Desmond Tutus Potrait. / PHOTO; Desmond Tutu Foundation
The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation (DLTLF) has launched Letters for Peace, a worldwide campaign inviting people to express their hopes, reflections, and creative visions for peace.
The initiative calls on individuals to put “pen to paper, voice to camera, or art to canvas” in what the Foundation describes as a collective act of shared humanity.
Inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s lifelong belief that peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of justice, love, and action, the campaign turns personal expression into moral participation.
“This is not a social media campaign,” said Janet Jobson, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation.
“It is a civic act of conscience. We are creating a space where people everywhere can share their understanding of peace and, in doing so, help build a collective moral conscience.”
From Lecture to Movement
The campaign builds toward the 15th Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture, to be held on 20 November 2025 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).
The annual lecture was first established in 2011 by Archbishop Tutu after the South African government, under pressure from China, denied a visa to his close friend, the Dalai Lama.
“In a typical act of resistance and moral outrage, the Arch decided that if the Dalai Lama couldn’t come in person, he would still deliver the lecture electronically,” Jobson explained.
“That moment gave birth to what has become one of South Africa’s most important platforms for moral reflection.”
This year’s lecture, themed “Faith, Conflict, and Our Shared Humanity in a Fractured World,” will be delivered by Indian author and diplomat Dr. Shashi Tharoor.
The event will explore how faith can unite rather than divide and will include music, poetry, and performances by young South Africans.
A Living Wall of Peace
Through Letters for Peace, the Foundation invites people across South Africa and around the world to submit letters, poems, songs, artworks, or videos that express what peace means to them.
Each contribution will become part of a Digital Peace Wall, a living online mosaic to be unveiled at the Peace Lecture.
Jobson said the Foundation wanted the campaign to transform participation into action.
“We don’t want this to be a one-day event,” she said. “It’s about building a movement, a space for people, wherever they are, to reflect on what peace means and to act on it.”
How to Participate
Anyone can take part in the Letters for Peace campaign. Submissions are open to all forms of creative expression from handwritten letters and spoken-word recordings to visual art, videos, and digital posts.
Individuals can upload their work directly through the Foundation’s website at tutu.org.za/peace or share it on social media using the hashtags #LettersForPeace and #PeaceInAction.
To help spark reflection, the Foundation suggests prompts such as:
- “Dear World, peace to me means…”
- “If Archbishop Tutu were here today, I’d tell him…”
- “Peace begins when…”
- “My Letter of Peace is for…”
All submissions will contribute to the Digital Peace Wall, a symbolic gathering of voices that demonstrates how individual acts of conscience can become a global chorus for peace.
The Spirit of Ubuntu
Jobson said the campaign is deeply grounded in Ubuntu, the African philosophy that teaches, “I am because we are.”
“Ubuntu tells us that our humanity is bound up with each other’s,” she explained.
“If we truly believe that, then the diminishment of any person diminishes us all. Letters for Peace asks us to act as though that is true to speak, create, and connect in ways that affirm our shared humanity.”
As the Foundation prepares for this year’s Peace Lecture, it hopes the campaign will remind the world that peace requires both empathy and effort.
“Peace is something we make together,” Jobson said. “It begins when we choose to see each other fully and act every day in defense of our shared humanity.”
Source: Janet Jobson, CEO at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, speaking to Clarence Ford on Views and News with Clarence Ford, the mid-morning show on CapeTalk.
About the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation
Established in 2013, the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation preserves and advances the moral leadership and humanitarian legacy of Archbishop Desmond and Mama Leah Tutu.
The Foundation champions peacebuilding, justice, human dignity, and reconciliation through education, dialogue, and active citizenship, inspiring future generations to live out the values of compassion, courage, and Ubuntu.
