree we are going to go past the next slide because otherwise you won't have time to go show it quickly with turbo through it it's the alternative crops one families families and great right but it's pepper too didn't you like it is pepper in Vietnam but but you know the Afghan farmers the fresh grapes are indigenous Afghanistan as a country 80% dependent upon agribusiness and if we're going to lift Afghanistan up from the rubble and the political land mines it's through this harvest of hope that we are you know so from that little toast of mines to vines today I'm managing over $100 million under contract in Afghanistan so you know this isn't a time in our world to think small we need to think big but we need to be humble in our footsteps and and step by step plant the roots of peace on earth now I totally agree with you and so there was 5000 women that have had their lives changed because over there they're not farmers and they've been empowered and women like you said women don't even get invited to the office I know I know a roots of peace I must stress is humanitarian it's not political and that photo with the women in the Somali plains you can see with their brokers on we don't make them take them off we respect their culture but we're training them to be proud farmers and just like microcredit lending the men see the value of the women working from 6am to 8am in those fields before their children wake up and it makes their lives easier and then they go back home and throughout the day they cook the meal and they come home and together as husband and wife they're able to celebrate the harvest and the women have something to talk about they feel part of it not just home inside cooking but they're contributing to the fruits of the earth the fruit of the vine and the work of human hands changing the face of the land that they have to farm and in the face of their families their future everything is being changed okay now you have been awarded so many awards we've only got about three more minutes left I think there's like eight or nine of them I only wrote down a couple of them because I couldn't write them all down but you won the Jefferson award walk the talk from the UN that Jacqueline Kennedy Award for peace you've won the Rotaries Service over self award you've won a Nobel and you won an award from Mahatma Gandhi and we have some pictures of the one with the Nobel Marcus Nobel and that's the Gandhi Award was on the 150th anniversary of Gandhi created a whole new award for you for you you got the first one it was the earth ethics award and and the joyful picture you're seeing is that where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated 150 years ago after seconds and I brought a little Afghan girl to accept the award on my behalf because it's not me doing the work it's those around me it's my husband my children and and the farmers in the field so the awards are wonderful I you know I just don't want to put them on a shelf as we always said in the songs that we sang it's of the 70s you know it's not an award to put on a shelf it's a stepping stone for peace and and it's the words I always accept on behalf of others I always love the quote by Sir Isaac Newton if I have seen further than others it's only because I've stood on the shoulders of giants and the giants to me are my family my husband Gary Dr. Brooks Cune who's on the front line with COVID-19 is a physician he's praying for him because he is a doctor and his wife is a doctor and they are out there on the front lines okay so wrap up here what I'm going to do is point out that in the front of each you start out every single chapter in your book with a quote from a different faith and I love that I think that is so beautiful it really drives home that message of we are all in this together and really all one God and we really you know I'm always saying it takes all kinds of religions to reach all kinds of people right and so that's the that's the reason God made it that great so I'm going to read the one from chapter nine because I love this one and then you don't really hear a whole lot of Zoroastrianism going on it's kind of out of date these days right many of them left they kind of I want to I want to read this to sort of close it says he who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of merit than is gained by the repetition of 10,000 prayers and I just love that and I just love you and I'm so grateful that we came on and what you're doing I often call you a national treasure because you are and so that's what I pray for you every day I want you to know that because I want you to stay safe because we need all the national treasures we can get right now we need mothers that's what we need all I am I'm CEO but my greatest TR is that I'm a mother and that that that is my legacy that's your legacy and I am so honored to be called your friend Cynthia and you know just you know you're you're ahead of me and I always looked up to you and I still do here today Wow thank you but I think you've outpassed me by about 10 million zillion times but that's no way to say what this does is we just work on our corner of it now some people like you like my brother out there saving the world that's great and we need national treasures like you guys and then some of us but we can just kind of work on our corner of the world so that's what I'm doing I'm just working on my little corner of the world well you know you know Cindy I'll close with this with my words but it was the words of the Miwok Indians who you know lived once in Marin County and and when I was struggling in the beginning as we all do I mean this has not been a piece of cake to do roots of peace we've been attacked by the Taliban there's many many stories in the book breaking ground but they told me at the story of the Native Americans and when they women would make baskets they would pull they would tug they would pull they would tug and wonder why it was so hard and at the end of life they turned the basket around and they saw the beautiful pattern and they knew why the tugging and the pulling was necessary so that that is my story from the heart of a mother from Marin County the Miwok legacy and legend and to you my dear friend Aloha hands across the ocean for coming on every go out and get this book because you will not be able to put it down it is amazing breaking ground by Heidi King Walden thank you so much for coming I can't believe we got all that into a half an hour Mahalo there's so much more for everyone to hear and to learn about what you've done and I wish you all the best God speed and blessings might thank you dear friend thank you from the heart of two teenagers to the world thank you my dear friend okay well thank you everyone for joining us I will try to find us another inspiring story for the next show although I don't know if I'm going to be able to top this one but I hope you'll join me Wednesday at two o'clock for finding respect in the chaos this is Cynthia Sinclair for finding for think tech Hawaii thanks so much for coming