Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams spoke about her life as a "peace worker" in Northern Ireland and the need for social reform in the United States in front of about 150 attendees of the Student Peace Alliance National Conference in the Hassenfeld Conference Center last Saturday.Williams, who is from Belfast, Ireland, won the Nobel Prize in 1977 for her work organizing marches to protest violence in Northern Ireland after witnessing the death of three children as a result of the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the region.

Williams was introduced by Conference Coordinator Julia Simon-Mishel '09, who played the music video "If Everyone Cared" by Nickelback, which pays homage to peace workers, including Williams, and their work in helping resolve the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland.

"No child in the world should be born to be killed in war," said Williams, whose two cousins were also killed as a result of the conflict. "The time had come for our movement to start."

After her initial march to the children's graves in 1976, Williams planned a series of 12 rallies, the last of which gathered half a million people in Trafalgar Square, London.

"If you don't believe in miracles, you're a fool," she said. "Miracles happen every day of the week."

Williams currently calls herself a peace worker and serves on the Council of Honor for the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. She is also president of World Centers of Compassion for Children and Chair of The Institute for Asian Democracy in Washington, DC.

"The nitty-gritty 24/7 working for peace is exhausting," Williams said. As co-founder of the Community of Peace People, Williams said, "we've really rebuilt Northern Ireland from the bottom-up..When I walk through the city of Belfast now, my heart soars."

Williams also spoke about the need for change and reform in the United States. "America needs to be reborn," Williams said, citing the desperate need for socialized medicine.

Williams said that the recent initiative to start building the first city of peace for children in the Basilicata Region in Italy would provide a safe place for children to be protected from the repercussions of war.

"Children all over the world need our help," she said. "Once we iron out all the glitches, then we can transport it to all the cities of the world."

After the speech, Williams a student asked how students can make a difference with work like she has done, and she responded that the United States government desperately needs to have a "Department of Peace."

"I'm always honored when I'm with young people because I know the terrible job ahead of you," said Williams, who told students that she was able to achieve what she did because, "[she] never let anyone tell [her] it couldn't be done."

Students and organizers said that Williams' words were inspirational.

"She was just infinitely wise and compassionate," said Jake Ritter, a 2007 graduate of Goddard College and a member of the Conference. "I felt that she had an understanding of reality that was just blissful because it was so thoughtful, and she had confronted everything that humanity faces and wanted to integrate it in her activism."

"It was very inspirational," Lindsey Smith (a Southwestern Universit) said. "It makes it seem much more possible that we can actually establish a Department of Peace," she said.

"I was so pleased with [Williams'] strong support of a Department of Peace," said Simon-Mishel. "We wanted some true peace builders to show that it's really possible to do this work.

"She challenged us to never give up and to commit to continue to support the Department of Peace," said Aaron Voldman '09, executive director of the Student Peace Alliance National Campaign to establish a Department of Peace. "We are excited to passionately carry out her campaign.