For long years I nurtured my children and protected them from trouble and suffering. Now that my family have grown up, my protective instinct won't lie down.

Women from around the world light a candle to launch a peace initiative with a difference. Mary Lean joined them in the mountain village of Caux, Switzerland.

Louise Diamond, Director of Peace Works, Washington DC, gives her impressions of the conference:

David Allbrook's watchword has led him into famine relief, the hospice movement, the presidency of Amnesty International in Australia and pioneering medical training in East Africa. John Bond meets an academic who believes in action.

Never have more people been murdered than under such `great' leaders as Stalin, Hitler and Mao. Never, perhaps, have more people been led into wars not of their choosing than by lesser leaders like Lyndon B Johnson and Saddam Hussein.

Through creating a meaningful avenue of self-expression, Johnson says, teenagers learn how to direct themselves; and one of the most important goals of BTA is to restore young Black men's sense of a positive self-image.

'Democracy starts with me' was the theme of MOral Re-Armament's 1991 conference at Caux, Switzerland. Over seven weeks 2,160 people attended its sessions. Michael Smith reports: