site.btaPeace Bell March Passes Through Bulgaria

A peace march, entitled Peace Bell, is passing through Bulgaria and was by the town of Kozloduy on the banks of the Danube River on Thursday.

The initiative is from a German group of the same name, whose members firmly believe that ordinary people should make every effort to preserve peace, especially in times when there are wars in many places and many politicians talk about war, Andreas Kunka, one of the organizers of the initiative, told BTA.

The group, which consists of about 20 people, five white horses and four ponies, set off on May 8 from the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The main symbol is a bell made especially for the mission from remnants of military ammunition and bronze. It depicts a dove and the word peace in various languages, including Bulgarian.

"We had a big send-off from many people in Berlin and since then we have been walking about 25 km almost every day. We have crossed Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania and now we are passing through Bulgaria. Then we will continue through Turkiye, Syria, Jordan in order to reach Jerusalem," group member Ines Witter said, adding that the plan is to be in Jerusalem on Christmas, where they will donate the bell to a school in which children of different religions study. 

The entire route that the group will cover is about 5,000 km, and the initiative costs about EUR 1.8 million, group treasurer Andreas Kunke noted, pointing out that the funding is divided into two parts. A large part is paid by the participants, while a smaller part of the funds comes from donations from the church and from people from all over Germany. "In Germany, there is a law that allows 20% of the taxes that a person has to pay to be able to invest them in projects that benefit society. So half of our funds come from that", he said.