Fifth-generation Marinite, cancer survivor and mother of four Heidi Kuhn learned about the proliferation of land mines from the advocacy of Princess Diana and was moved to action. So she created Roots of Peace in 1998, turning fields once covered with land mines into profitable vineyards.
This year, she’s been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her work. The announcement will be on October 11, 2024.
Can you tell me about the process of being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?
I was humbled and honored to be nominated by the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. This is the same city where Alfred Nobel once lived, and so it is fitting to be nominated from this city which was home to the founder the prize. Even more meaningful is that a Muslim country which nominated an American woman.
The Nobel Peace Prize is not an award which you apply for, but rather you are nominated by others for your noble efforts for peace.
Who or what has motivated you and driven you through your success?
I am a proud fifth-generation descendent of a Marin County pioneer family, and I was always taught lessons of generational wisdom to respect the land and its people. My great-great grandfather was Captain John Augustus McNear, who purchased 2,500 acres of land in San Rafael in 1868. Following the Civil War, he saw the social injustices targeting the Chinese people and provided safe refuge to over 500 Chinese families, who started a thriving business exporting over 3 million pounds of dried shrimp to China annually.
In September 1997, following the tragic death of Princess Diana, who walked through the minefields in the last year of her life, I learned that there were an estimated 110 million land mines in 60 countries which maimed or killed innocent children. As a mother of four young children, I could not imagine a world where children could not walk the beaches of Stinson or hike the mountains of Tamalpais without the fear of stepping on a land mine. Children living in war-torn countries may kick a soccer ball out of bounds, and lose life or limb to a land mine. And, with my pioneer spirit, I decided to take action from the heart of Marin County, as we are so blessed with the freedom to walk the land without fear. As a cancer survivor, I realize that cancer is a land mine, and land mines are a cancer to the earth. The solution is removal.
How has your personal upbringing in California and background as a mother and cancer-survivor contributed to and shaped your work worldwide?
Prior to my diagnosis with cervical cancer, I lived in Alaska and owned my own company, Newslink International, serving as a CNN reporter and producer in the Soviet Union during the era of glasnost and perestroika. I knew about the importance of communications and expressing your passion in sharing a news story. When I learned about land mines, my experience in communications strategy inspired me to shed light on this story which caused pain to the innocent footsteps of children and farmers living in war-torn lands.
What are your strategies for spreading awareness about this issue in areas that are not affected by land mines?
On September 21, 1997, I launched Roots of Peace in the living room of our Kuhn family home with a vision of turning “mines to vines” — replacing minefields with vineyards and orchards worldwide. It was a daunting task to take this vision from the living room of our San Rafael home onto the world stage, as today we have ultimately benefited millions of farmers and families worldwide.
I began in the Napa Valley, where legendary vintners Robert Mondavi, Miljenko Grgich and Diane Disney Miller embraced the vision of turning mines to vines and generously hosted fundraisers. Their funds were matched by the U.S. Department of State, which provided the financial resources to transform minefields into thriving vineyards in Croatia.
In January 2000, I walked my first minefield in Croatia, where there were an estimated 1.5 million land mines in the vineyards due to The Balkan War. Working with the Rotary Club of San Rafael and California vintners, we raised funds to transform these lands into one of the top tourist destinations in the world.
Following the 9/11 attacks, we began our humanitarian work in Afghanistan to help the farmers and families who were suffering. Our programs grew with funding from USAID, USDA, EU, ADB and The World Bank, as we trained farmers in all 34 provinces to grow high-value crops on former war-torn lands. My husband, Gary, a Silicon Valley business leader, became involved and took this small idea out of the basement of our Kuhn family home and expanded our business model for peace.
Roots of Peace helped expand Afghan exports from $250 million in 2014 to over $1.4 billion in 2020, and impacted the lives of over one million farmers and families. Afghanistan was once considered the “Garden of Central Asia” prior to the planting of land mines, and we restored the economy by cultivating peace through agriculture. Today, we still employ over 100 Afghan farmers — including Afghan women — as we provide dignity for families to feed their children.
Can you walk me through your process of how you and your team approach and treat an area that still has land mines? What is usually going through your head?
Walking through a live minefield is one of the most frightening experiences, as the flowers are blooming — tempting the footsteps of a child, as the hidden killers of land mines remain lurking beneath the soil. What is going through my head is the sense of privilege we have to walk the earth without fear in Marin County — a simple act which is forbidden to those who live in a world where over 30% of the land is mined. This is a food security issue, as we are poisoning the land which feeds us. It takes only eight pounds of pressure to detonate a land mine, which is the average weight of a newborn child.
All four of our children have walked the minefields of the world with us and understood the sense of privilege we are born unto growing up in Marin County. Each of our children — Brooks, Tucker, Kyleigh and Christian — have grown into adults with compassion in their hearts and a knowing that “to whom much has been given, much is expected.” This is the pioneer spirit of Marin County that transcends material gifts and defines the currency of the heart as we reach out beyond our borders to wage peace through agriculture.
Through all of your work, which accomplishment are you most proud of? Why?
I am deeply proud and humbled to be selected as the 2023 Laureate World Food Prize — considered to be the Nobel Prize of food and agriculture. This is a living example of the American dream being “alive and well” despite the political land mines which surround us. It is also a great honor to have also received the Mother Teresa Award and Gandhi Global Family Award from India. These are not awards to place on a shelf, but rather put into action as we continue our quest to plant the Roots of Peace on Earth.
What has been one of the most difficult or challenging aspects of Roots of Peace? How did you overcome it?
I have walked the minefields of the world in Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Israel, Palestine, Vietnam and Zimbabwe, and deeply feel the sense of privilege we have as residents of Marin County. As I return from these war-torn lands, it is often challenging to express my passion to those who have never walked a minefield — and ask them to support our efforts. Sometimes, there are those who tell me to stop watching the news or get back to my tennis game, but the images of children and farmers remain etched in my mind. Today, over 30% of Ukraine is now contaminated by land mines — a country once known as the “Breadbasket of Europe” — creating a food security issue for those who are depending upon the wheat to provide bread in Africa.
We are a global village. Each land mine removed, and each fruit tree planted feeds future generations. And, each tree planted provides shade and sequesters carbon to fight climate change.
The most difficult challenge is to witness the escalation of war, and the acceleration of planting land mines, cluster munition and explosive remnants of war. Some days, I feel as though I am running against the wind. Yet, when I recently visited the minefields of Angola on International Women’s Day (March 8, 2024), I met with over 60 brave Angola women de-miners who were risking their lives each day to remove land mines where Princess Diana had once walked in their country over 27 years ago. When I ask them why they would do such a dangerous job, they respond by looking me in the eye and say, “We do this for our children. If we do not, who will?”
Such courage of mothers around the world who raise their children in war-torn lands gives me the inspiration to return to the minefields of the world, until we as humanity remove these deadly seeds of destruction and renew the face of the earth with viable agricultural seeds of life.
As the Miwok Indians stated, we were given this earth to shepherd. Together, may we return to our ‘roots’ where the origin of the United Nations began in Muir Woods on May 19, 1945, and plant the Roots of Peace on Earth…
For it is Faith, Hope and Love, that I overcome the obstacles…
