Peace Bus

The aim of the Peace Bus is for Turkish and Greek Cypriot women together to visit rural as well as urban places throughout the island and to connect them around their human rights, gender equality, peace, democracy and the reunification of the island. It will offer the opportunity for mainly women although not exclusively so, to interact, communicate and discuss a common struggle to combat the discrimination they face in their daily lives as well as to find common ground that joins them and rejoice in their similarities. The intention is to create the space for interaction that will show the benefits of cultural diversity so that we can move towards creating a peaceful society where everyone’s human rights are respected regardless of gender, ethnicity or religion. Due to decades of ethnic forced separation there are many women and new generations who have not met or talked to the other, on the other side, so this project provides such an opportunity and is located within the bigger peace building process in Cyprus. We believe women are more prone to a relational culture which helps open safe spaces for sharing past pain and loss with the vision of future co-existence.

So far Hands Across the Divide has brought their message of peace to the following communities:

Participation in the Peace Bus is not limited to members of Hands Across the Divide and invitations have and will continue to be extended to other NGO’s as well as to individuals by email, Facebook and personal networking.  

You can find photos of our past Peace Buses in our Photo Gallery, while you can find articles regarding the Peace Bus in our Publications Library.

You can also see a video from the event in Kontea, which the Hands Across the Divide Peace Bus participated in, here.

The Peace Bus in Lympia.